Hanging Colander Lamp Shade

Step 3 Cutting the circle

I would recommend wearing ear protection for this step. The sound of a dremel disk against a resonating metal object is unbelievably loud. It would also be a good idea to do this on a soft surface, to dampen the noise. Sparks do fly, so make sure that the soft surface is not too flammable. Eye protection is probably a good idea as well.

If you have not used a dremel tool to cut metal before, I would recommend starting well inside the line. It is so much easier to make the hole bigger if it turns out to be too small than to make it smaller when it turns out to be too big.

Try to keep the dremel tool's wheel vertical, to keep the cuts cleaner. Turn it on, and slowly touch it to the colander, and put very light pressure on it, while holding it firmly. As soon as it is through the metal, lift it up, and move to the next cut. It took me 10 cuts to complete the circle, (okay, the decagon) but this is not an important number.

The hole does not have to be perfect, although it is a good idea to smooth the edges a big, either with a file or the dremel tool. As you can see, the hole will not be anything like the pretty circle we drew.