How to make a Christmas tree paper snowflake
Christmas Tree Paper Snowflake: try all 7 steps in the 3D player. Turn and replay every move. Print the complete diagram sheet or save it as PDF.
An Origami Tutor design: fold a square into an eight-layer wedge and cut one line along its two long edges. Opened, eight pine trees point out from the centre, each with three stepped tiers on a short trunk.
- You need
- Thin paper, a pencil, a ruler and small sharp scissors.
- Start
- Begin with a 12 × 12 cm square of thin paper.
Your model is ready
Ease the creases flat. Lift the opened paper by an uncut edge to see the whole pattern. Hold the opened paper upright and flat, with the whole pattern.
Step-by-step diagrams
- 1
Fold the square in half
Bring the bottom edge to the top edge and press the crease. Mark the middle of the folded edge lightly; it is the centre of the snowflake.
- 2
Fold it in half again
Fold the left half over the right half so the centre sits in the bottom left corner of a small square.
- 3
Fold the corner over
Bring the upper left edge down over the bottom edge, so the packet is a narrow wedge with eight layers pointing at the centre.
- 4
Cut the pine trees
Start at the end of the bottom folded edge, 56 mm from the centre: the top of the tree. Cut a slanting side out to 5.5 mm from the fold at 46 mm from the centre, then step in to 2.5 mm from the fold. Cut the second tier out to 8 mm from the fold at 36 mm, step in again, and cut the third tier out to 7.5 mm at 26 mm. Step in once more for the trunk, cut on in toward the middle line between the folds, and come back out along the slanting edge the same way, ending at its end 56 mm from the centre. The paper between the trees falls away.
- 5
Open eighth
Open this crease gently, leaving the earlier folds closed. Keep the uncut joins together.
- 6
Open quarter
Open this crease gently, leaving the earlier folds closed. Keep the uncut joins together.
- 7
Open half
Open this crease gently, leaving the earlier folds closed. Keep the uncut joins together.
- ✓
Finish
Ease the creases flat. Lift the opened paper by an uncut edge to see the whole pattern. Hold the opened paper upright and flat, with the whole pattern.
Fold next
Lacy six-point paper snowflake ↗
Use the same real 30° packet as the easy snowflake. Four separate lace cuts leave bridges and an intact centre; the folded blade lines are a printable guide.
Star-window paper snowflake ↗
An Origami Tutor design: fold a square into an eight-layer wedge, bite a small half star from each long edge, then cut one line that shapes the arms. Opened, the snowflake has eight pointed arms with a star window in each.
Bubble and spike paper snowflake ↗
An Origami Tutor design: fold a square into an eight-layer wedge, bite round bubbles of different sizes from its two long edges, then cut a saw-toothed rim. Opened, the snowflake is a disc of bubbles inside a ring of sharp spikes.
Arrowhead paper snowflake ↗
An Origami Tutor design: fold a square into an eight-layer wedge and cut one line along its two long edges. Opened, the snowflake has eight slim arms, each with a small barb and a sharp arrowhead at its tip.