How to make snowflakes from paper?

Paper snowflakes are a simple and fun way to decorate for winter festivities. There are many different ways of making them, but this is the easiest and most popular method on the market.

Step by step guide on how to make a snowflake from paper

The first step is finding a piece of paper that is about twice as wide as your hand. The chosen paper should also be thin enough so you can fold it in half without creasing it. You will have to cut it into two pieces—one for the front, and one for the back—to get good results with these measurements.

After a few bounces, the paper should start to lose its curve and become more streamlined in flight.

Take the paper and fold it in half to create a crease. Lie the folded edge down, and then fold the other three sides into the center. Fold them over again to crease them, making a small triangle. Find the center of these three folds, and place your thumb and first finger there, holding down the rest of your fingers with your other hand. Let go of the triangle with one hand, and pull out the resulting flaps from behind. With this method you should get a perfect point that is symmetrical on both sides.

Pulling up on one of these flaps will cause it to curl outward at about a 30-degree angle from where you pulled it. Make sure you are pulling it at the center, and not the edge. The flap should be at an angle that is slightly larger than 90 degrees. Pulling up on the other side will cause it to curl outward in a similar way, but it should not have to be as large.

Once both flaps are curled up, flip over the front flap and tuck it into your own hand. Do the same with the back flap, folding it over your hand so that your original crease points down. Rotate both flaps so that they are horizontal instead of vertical—this will make them more stable for flying around.

You’re now ready to toss your paper snowflake in the air. Keep it as level and symmetrical as possible, and deliver it gently with a quick flip of your wrist. After a few bounces, the paper should start to lose its curve and become more streamlined in flight. Once it is flying straight and true, go ahead and let go of it so that it flies around without falling down.

Also Read: Easy tips to make a origami crane

The most important thing to remember when flying paper snowflakes is that they must remain as close to flat as possible while in the air, and they must be tossed with a gentle wrist snap. They can be easily torn apart by even light winds.

FAQs about snowflakes:

–Where do snowflakes come from?

• A big fluffy snowstorm in Kansas.

–How are they made?

• Straws and glue.

–Were snowflakes around before there were movies and television shows about snowstorms in Kansas?

• No. In fact, they did not exist until the advent of film technology. Before that, people used a more primitive method of making paper snowflakes though, which was by twirling straws on sticks for a long period of time. The ancient Romans also had their own version of the same idea. The Greeks would blow up dragon’s blood on steel sheets as a way to make something look like snow falling from the sky.

–Why do snowflakes look like they are melting?

• There are several factors to consider when it comes to this question. Firstly, if you take a look at the image above, you can see that the paper itself is not melting; it looks like snow because of its thickness and mass. The light hitting it from the left is also blurring the paper just enough to make it appear as such. This phenomenon is known as ‘aperture blur’ and it happens for almost all light sources. A larger part of the image will always be blurred in a same way because of a larger size, even though there are photons that are not being blocked by a lens element.