Spooky Moon

My inspiration for this project is an embossed aluminum box by Atomic Shrimp.  I read the directions, I watched the video–I even watched the FAQ video linked at the end of the instructional video. I still ended up doing a few things differently–but mostly I followed directions. I can do that. Sometimes.

We begin with a can of my favorite soda. My can is not as big as those for energy drinks, so I have less room to work with. This is the diagram from Atomic Shrimp. I didn’t end up using it.

First: cut an aluminum sheet out of the can. I found it was easier to start the top end with an craft knife, then I cut the rest with scissors.

In the video, he sands the paint off a full drink can. In the photo tutorial, he tapes down the cut out sheet. I preferred the latter. We used to go to a bakery that was right by a nail salon. The salon gave out maintenance kits that sometimes got dropped on the way to the car. That is how I obtained the free block sander that worked perfectly for this project.

I figured out a box shape that would use as much of the can as possible. Graph paper was my friend, as I am terrible at measuring things.

I incised the guide lines with a ball-point pen. I was a little too careful of breaking the metal, and didn’t push hard enough. Most of these lines had to be re-incised later.

Note the double-lines on the flap. That’s so the flap can fold over sharply without breaking.

I drew some light lines to guide my design.

I incised the design with a ball-point pen on the inside of the box.

To go around the design on the outside, I used a stylus, since I didn’t want ink to show. At this point, for no real reason, I decided it was time to cut out the box.  Here’s something I modified: I cut the corners of the flaps at a slight angle. This makes them fold over and fit much more easily.

Now the inside has been re-incised, and the design is complete.  GREAT BIG IMPORTANT NOTE: If your hands are weak or injured, don’t even try this. All the pressing to incise the design hurt. A lot. My mild tendonitis flared up like mad, and I was in a wrist brace for weeks. Heed my warning–this project is for tough fingers.

I notice the metal is a bit curvy. That’s going to make it hard to fold.

Naturally, I iron it. It took a few minutes on high heat, but it didn’t hurt the design, and it helped flatten the metal sheet quite a bit.

The corners got incised on the top side so they’d bend properly, and I folded according to instructions. I could have used an extra hand, but it turned out okay.

To make the bottom half, the center is 1/4″ smaller, and the sides are as much bigger as I could get out of the material.

I didn’t want to do any more hand incising, because OWIE, so I decided to try running the sheet through an embossing machine. I chose a kind of mottled gothic pattern.

It isn’t as deep, but it still looks pretty nice.

I decided not to sand the bottom, because I didn’t need a clear field to incise the design. This way I get to see where the box came from.

The lid is a little big, but I like it! Though I have to admit, I wouldn’t do it again by hand.

Raffle status: this thing is pretty delicate, but I think I can ship it.