Holiday Chillax Activity: Twirly Paper Ornaments

In this "how to" installment, I'll teach you how to make twirly paper ornaments -- the bublibicious ones that everyone will love. They look great suspended in front of your bathroom mirror, on a glass sliding door (to save people from walking through the glass). They look great alone, or (if you are in a incarcerated or stuck in a never ending blizzard) you can make many of these and shower the whole Christmas tree with them.

What you need

• one sheet of thick paper
• a bowl filled with water
• scissors
• paper glue (or a double-sided tape) 

Steps

1. Cut about 4-5mm thick stripes along the long edge of the paper (the longer the better). Cut about six of them at first. You can always cut more once you decide you need more.

2. Take a stripe and dip it in the water. Don't let it soak. Take it out as soon as you put it in. I usually run the stripe between my fingers to remove any excess water.

3. Roll the wet stripe into a spiral.

4. Put the wet spiral on a flat surface to dry.

5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for each stripe.

6. Drink a cup of hot spiced wine while you wait for your spirals to dry. If you are under 18, get some hot cider.

7. Once the spirals are dry (in about 10 minutes), they will keep their shape. Arrange them in any way you like. If you are happy with the look, start gluing the parts that touch each other.

8. Voila! Your ornament is done! Hang it on a thin string (I use a thin thread) at an eye level for people to admire. Hang it high enough to keep it away from evil destructive little hands of small children. The ornament is quite delicate and needs to be handled gently and later stored in a sturdy box. I would love to see your creations in the comments!

Comments

[Tess]

Beautiful!

[Cheap Calendar Printing]

Cool craft. I can't believe that a simple paper could be transformed into a wonderful ornament. That's really wonderful.