Printed Pinwheels

by PC Smart

sandbox serendipity (my art blog)


A few years back, I created these pinwheels for a paper crafting magazine. While I never used them as pinwheels, they make great package toppers. When you construct the pinwheel, remember you will see both sides of the paper. I made a test pinwheel by using paper that had different colors on each side. I constructed the pinwheel and then flattened it. The folds/creases told me where to place the images so they would be seen right side up. To keep it all together, I suggest brads. There are decorative ones out there or you can use a simple one and adhere an embellishment over the top. See the pattern for an idea of how to arrange your images...

Here are some ways to use the two sided view to your advantage...

* beach photo pinwheel - photos were printed on both sides of paper so when folded, you saw two different images. The photos were positioned around the center so they would be facing the right way when folded.

* flag pinwheel - stripes printed on one side and stars on the other

* flower pinwheel - actually four separate pinwheels (two large, two small). They were stacked to create a flower. Two floral images were printed on vellum and two leaf images were printed on a larger piece of vellum, for each there was a dark/light image to give the whole piece depth. Floral stamens were used to attach the pieces.

* butterfly pinwheel - butterfly images were printed on gold/silver vellum. The two sheets were laid one on top of the other and folded/attached as one, creating a dual tone effect.

* berry pinwheel - strawberries printed on one page and blueberries on the other - stacked and attached






Each pinwheel will be a square (mine were 8" to take advantage of a letter size page)
Cut on the diagonal of the square. You are not cutting all the way to the center of the square. (if you do the pinwheel will be floppy)
Fold each corner to the center to attach.
Use a hole punch on each corner and in the center so you don't rip the paper when trying to insert the brad.
If you fold the paper in the opposite direction, you will have a different pinwheel. So you can print the same image twice and make two coordinating pinwheels by folding differently.