TUTORIAL The Japanese paper snowflake

To make a snowflake out of Japanese paper, you will need:

• thick white paper , classic pocket type Canson , approximately 220g/ ^m2
• of the scraps of Japanese paper in the colors of your choice (here, I used red, petrol blue, sea green, turquoise and with a few touches of gold)
• THE snowflake template To download, which will help you cut out and place your different strips of paper (to print directly on thick white paper, at 100% scale)
• of the white glue vinyl
• a pair of scissors and one cutter
• A brush
• a pencil

1. Print and cut out your 2 templates from thick white paper: the large snowflake and the medium hollowed-out star. They will serve as your “background”.
2. Prepare the 6 “branches” of the snowflake: cut 3 large strips of Japanese paper which will be placed crosswise to make the 6 “branches” of the snowflake.
   For the snowflake that we are offering you today, we cut strips approximately 0.5cm wide by 18cm long . You are free to modify these measurements if you wish to make smaller or larger flakes.
3. Prepare the 24 “branches” of the snowflake: cut 12 small strips of Japanese paper which will be cut in 2 then placed on either side of the 6 “branches” of the snowflake.
   For the snowflake that we are offering you today, we cut small strips approximately 0.5cm wide by 5.0cm long , to be cut in 2. You are free to modify these measurements if you wish to make smaller or larger flakes.
4. Glue the 24 branches and stick them on the “large snowflake” made of thick paper. Glue the 3 large strips of paper then glue them to your “large snowflake” template, crossing them.
   Cut the ends of your 6 branches at an angle, like on the template for the large snowflake.
5. Using your medium star template, previously hollowed out using a cutter, trace the outline of it on a scrap of Japanese paper (minimum 8cm by 8cm) and cut out your hollowed out medium star in Japanese paper. Glue it onto the template.
   Attach it to the back of your snowflake.
6. If you want to add a “star heart” to your snowflake, use the template for the small solid star to glue onto a scrap of Japanese paper and stick to the center of the snowflake.