The paper-cut is one of the representatives of the Chinese traditional culture. For centuries Chinese women in the rural north have been natural paper cutting artists, creating their works of art with scissors and sheets of red paper. They use paper cuttings to decorate their residences, particularly the windows of their houses, on festivals and occasions of celebration. The themes and patterns of paper cuttings may be endless, but all are designed to extend good wishes. The Chinese traditional paper-cut described here has seemingly infinite loops, are symbolic of a blessing for endless happiness. Follow me learn a kind of simple Chinese traditional paper-cut now.

Instructions

1. Take a 5-inch square piece of thin red paper and fold it in half diagonally to form a triangle with two equal sides (see a).

2. Fold it in half diagonally three more times, into a very small triangle (see b).

3. Fold it once more, into an even smaller triangle, leaving an exposed edge slightly more than 1/8 inch wide at the baseline (see c).

4. Fold the triangle back to form an even smaller triangle, leaving the uneven exposed edge outside (see d).

5. Cut the tip of the 90 degree angle as shown in the diagram (see e).

6. Open the folded triangle four times until it looks like a mask, with two square eyes, a nose pointing up (or down, depending on how you hold it), and two ears pointing horizontally (see f).

7. Slit the section of the baseline directly beneath the left “eye” where the “nose” points up (see f).

8. Remove the section along the baseline that forms the right “ear” (see f).

9. Carefully unfold the paper.

Congratulation! You have a Chinese traditional paper-cut now (see g).