"The intellect is a very nice whirligig toy, but how people can take it seriously is more than I can understand."-Ezra Pound
pinwheel (noun): A child's toy consisting of a stick with colored vanes that twirl in the wind. Synonymous with whirligig or windmill.
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of throwing a bridal shower for one of my dearest friends with some of her other bridesmaids. The bride-to-be, Sunita, is always so much fun and full of life. So as part of the decor, I thought it would be fitting to try making some whimsical and festive pinwheels to capture her spirit. It's a project I've been eyeing for a while from the lovely book Paper+Craft. Here are the steps from the book if you want to make a few for a shower, party or just for fun.
1. Acquire fun paper and gather your materials
One of the bride's wedding colors is spring green, so I found this green filigree patterned paper from Paper Source. You'll need 8.5 by 11 inch sheets to cut into squares.
What else you'll need: scissors, pushpin, pencil, ruler, X-Acto knife, cutting mat, round head pins (at least 1 inch in length), 12 in long wooden dowels, 1/4 in. hole punch, chipboard in small scraps, hot glue gun
2. Prep and cut the pinwheel sheets
Using scissors, cut the paper into squares. I made some big ones and baby ones. (For the big ones, cut 5 inch squares and for baby ones, 3 inch squares) After cutting the square, find the center of each square and mark it with a pushpin, creating a small hole. Lay the square with the pattern side down and use a pencil and ruler to draw a diagonal line from each corner to make an X. Then, place the square on a cutting mat and using an X-Acto knife, cut along the diagonal lines. Stop cutting before you reach the hole in the center (For a 5 inch square, stop 1 inch from the center and for a 3 inch square, 3/4 inch from the center.
Then lay the square on your work surface, patterned side up. Use the pushpin to make a hole in the right-hand corner of each section of the square (if you click the picture above to enlarge it, you can see the placement of the holes)
3. Form the pinwheel
Flip the square over so that the patterned side is facing down. One by one, bring each of the four holed corners to the center with the corners overlapping. Stick a round pin (from the front) though all of the four holes.
4. Prep the dowel and keeping the pinwheel together
Use the pushpin to make a hole on the dowel (about a 1/2 inch from the top). Using the hole punch, punch two holes through the chipboard and save the punched pieces. Take the assembled pinwheel head and insert each of the punched pieces onto the round head pin that is holding the pinwheel together. Slide the rounded pieces close to the pinwheel so it fits very snugly (but one at a time..sliding the chipboard onto the pin can be tricky, so please be careful. I pricked my finger quite a few times)
Put a drop of hot glue in the hole in the dowel.
5. Assemble all the parts
After placing the glue in the dowel, quickly insert the pin running through the pinwheel head into the hole. Make sure the paper or the chipboard piece don't touch the glue, or your pinwheel won't spin. Let it dry for a few minutes and enjoy!
image source: SD
-SD
These are AMAZING. Gorgeous! I'm very impressed. I've been missing your posts b/c my old work acct is in active. I am going to re-subscribe w my yahoo acct.!
Posted by: amee | September 17, 2011 at 10:06 AM