#Buntingmas (it's 11 Apr): How to make low-tech bunting from paper

Before the Great Coronavirus Pandemic of March (and beyond) 2020 I had planned to invite myself round to various chums' houses in April, or invite them to mine, to celebrate #Buntingmas with wine, cake, and bunting.

Buntingmas (11 April 2020) is a festival to celebrate bunting, which I always associate with springtime, blossoms, April, Victoria sponge cake and general pleasantness outdoors, with the sun shining (but not too much). There's probably lemonade too.

Bunting always seems a cheerful thing and we need extra cheering during the Coronavirus lockdown, so let's buntify our environs hyperlocally (garden / house / flat / quarantine room). Then take photographs of it and share it on social media, or just enjoy it quietly at home.

From my previous post in December, "How will you celebrate Buntingmas? Craft ideas and classroom activities" -

"The very simple aim of Buntingmas is to 'put up' some bunting in whatever way 'put up' is relevant for you. If you hate bunting don't do that and instead you are merely encouraged to 'put up with' bunting."

Some people will have ready-made bunting, or have sewing machines and fabric, others will have printers and can either design and print their own (I've used PowerPoint and the Insert Shape tool to fill a page with tesselated triangles - help yourself to mine) or print them from the internet.

But here is a way of making some very low-tech paper bunting.

1. How to make paper bunting

1. Find a bit of paper (or part of a cereal packet)
2. Cut triangles from it (if you have scissors)
3. Draw on them for decoration (coloured pens, pencils, crayons, glitter etc)
4. Arrange them, photograph them and share them on Twitter (or Instagram or wherever)
5. If you have string or thread and tape or blue tack you could (a) poke holes in the corners with a needle or hole punch (if you have one of those!) or (b) fold the top edge over some string or thread, trim the bit now sticking out (if you want) and then hang a chain of them up somewhere. Paper flags will, if slightly wetted, stick to windows unless you've recently cleaned them.

Here's a simple way of creating some flags from a piece of paper (I used A4 in the example below) - just fold it into triangles and then tear (or cut) along the lines.

2. Bunting from paper folded first in three, then folded into triangles

This method will make at least 18 flags from A4 paper. You can probably squeeze one or two more from the bit left over at the end but they might not be the same size.

 Right click, open in new tab / window to enlarge the image

Fold the sheet lengthwise into thirds to letterbox it, then fold one corner back onto the letterbox and then keep doing so (but in a concertina fashion, not over on top of itself as you won't get really crisp edges) to end up with lots of triangles, displayed below.

18 flags made from folded and torn paper (no scissors used).

3. Pointier bunting from paper folded in two, then folded into triangles

This method will make at least 10 flags.

Fold the sheet in half lengthwise then fold the corner back to any point on the opposite side, such that the shape of the triangle formed is pointedly bunting-like and reasonably even-looking (you are going to trim it anyway). Then do the concertina back and forth folding as above to end up with the shape at the end. Cut or tear off the bits at the open end - I drew a rough line across to guide me but corrected with my scissors.

     2. The unfolded concertina                                       3. 10 flags, possibly more from leftover paper

In picture (3) above some of the flags are positioned on top of the leftover paper to show that more flags could be cut out, making 13 in all.

4. Decorating your bunting
Block colour, stripes, polka dots, doodles, minimalist-plain - it's all good. If you're looking for some inspiration try typing doodle ideas or bunting patterns into Google or any other search engine and scrolling through the images. Or pick any theme you like and use Google's filter to show only line drawings (Tools > Type > Line drawings... or choose Clip Art).

5. Displaying your bunting
Take a photo, share it, tag it #Buntingmas. If you don't have tape, blue tack, string or drawing pins to hang it up (vertical bunting, the usual orientation) it's very acceptable to share temporarily horizontal table bunting or floor bunting.

6. Buntingmas FAQ
When is Buntingmas?
11th April 2020 but much like Christmas it can last quite a long while (as long as you like really and I recommend keeping the bunting up until we're released from quarantine). For example Christmas Day is on 25 December but shops are selling festive tat several weeks (months) in advance, and of course the decorations can stay up until 6 January (the Mondayest day of the new year, whatever day it actually falls on). I have Smallest Bunting from Flying Tiger (it's tiny!) permanently installed in my kitchen (see previous post for pictures).

Why is Buntingmas?
Just for fun.

When should I take down the bunting?
a) never b) whenever you feel like it.