Plain hanging outlines with nothing drawn inside them. A round bauble, a teardrop, a five point star and a bell, each one a single closed cut line with a small circle marking where the thread goes. Four to a sheet as it opens, or three, or six.
Why these are empty
There is no pattern inside any of these shapes, on purpose. A template is something you draw round, decorate yourself or trace onto felt, and anything printed in the middle of it gets in the way of all three. If you want shapes that come out of the printer already decorated, the printable decorations sheet has a cut-out pattern inside each one.
Each outline is one continuous line with the cap built into it, so there is a single cut per ornament and no inner corner to work into. The circle on the cap is marked to be punched or pierced, not cut around: a punched hole has a clean edge that will not start a tear, and a cut one will.
Three and four print at the same size
Three to a sheet and four to a sheet both lay out on a two by two grid, so both print at about 90mm by 106mm on A4. Three simply leaves the fourth cell empty and centres the single shape on the second row. If you were expecting three to be bigger, it is not.
Six is the only setting that drops the size, to about 74mm by 87mm, and it is the one to use for a tree. Anything much larger than that hangs badly on card and tips forward off a branch.
Which shapes you get at each count
The four forms cycle round the sheet in order. Four to a sheet gives one of each: a round bauble, a teardrop, a star and a bell. Three gives the round bauble, the teardrop and the star. Six goes round again, so it gives two rounds, two teardrops, a star and a bell.
The star hangs from a hole set inside its top point rather than from a cap, because a cap on the tip of a star has nothing either side of the hole to hold it. The other three carry a cap across the top.
Card, thread and the name line
160gsm card is the weight to use. Lighter and the shapes curl within a day in a heated room; much heavier and most home printers will not feed it reliably.
The Inside control has a Name line setting, which draws one light rule across each shape. It is printed in a lighter grey than the cut line so there is no doubt which lines are for scissors, and it is not cut.
Questions
- How many ornament shapes are on a sheet?
- Four as it opens: a round bauble, a teardrop, a star and a bell. The control above the sheet also offers three, which drops the bell, and six, which repeats the round bauble and the teardrop.
- Why are three and four the same size?
- Both use a two by two grid, so both print at about 90mm by 106mm on A4 and three leaves one cell empty. Six is the only setting that makes the shapes smaller, at about 74mm by 87mm.
- Is the thread hole marked?
- Yes. Each shape carries a small circle, on the cap for the bauble, teardrop and bell, and inside the top point for the star. Punch or pierce it rather than cutting round it, or the cap will tear.
- Do the templates have a pattern on them?
- No, and that is deliberate. They are plain outlines to draw round, decorate or trace onto felt. The printable Christmas decorations sheet is the one with a cut-out pattern already inside each shape.
- Which size should I use for a real tree?
- Six to a sheet, at about 87mm tall. That is close to a real bauble and it hangs straight. The larger settings suit a paper tree on a wall or a classroom display rather than a branch.