Tin Can Stars

I had the idea of making something out of recycled soft drink cans for a long time but I never could decide what to do. Then once I realized how easy it is to cut the aluminium with normal scissors I just fell into it and played around with a few different star shapes. Eventually I decided on this 6 point star because it is easy to cut and easy to manipulate.

This is the finished project, hanging on the porch outside the front door. It is made up of stars from different kinds of soft drinks (and a few beers).

I connected them with beads and fishing line.

I didn't realise it at the time of making it, but now that it is finished I like the fact that there are a combination of English logos and Arabic logos. All the cans here in Dubai has the English logo on one side of the can and the Arabic logo on the other side. As I could get two stars out of each can I have a good mix of the two languages. This will be a nice memento of our time in Dubai for the years to come when we don't live here anymore...

I added a few beads and bells to the bottom to finish it off.
The 'blank' stars are made by using the inside of the can as the front. The printed side is on the back.

As usual, I had this very professional plan to work from! :-)

I gave it to my husband as a birthday gift and he is very happy with it. I am also quite satisfied with the way it came out in the end, although in retrospect, I would make a few changes to it if I do it again. (not soon - it is quite labour intensive!) I would make the beaded connections a bit shorter to give it a more dense appearance. As you can see from the 'plan' the different colour stars are suppose to be in the shape of a star. This is not very obvious in the finished product because the stars are to far apart. I would also use either stronger fishing line or proper beading wire. I had to redo a few connections because the fishing line broke.

I am thinking about making a tutorial for this one. It will be my first tutorial so it will be a good challenge. If anyone is interested in a tutorial, can you please let me know in the comments, please.