Animal Mándala Snowflakes

Elody Animal Mándala Snowflakes 24 STEPS Made with

Several sheets Standard Printer Paper 1 Scissors 1 A Pencil

Papercutting is a fun way to explore design and symmetry. I love animating my designs with animals. 1 Made with

Today I’ll demonstrate how to create six-pointed snowflakes with animal shapes hidden inside. 2 Made with

Fold a sheet of paper into a square. (Carefully line up one end with an adjacent edge and crease.) 3 Made with

Cut off the extra. 4 Made with

Fold it in half, then make a partial crease to mark the center, and then open it back up. 5 Made with

Fold it into triangular thirds. It’s tricky, so if you don’t get it right at first, just adjust it. 6 Made with

Cut the excess off from corner to corner so all of it has all of the layers of paper. 7 Made with

On your scrap of paper, sketch animals as seen from the front or above (so they’re symmetrical.) 8 Made with

Fold the animal in half on the line of symmetry and cut them out. These are your stencils. 9 Made with

Before we begin, take note of where the center point, the outer edge, and the folded edges are. 10 Made with

You can cut from one folded edge to the other only at the center point and the outer edge. 11 Made with

Otherwise, each cut must begin and end on the same folded edge. 12 Made with

A cut from one folded edge to another will divide it in half, creating an inner and outer piece. 13 Made with

Now that we know the general rules, let’s begin. Trace the templates you made onto the folded edges. 14 Made with

Once you’re confident, you can freehand draw animals at this stage rather than pre-make templates. 15 Made with

Cut out the animals. If you can do it in a single cut, the cutouts can be part of your final piece. 16 Made with

Now cut varied shapes around the animals. Leave 1/4” to 1/2” thickness of paper between each cut. 17 Made with

The final cut across the outer edge can go all the way across and will create the outer shape. 18 Made with

Carefully unfold the piece, pressing the seams flat as you go. 19 Made with

Put it in a large book for an hour or more to fully flatten the seams. 20 Made with

Take it out and place it on a dark background to set it off! 21 Made with

Here are a few other examples, this one with dragonflies and butterflies. 22 Made with

You can cut non-symmetrical animal shapes from a folded edge and get two connected animals. 23 Made with

Good luck with your Animal Mándala Snowflakes! Be patient and make many, it takes practice! 24 Made with

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