If you like the look of hammered tin, you’ll like this project. It’s tin as in “tin foil,” but it produces a similar effect. Your children will enjoy this project, even the older kids, because it produces results far more attractive than typical cut and glue projects and it makes great gifts.
*Children require adult supervision during this activity
Items Needed:
- Picture Frame
- Aluminum foil or foil wrapping paper
- Cardboard, cork, or protected work surface
- Leather punch or medium size nail
- Light duty hammer
- Colored paper or fabric
First, you’ll need to choose a picture frame. A black frame with silver trim is perfect if you’re using aluminum foil for your project. Gold trim works great if you use gold foil wrapping paper, and either trim looks nice with other colors of foil.
Start by cutting a piece of foil appropriate for the size of the opening in your frame. Crumble the foil, but do so gently so that you don’t tear it. Then gently smooth out the foil and place it on top of a piece of cardboard or preferably cork to protect the work surface and to make it easier to punch holes.
Next, you will need to create a design. A star, a heart, or a flower shape work well. You can draw the design on the backside of the foil. Punch holes through the foil to achieve the desired shape (the holes should be spaced rather than making a solid line). You can use a leather punch to make the holes, or if you don’t have one, use a medium sized nail and a light duty hammer.
When complete, turn the foil over and smooth any rough edges surrounding the holes. Place in a picture frame, adding a piece of paper or fabric behind your artwork so color shows through the holes. You may want to cut the foil art down about 1″ around so the colored paper shows around the edges, making the artwork look as if it’s matted