"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)
