Over the years I’ve tried many ways of flattening snowflakes, one of which included the use of spray starch and a hot iron.  Although the result was crisp flakes, the downside was:

1. 1.very messy–the starch is sticky, and builds up on the ironing surface
   

2. 2.the flakes yellowed over time
   

Instead I found a much simpler system which uses he universally available chemical dihydrogen oxide (aka H2O, aka water).

Flattening snowflakes is now a simple process for me:

1. 1.After I cut one out, I open it an place it between the pages of a hardcover book.  I use a history of ODUM for this, but any book will do. It won’t harm the book, like pressing leaves or flowers might.  
   
   

2. 2.I leave the snowflakes in the book until I have a bunch of them.  Then I get out my iron, ironing board, and a spray bottle with water in it.  The spray bottle should be able to mist the water, not simply eject it in a stream.
   

3. 3. Turn on the iron to its highest setting–linen–and let it heat up.
   

Back to MAIN My Pysanky page.

Back to MAIN Paper Snowflakes page.