A square with every fold line printed on it as a dashed crease, the cut line drawn in heavy black across one wedge, and the finished snowflake shown small beside the steps. Fold the square down to a wedge of twelve layers, cut the solid line through all of them, open it out.
What is on the sheet
The square fills most of the page with its fold lines printed on it as dashed creases radiating from the centre: the halves, the quarters and the thirds that a snowflake fold produces. One wedge carries the cut pattern in a heavy line so there is no doubt which marks are folds and which are cuts.
Under the square sit five small step diagrams, left to right: fold in half, and in half again, fold into three, cut the line, open it out. The last one shows the snowflake that this particular sheet produces. Below those, seven numbered steps in words, including what to do if the printed wedge finishes face down after folding.
The fold most people get wrong
Step four is the one that goes wrong: folding the right angle into three equal wedges. Done by eye it comes out at three unequal parts and the snowflake ends up lopsided. The printed creases on the square are the fix, because the angles are already marked and you are folding to a line rather than guessing.
Fold with the printed side facing out for the first two folds. That keeps the lines visible on the outside of the wedge when you get to the third fold, which is when you need to see them most.
Cutting through twelve layers
Twelve layers of 80gsm paper is about as much as ordinary household scissors will take. If the cut is dragging rather than slicing, the snowflake will come out ragged. Thinner paper is better than card here, and sharp small scissors are better than large ones.
Cut the long line first and the short line across the tip last. The short cut at the tip is what opens the hole in the middle of the snowflake, and doing it first makes the wedge harder to hold.
The preview is the actual result
The small snowflake beside the steps is drawn from the same cut line printed on the wedge, so what you see is what the sheet produces. Press Regenerate and the cut line and the preview change together.
That is worth checking before you fold. If the preview looks too fine for the scissors and the hands you have, press Regenerate or drop the detail level and print again.
Questions
- How many folds does a paper snowflake need?
- Three. In half, in half again, then the resulting right angle into three equal wedges. That gives twelve layers of paper and the six fold symmetry a snowflake has.
- Which lines do I cut and which do I fold?
- Dashed lines are folds and the heavy solid lines are the cuts. All the cuts sit inside one wedge, so once the square is folded down there is only one line to follow.
- What paper works best for a folded snowflake?
- Thin paper. Ordinary 80gsm printer paper folds to twelve layers and still cuts cleanly. Card will not fold that far, and thicker paper leaves you dragging the scissors, which tears the edges.
- What if the printed wedge ends up underneath?
- Cut anyway. The wedge is symmetric, so cutting from the back gives the same snowflake rotated by a twelfth of a turn. Step six on the sheet says the same thing.
- Will I get the snowflake shown in the corner?
- Yes. The small preview is drawn from the same cut line printed on the wedge, so it is a picture of the result rather than a stock illustration. Regenerate changes both together.