Punched Tin Lantern

Step 4 Punching the design - jig

Attach the pattern to a piece of wood. I taped my pattern but it tore up so I'd recommend glue. Put a second piece of wood beneath, and drill holes as marked. Make two holes off to the side- this allows you to align the pieces of wood later. The holes should be slightly larger than the nail you're using to make holes.

The jig helps deal with the corrugation - without it you don't have control where your holes go, as they end up in the valleys. The jig also prevents hammering your thumbs :).

Put the metal between the two pieces of wood and punch the holes through with a nail. As you do this, you may find that some of the wood disintegrates - mine fell apart on the last panel, but it still saved a lot of time. When it's all done, fill in any missing holes by hand.

Make sure you put the painted side down if your cans are painted inside. This ensures you get the shiny side on the outside with the poky parts inwards. If you didn't get the ends cleanly off the can, this will put the sharp leftovers inside the lantern.

Do three of the four sides - the fourth one needs to have the door attached before you punch holes in it.