3-D Snowflake How-To

Choir students will be making these to hang in the MS Commons for the holidays. Here's a how-to in case someone wants to try at home! I like to use scrapbook paper to mix up the look a little (plus it helps with these visuals!).

1.First, take a square piece of paper. It doesn't matter the size as long as it is perfectly square. The larger the paper, the larger the finished snowflake.

2. Make a triangular fold, then repeat into a smaller triangle.

 3. The tricky part...it helps if you can set your triangle on the table as in the pic below so you KNOW you're cutting the correct side.

 4. Make 3 parallel cuts from the bottom fold-the one touching the table (as below). Start from the longest side and end closest to the point of your triangle.

 5. Unfold the paper. It should look like a God's Eye. If it looks like a weaving loom full of parallel slices, you cut from the wrong fold on the triangle.

 6. Take the inner-most points and wrap them around to meet. Glue in place.

 7. Now, take the next set of points and wrap them the opposite way to meet. Glue. Notice, you're working from the center outward. Important to ALTERNATE the side that you wrap the points toward.

 8. Repeat for the rest of the points so that you've got 4 total wrap-arounds.

 9. The finished product should look like the pic above.
10. Repeat the entire process with 5 more pieces of paper so you end up with 6 total pieces.

 11. Align the points of pieces and staple (or glue) all at the same spot. (it will be the center of the snowflake)

 12. Glue or staple the joints together at the fattest point of each piece. (Where finger points above...)

 13. This is all the pieces of my purple snowflake. My sweet daughter tried a piece and it didn't get cut correctly, so my flake has 5 sides. :0)

14. Here's the finished product done with white paper! Won't these look cool hanging all over the commons? THANKS to my good friend Mrs. Green for showing me how to make these several years ago at FES! They have served me well over the years...