The loop is part of the outline
On all three shapes the cap and the loop are inside the single cutting path, so you cut one line and the finished piece can be threaded straight away. Templates that need a loop glued on fail at the glue joint, which is always the first thing to go.
The loop aperture is kept at 6mm minimum at every size, which takes string, twine or thin ribbon. Below 40mm diameter the loop is drawn solid and you punch it instead, because a 6mm hole in a 30mm bauble leaves no card around it.
The six circle folded bauble
Six identical circles, each with three fold lines forming a triangle in the middle. Fold the three flaps on each, glue the flaps of one circle to the next in a ring, and the result is a sphere with a star pattern. It is a well known construction and the template makes it accurate, which is the hard part.
Print the six circles on 120gsm rather than card. The folds need to be crisp and card this thick does not fold cleanly in three directions at once. Two colours alternating looks better than one.
Flat baubles in quantity
At 60mm with twelve to a page, a class of thirty costs three sheets of card. Each child cuts, decorates and hangs one, which is a complete twenty minute activity. The round shape is the one to use for this, because the teardrop and finial have narrower points that children cut through.
Questions
- Does the bauble template include a hanging loop?
- Yes. The cap and loop are part of the single cutting path on all three shapes, so there is nothing to glue on and nothing to come off.
- What is the 3D bauble made from?
- Six identical circles, each folded along three lines into a triangle with flaps. Glue the flaps in a ring and the circles form a sphere with a star pattern. Print on 120gsm, not card, so the folds are crisp.
- What is the smallest bauble that works?
- About 40mm with an open loop. Below that the loop is drawn solid and you punch the hole instead, because a 6mm aperture in a 30mm bauble leaves too little card around it.
- Which shape suits a class activity?
- The round one. The teardrop and finial have narrower points that children tend to cut through, which the round shape does not.