Make Cut out Snowflakes Day
by Cindi Sutter, Founder & Editor Spirited Table®—Content provided by Days of the Year
Create your very own version of making snowflakes! December 27th just might be the perfect post Christmas activity to share with friends and family. Consider sharing your creations with those who aren’t able to move around as easily. (You can create them on cookies too!)
It was a favorite activity in our earliest school years, and many families would share it as a familiar project around the holidays. Surely it ended up with numerous small flakes of paper on the ground as thick as the snow outside, but it was accompanied by a warmth of time spent creatively, and the unique designs that came out of everyone’s individual efforts.
Make Cut-Out Snowflakes Day encourages us to set out to do it again, and create snowflakes that will persist long after the last crystal of ice has melted into water as the seasons change.
History of Make Cut-Out Snowflakes Day
What most people don’t know about this art is that is truly ancient, and in fact is founded in the traditional Japanese art-form of Origami, specifically a variation known as Kirigami. The process at the beginning is the same, both art forms involve the intricate folding of a piece of paper into a desired shape, though that’s where the similarities end.
In Kirigami you then unfold the piece and place cuts in the desired place. Obviously, the art of snowflake cutting takes this one step variance further, you typically cut the piece while it is still folded, and then unfold it to reveal the desired shape.
There’s no denying that the unique design of each snowflake is beautiful, and the ability to create either a single piece, or to intricately cut a piece of paper that has been folded over multiple times to create a string of elaborately cut snowflakes means you have near infinite variations you can end with.
Such is the beauty of Kirigami. Make Cut-Out Snowflakes Day encourages you to pick up this art again and create your own unique and special snowflake.
How to celebrate Make Cut-Out Snowflakes Day
Well, it all starts with learning the basics of folding paper to create a snowflake, available through multiple websites and videos throughout the web. From there it’s a simple matter of being creative with your scissors and seeing what results. With practice you will be able to make truly stunning designs that will serve to enhance your holiday spirit.
Don’t think it ends there, with the encroaching Valentine’s Day on the horizon, you can take this art to the next level and create intricate lace-like heart streamers to beautify your home and add a little romance to the holiday. Then it’s on to bunnies and eggs for Easter! Make Cut-Out Snowflakes Day encourages you to learn the art again, and then carry it throughout the year!
