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From the first winter we are old enough to use scissors until the time we get out of grade school, cutting paper snowflakes is yearly task. Nearly everyone who has ever cut a snowflake knows just how blocky and ugly and UN-snowflake-like a paper snowflake can look. Here are a few tips to making your paper snowflakes look like the real icy thing.
The first tip has to do with how you fold the paper. Most people fold the paper in half and then in half again, so that the full sheet in now folded in quarters. When they get done cutting the flake, they open their creation and it's SQUARE. Ugh. Not very snowflake like, is it?
Real snowflakes do not have four sides. Because of the structure of an ice crystal, they have SIX sides. The single most important tip to making great snowflakes is to fold the paper in SIX, not in FOUR. First, fold the paper in four, like you were going to start there, but instead of beginning to cut the snowflake, just kind of cut out an arc. Open it up. Does it look vaguely circular? No? Try again. Yes... You're read to continue.
Fold the paper in half again, along the first fold. Now, instead of folding it in half, fold it in THREE. You can do this by folding it gently about one third of the way from the other side. Now before you make any hard creases in the paper , even out the paper until all three sections are very close to the same size. When you finish making the cuts, you will have a six pointed snowflake.
The second tip is to use small, very sharp, very pointed scissors. Cuticle scissors, which may be purchased from the drugstore or a beauty supply store make the best snowflake cutting scissors. The slight curve in the blade also can make for some beautifully artistic, but not very crystalline forms. If you don't feel comfortable with the curved scissor, or you cannot make a straight line, use a straight bladed scissor... But use a TINY one.
The third tip is that a simple observation: small cuts make a delicate snowflake. Make a few big cuts to block out the snowflake's basic design. Do you want it to be round or spiked? Do you want it to be somewhat lopsided? This is paper, it can be as fanciful in basic form as you like. But after you get it roughed out, it is important to make hundreds of small cuts. Those small cuts make the flake delicate and beautiful rather than blocky and papery.
The final tip is an even more simple observation: practice makes perfect. To make a truly beautiful paper snowflake, you must make many of them. You must get so that you know just how far you can cut without cutting through and just how much paper to take out. The scissor must become an extension of your fingers and your fancy. But with that practice, you will create wonderful bits of art that will be around a great deal longer than your average snowflake.
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