Paper snowflakes are always fun to make! They look fabulous stuck on a window or strung together and hanged over the fireplace. As present toppers, for gift cards, door wreaths, wall decoration – the uses are endless! Just fold a piece of paper and cut out some intricate pattern. There is a great variety of shapes and styles – no snowflake is identical to the other! A little warning: this gets addictive! Let your kids happily occupy themselves cutting out dozens of paper snowflakes and decorate the entire house.
Below we are offering you some cool designs and free patterns for paper snowflakes. The special highlight: When you take a closer look, you will discover hearts, stars, trees and even snowmen in the filigree structures!
For making these paper snowflakes you will need the following supplies and tools:
- paper A4
- pencil
- a pair of compasses
- protractor
- tracing paper and thin cardboard
- glue stick
- sharp pointed scissors
- craft knife and cutting mat
- stapler
Which paper is best for making paper snowflakes?
Since one sheet of paper is folded several times, it is best to use very thin papers. Almost all origami papers are suitable, at least 14 cm x 14 cm in size. A few snowflake patterns can vary in size. All snowflakes have approx. a diameter of 13 cm / 5.11 inches.
How to make the stencil for your paper snowflake?
One template corresponds to one sixth of a paper snowflake. You can either print the pattern in the PDF file or use a pencil and ruler to transfer it onto tracing paper and then glue it onto a thin cardboard using the glue stick. Cut out the pattern along the lines using scissors and/or craft knife on the cutting board. This will be your stencil.
How to make the perfect “folding sheet”
Fold an A4 sheet of paper in the middle (along the dashed line on the graph). Press down the compass needle at point M (at the bottom of the dashed line) and draw a circle with a radius of 10 cm. At the edge of the paper the two points A and B are created. Now stick the needle at point A and draw a circle with the same radius. This is how you create the point A’. Do the same with point B’. Connect point M to A and B with a straight line. The semicircle is now divided into three equal segments.
How to fold the paper right
Fold the paper square, e.g. 14 cm x 14 cm, diagonally and place it on the folding sheet so that the tip of the triangle lies on the vertical center line. Fold the right-hand tip of the triangle diagonally to the left, so that the fold line lies exactly on the slanting line drawn on the sheet. Fold the left tip obliquely to the right.
Place the template on the triangle and draw the outline with pencil. Affix the triangle outside the stencil outline with a stapler so that nothing slips when cutting. The folded pattern can be cut out with sharp pointed scissors. Inner surfaces are cut out with the craft knife on the cutting mat. Carefully unfold the paper to reveal your paper snowflake!
Here you can see another way for folding the triangle by using a protractor. Start out with a square piece of paper. Fold the square diagonally in half. Fold the resulting triangle in half again. Now divide the triangle into three equal sections. Just place the center mark of the protractor at the bottom point of your triangle. Each third is a 30 degree angle. Then fold the left and the right sections toward the front.
Open the PDF file below and check out the awesome patterns and templates to make cool snowflakes like this one!
Free patterns for paper snowflakes
