Paper Snowflake Templates

How to make a paper snowflake

You need a printed template, a sheet of thin paper, scissors and a paper clip. Each design's PDF shows these steps with pictures on page 1.

1. Make a square. Fold the top corner of a sheet of A4 or Letter paper down to the opposite side, so the top edge lies along the side, and cut off the strip below. Unfold: you have a square. Origami paper is square already.
2. Fold it into a triangle. Fold the square in half from corner to corner.
3. Fold it in half again. Fold the triangle in half to make a smaller triangle. The corner where the folds meet is the centre point of your snowflake.
4. Fold it in thirds. Hold the centre point at the bottom and fold one side over by a third, then fold the other side behind it, so the edges line up and you have a narrow point (30 degrees). Lay it on the template to check the angle.
5. Clip on the template. Cut out the template, lay it on the folded paper with the red dot on the centre point and both long sides on the folds, and hold it with a paper clip. Cut off any paper that sticks out past the top.
6. Cut and unfold. Cut away every grey part through all the layers. Shapes drawn on a fold are halves: start cutting at the fold. Open the paper slowly and press it flat under a book.

Why six points? Water freezes into hexagonal crystals, so real snowflakes have six arms, each a mirror image of its neighbours. Folding in thirds copies that: the 30 degree wedge is one twelfth of the circle, and every fold is a mirror line. The opened snowflake on page 3 of each PDF is drawn the same way, by mirroring the template at every fold, so it shows exactly what your cuts will make.

Tips

• Print at 100% (actual size): the large template is 10 cm long on A4, so a square cut from the sheet covers it.
• Cut the inside shapes first and the outline last, while the layers are still held together.
• Shapes drawn on a fold are halves: cut into them from the fold, and they open as whole hearts, diamonds and circles.
• Iron a crumpled snowflake flat on a low heat between two sheets of paper (an adult job).