Animal Mándala Snowflakes || @Elody

Elody Animal Mándala Snowflakes Elody Elody Gyekis Brooklyn and Pennsylvania based artist. Painter, sculptor, animator and community artist. 637 Chalk Pastels 3: Building A Drawing 106 Animal Mándala Snowflakes 268 Drawing: Charcoal Pencils On Ton... 155 “Batik” Watercolors 765 Painting 4: Approaches To Acryli... 780 Painting: Ink 1464 Stamp Carving From Leaf Prints 209 Printmaking: Watercolor Monotypes 331 Painting 3: Advanced Color Theory 162 Drawing: Tessellations 1 See more from Elody

Several sheets Standard Printer Paper 1 Scissors 1 A Pencil

Get App Papercutting is a fun way to explore design and symmetry. I love animating my designs with animals. 1 @Elody on

Get App Today I’ll demonstrate how to create six-pointed snowflakes with animal shapes hidden inside. 2 @Elody on

Get App Fold a sheet of paper into a square. (Carefully line up one end with an adjacent edge and crease.) 3 @Elody on

Get App Cut off the extra. 4 @Elody on

Get App Fold it in half, then make a partial crease to mark the center, and then open it back up. 5 @Elody on

Get App Fold it into triangular thirds. It’s tricky, so if you don’t get it right at first, just adjust it. 6 @Elody on

Get App Cut the excess off from corner to corner so all of it has all of the layers of paper. 7 @Elody on

Get App On your scrap of paper, sketch animals as seen from the front or above (so they’re symmetrical.) 8 @Elody on

Get App Fold the animal in half on the line of symmetry and cut them out. These are your stencils. 9 @Elody on

Get App Before we begin, take note of where the center point, the outer edge, and the folded edges are. 10 @Elody on

Get App You can cut from one folded edge to the other only at the center point and the outer edge. 11 @Elody on

Get App Otherwise, each cut must begin and end on the same folded edge. 12 @Elody on

Get App A cut from one folded edge to another will divide it in half, creating an inner and outer piece. 13 @Elody on

Get App Now that we know the general rules, let’s begin. Trace the templates you made onto the folded edges. 14 @Elody on

Get App Once you’re confident, you can freehand draw animals at this stage rather than pre-make templates. 15 @Elody on

Get App Cut out the animals. If you can do it in a single cut, the cutouts can be part of your final piece. 16 @Elody on

Get App Now cut varied shapes around the animals. Leave 1/4” to 1/2” thickness of paper between each cut. 17 @Elody on

Get App The final cut across the outer edge can go all the way across and will create the outer shape. 18 @Elody on

Get App Carefully unfold the piece, pressing the seams flat as you go. 19 @Elody on

Get App Put it in a large book for an hour or more to fully flatten the seams. 20 @Elody on

Get App Take it out and place it on a dark background to set it off! 21 @Elody on

Get App Here are a few other examples, this one with dragonflies and butterflies. 22 @Elody on

Get App You can cut non-symmetrical animal shapes from a folded edge and get two connected animals. 23 @Elody on

Get App Good luck with your Animal Mándala Snowflakes! Be patient and make many, it takes practice! 24 @Elody on

Chalk Pastels 3: Building A Drawing Drawing: Charcoal Pencils On Toned Paper “Batik” Watercolors Painting 4: Approaches To Acrylic Painting Made with Jumprope