Upcycled Red White And Blue Aluminum Can Cuff

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis2

Time for this month's Designer Craft Connection Blog Hop and the theme this time is "Celebrations" so happy birthday, America!! My present to you is this tutorial on how to cut aluminum cans and then how to use the metal to decorate a brass cuff. I love aluminum cans and after cutting apart thousands of them, I have finally come up with the best, easiest and quickest way to do it. Once you cut apart a can, you can use the flattened aluminum can to make all sorts of lovely things - die cut flowers, bird house roofs, embossed shapes for cards... the list is endless. And the best part - the cans are free! (Although, I must confess that I did buy the Budweiser can that I used in this tutorial - but only because it was so pretty!)

Here's how:

Upcycled Red White & Blue Aluminum Can Cuff

Materials:

Brass Cuff
Aluminum can of your choice

Tools:

for cutting aluminum can

Kitchen Shears (these work great on aluminum)
Needle tool / awl / or ice pick
2 plastic chopping boards
Ruler
Cutting mat
Heavy duty gloves and safety glasses

for making cuff

3/16" rivets - 1/6" long
Rivet Piercing & Setting Tool
Paper tape

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis4

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis5 I like to poke the holes at the "seam" where the printed pattern sort of overlaps to keep as much of the design as usable as possible.

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis6

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis7

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis8

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis9

Now flip the can over in your hand so that you can cut the bottom.

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 10

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 11 Trim off all the jagged edges so that you have a nice rectangle.

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 12

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 13 It only takes 3 or 4 "pulls" to make the sheets nice and flat.

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 14

To cut an aluminum strip:

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 15

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 16 This is the coolest! Just flex the aluminum once or twice and if you scored it hard enough (but not too hard), it will snap apart cleanly with no sharp edges!!

Now onto the bracelet:

Look at the end of the brass cuff. See how the center part is flat and then the corners are curved? Measure the flat part and cut a strip just a little narrower than that. (If the strip is too wide then it bunches up and gets all "pokey" if you try to bend it over the curved corners.)

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 17

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 18

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 19

This little tool has a piercing side and a rivet setting side. It will easily pierce through the brass cuff and two layers of aluminum.

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 20

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 21

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 22

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis 23

Rivet on more strips of aluminum to really customize the cuff.

Red White and Blue Aluminum Can Cuff by Carmen Flores Tanis3

I love how these cuffs look so "Wonder Woman"! Here's another bracelet made using a fruit punch soda can.

Tiki-Bracelet-by-Carmen-Flores-Tanis
Pretty fun, huh?! Now that you know how to cut cans apart, if you're like me, it won't be long before you have a big stash of flattened aluminum sheets all ready for new crafting adventures! Have fun!!

----------------------------

You can see lots more July Craft ideas by following along on the Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop. Just click on the "hop forward" or "hop back" buttons on the badge to visit the next site. You'll be inspired when you see all that the Designers have created!