Christmas is approaching and we are making something for the winter holiday. Though we don't see snow in Hong Kong, it certainly put us in a festive mood, and that's we are making in this session and the next.
Snowflakes have always fascinated us with their symmetrical beauty and vast diversity of patterns, so we first show the science behind it to the students.
After that, we taught them to trace, which is powerful function on Inkscape that turns desired images to a cut file, and we started with manual tracing, which is useful when the image is complex and would generate unwanted lines with auto-tracing.
Despite having difficulties at first, all students followed instructions well and completed the assignment, each getting their own uniquely drawn and beautifully cut snowflake.
We ask student cut one more snowflake for us so that we can take back to the office to electroplate it, turning a plain piece of cardstock into a dazzling ornament, fitted for a Christmas present and a reward for their job well done.