Ornamental Metal (Teagan)

These are the ornaments I made from the soda cans.

Initial thoughts

When I was trying to find something to make I looked through the Eco Craft book to find ideas. The ornamental metal caught my eye because it looked like a cool way to turn a piece of recycling into a decoration.

Materials

aluminum soda pop cans

copper or brass wire

miscellaneous large holed beads

Tools

scissors

cardboard

pushpin or tack

Make it

Using ordinary craft scissors and top off a soda can to render a flat sheet of aluminum. Roll the sheet back on itself if you need to so that the aluminum will lay flat.
Create a square or diamond-shaped template out of paper, then tape it to your sheet of aluminum and cut out a piece.
Place a piece of cardboard under your ornament and pierce the metal with a sturdy pushpin to create the punched pattern. You can freehand the design or draw in advance with a soft pencil.
Cut a 4-inch piece of thin wire and thread it through the hole at the top of the ornament. Twist to secure and then add beads and make a loop with the wire and twist again.

Review

I thought the process of making the ornaments was difficult on the first two I made but as I continued to make them it got easier and they started to look better. The book was easy to understand and had detailed descriptions and pictures that made it clear. Anyone could open the book and do the activity it was not super difficult. Some things that I changed from the book was I used pipe cleaners instead of wire because it was what I found in the maker space that worked just as well. Another thing I did differently was I weaved the pipe cleaner through the holes I punched to make it look more like a Christmas tree.

What Next

Page updated

Report abuse