Take a newspaper and fold one end transversely, so that the edge is
parallel with one side, by which a square is obtained.
Fold this square to make a right-angled triangle; fold this to make
another triangle, and so on until the last shape is an acute triangle.
The end A is just half as thick as the rest of the paper. Tear this off
at the dotted line, by which the square of paper becomes a sixteen-sided
figure, nearly circular.
[Illustration: Fig. 58.]
To make the pattern, tear off the point of the folded mass, by which a
central hole will be made in the whole piece. Then tear from the sides
and the broad edge small pieces, varying in size, by which a certain
pattern will be made. Once having found the proper points whence to
remove the ground, such counterparts of lacework can be so rapidly and
bewilderingly done that the spectators will be amazed upon your
unfolding the paper completed. It is needless to say tearing of a common
newspaper makes the trick apparently more difficult than the most
elaborate cutting out of coloured tissues with scissors.
[Illustration: Fig. 59.]