Hi everyone! Carla here. If you are looking for a splash of colour this holiday season, and are okay with cleaning up teeny tiny little paper bits, then this project is for you! Coffee filters make the perfect colourful snowflakes. They absorb the colour beautifully and they are already the right shape, so it is a double win.

This is a perfect activity for kids and is a great way to introduce them to paint blending techniques and cutting skills. They also look amazing hanging in a window. Me and my four year old daughter did this project over the weekend and did we ever have fun! She really loved painting the coffee filters but did have a bit of trouble with the cutting as the folded coffee filter was a bit thick for her little hands. I gave her the task of folding the coffee filters and she was also in charge of unfolding the final product to reveal the beautiful design. She was happy doing both. We taped them in our living room window and have been enjoying them ever since.

People have been making paper snowflakes for much longer than I have been alive, and their history can be dated back to the 17th century. Kirigami (not to be confused with origami) is the Japanese art of cutting paper and was first used in Japanese temples as a way to make offerings to the gods. Symmetry is a very important concept in Kirigami. Snowflakes, pentagrams, and flowers are all examples of Kirigami projects in which cuts are made to enhance the symmetry of the design. I encourage you to get creative and try to cut out different shapes into your snowflakes including triangles, circles, hearts and even flowers.

Here is what you will need to get started:

- Coffee Filters
- Scissors
- Paint Brush
- Water
- Acrylic inks, liquid watercolours or food colouring
- A tray or plate
- Old Newspaper
- Iron

Lay the coffee filter out onto your tray or plate. Use your paintbrush to wet the coffee filter until it is completely flat.

Drop your ink, watercolour or food colouring onto the wet coffee filter. Use you paint brush to spread around the colours. The colours will naturally blend into each other.

Lay out newspaper on a flat surface like a table or countertop. After you are finished your coffee filter remove it from the tray or plate and place it on the newspaper to dry. Create as many coloured coffee filters as you like. If you are wanting to change the colour, then you will need to rinse the water from the tray as the previous colours will absorb into the new coffee filter.

Allow the coffee filters to dry completely. Now it’s time to fold!

Fold the coffee filter in half. And then in half again. Fold into thirds.

And cut! Cut designs into the pointed tip, along the folded creases and on the top edge. Experiment and have fun.

And now unfold to reveal your masterpiece. AHHHHHHH what a beauty!

Use your iron to flatten your new snowflakes. Simply press the iron onto the snowflake. It does not take much to get them flat.

Proudly hang your beautiful new snowflakes in your window. Hopefully, you will inspire your neighbours to do the same!

Have fun and don’t forget to tag us on Instagram @pentictonartgallery with all of your beautiful creations!