SNOWFLAKES

Regular Polygons - Snowflakes

Bilingual Section

IES LLANERA

How to Make 6-Pointed Paper Snowflakes

Step 1 First, begin with a square piece of copy paper. I usually make two snowflakes for every 8.5"x11" piece of paper, so I first cut the paper in half, and then make a square from each half. This makes a snowflake about 5" across. If you're just learning to make snowflakes, using a full piece of paper for each snowflake may be easier to practice with.

You can make a square from a rectangular piece of paper simply by folding one corner down to form an isosceles triangle (like the one in the next step) and trimming off the excess paper.

Regular Polygons - Snowflakes

Step 2 Fold the square of paper diagonally to make a triangle.

Step 3 Fold this larger triangle in half to make a smaller triangle.

Step 4 Imagine the triangle in thirds, and fold the right third over.

Step 5 Fold the left third over.

Bilingual Section

IES LLANERA

Regular Polygons - Snowflakes

Bilingual Section

IES LLANERA

Step 6 Cut off the top of the paper at an angle. Make sure to cut if off so that all remaining layers of paper are equal.

Cutting at an angle is what makes the points of the snowflake. Eventually, you'll learn to cut at different angles to make snowflakes with points that are more or less sharp

Step 7 This is where your imagination comes in. Begin cutting away from the sides of the paper. Usually, cutting small triangles from the sides is easiest, but don't forget to try other shapes.

For this snowflake, I altered the top edge a little to make my points a different shape. I also cut out a piece with a "spiky" edge. Use your imagination!

I don't use patterns for my snowflakes: I just cut as I go. My snowflakes are never the same because I don't usually plan out my snowflakes. Sometimes I find a new cut or shape that I like, and I may use the same technique on a different snowflake, but I don't copy the whole snowflake.

Step 8: The Reveal Unfold the paper very carefully.

The snowflake will not lay flat right away, so I like to tuck them between the pages of a book for a while before displaying them.

Regular Polygons - Snowflakes

Bilingual Section

IES LLANERA

Tips!

Make sure you have sharp scissors and clean hands. Dirty hands make for dingy snowflakes!

A tiny piece of double-sided tape behind each point is a good way to stick them to a surface. I love to put mine on windows so that they're visible from inside and out. They show up beautifully at night against the dark glass.

Avoid what I call "blank space". This is when you're cutting your snowflake in Step 7, and you leave behind big spaces of blank paper in your snowflake. Generally, anything thicker than 1/4th of an inch gets cut down into a thinner line, or by decorated it in some way (like by making tiny triangle snips all along the edge to give it "teeth"). Otherwise, when you open your snowflake, it will have thick, clunky lines instead of nice delicate ones. Sometimes thicker lines do create a different effect when contrasted with thinner lines, but use sparingly.

When folding, steps 4-5 are the hardest, when you have to try and estimate thirds. Often, you'll fold the second third over, only to discover that it doesn't line up exactly in thirds. You'll have to unfold and refold until it's as exact as you can get it. The closer to exact thirds you can get it, the more symmetrical your snowflake will be.

As it is, the thickness of the paper and the amount of folding that you do will make it so that making a precisely symmetrical snowflake is almost impossible. This will be most obvious in the center of the snowflake: look at some of mine. The star in the middle of some is not perfectly symmetrical. It happens. Real snowflakes have defects too, so don't worry about it.

Some people recommend using cuticle scissors so that you can make even more intricate snowflakes. I don't like this for two reasons. First, cuticle scissors are not comfortable in your hand. A comfortable grip is essential. Second, it is possible to get too intricate. Too many tiny snips and not enough shaping will just make your snowflakes look like lace doilies.

Snowflake experts recommend using tracing paper and an x-acto knife to make snowflakes, to make them even more delicate and more perfectly symmetrical. However, I still like plain paper and scissors, since those are things that anyone has and you can use them with kids.

Regular Polygons - Snowflakes

Bilingual Section

IES LLANERA

Analyzing a Snowflake If you do want to try and copy a snowflake that you see, or at least get an idea of how to make one similar, try to visualize the slice of the snowflake that represents the completely folded paper. This is one slice out of twelve symmetrical slices. It will be a line that cuts through the middle of one point, and intersects with a line cut though the middle of the "valley" between it and the adjacent point. If it makes it easier, pretend that the snowflake is a clock and the lines you're imagining are the hands when it's one o'clock. See picture.

This slice of the snowflake shows what your cuts should look like if you want a snowflake that looks like this.

It may be easier to visualize if you look at the black (cut out) spaces and think about those shapes being cut away.

Regular Polygons - Snowflakes

Bilingual Section

IES LLANERA