This is a great craft to do with your tweens and teens, but it can be dangerous. Using rubber dish gloves, workers gloves or even gardening gloves would be safer.
I collected some colorful cans, cut them and washed them well with soap and water.
Draw a pattern on your aluminum with a marker. To reduce waste, try filling up as much space as possible. I chose to draw 3 sizes of flowers. If you'd like, cut out a cardboard or paper piece of the image you'd like to have on the can and trace it.
Now cut out your shapes. Sharp scissors work best, the smoother the cut the less fraying and rough edges you'll have in the end.
Carefully feel the edges, if you've cut well enough sanding won't be necessary. If there are rough edges simply sand them down. I like to use a nail file.
I pierced the centers of each of the flowers and one in the top of a petal in the largest flower. Piercing the metal can be done with a sewing needle or push pin. I placed the flowers onto a cardboard box so that I would not pierce the table. Now you can shape your flowers, I rolled up the edges using a pin.
I assembled my flowers into earrings.
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If you are lucky enough to possess a Sizzix machine this can be easily accomplished without a lot of effort, and with many different shapes.
What did you use to cut the cans? I bought some tin shears to use with copper but didn't know if it would be a good or bad idea to use them on the aluminum.
ReplyDeleteThank you, cute stuff, great tutorial!
I just used normal kitchen scissors. I find the aluminum is so thin that it's actually quite easy to cut with little pressure. I've never used tin shears, but would imagine it would work just as well.
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