Paper Snowflake Week: Wax-dipped Snowflake Ornaments

I can't really remember if I heard of someone else dipping snowflakes in wax or if I came up with it myself. I had actually never tried it until today, but I am pleased to report that it works like a charm.

I began by making snowflakes like I did in Monday's post. You should be able to dip any size snowflake, but I was making ornaments and did not want really large ones. As such, I made mine quarter-sized--that is to say I divided my original sheet of computer paper in 4 and made a snowflake out of each section. The resulting snowflakes were just under 5 inches in diameter at the widest part, which I found a perfect size.

I ironed the snowflakes out and then prepared some paraffin wax. I am a traditionalist, so I used white wax, but feel free to use any color to match your holiday decor. I melted mine in a disposable pie tin that I placed over a pot of boiling water. The pie tin gave me plenty of space to lay the snowflake flat in the melted wax. I also figured I wouldn't have to clean out the container. I can just store the wax in the pie tin and throw the tin away when I have used all the wax.

I dipped the snowflake in the wax, coating it completely, before removing it with a wooden skewer and letting it drip. The wax hardens pretty quickly. I dipped mine about 4 times each to get the wax to the desired thickness. When you dip multiple times, you just have to make sure the wax hardens all the way in between each dip, and you have to be quick about dipping. If you leave an already dipped snowflake in the wax for too long, the previous layer will just melt all the way off and you will be no farther along than you were before the second dip.

I laid my snowflakes out for a final hardening before tying ribbon on them. You could attach any kind of hanger or just set them in a tree if you desire. If your snowflake gets bent or the wax gets damaged somehow, you should just be able to dip them again and the heat will clean it up.

I am rather pleased with how they turned out. Now we just have to get out our tree so I have a place to hang them.