Wear your heart on your sleeve.

LET your love shine! Spring a surprise for your beloved by presenting a handmade heart of shiny hearts as a symbol of your affection. It shows that you think he/she is worth all the time you sacrificed in producing your labour of love.

The soda cans bases, with their sunken centres, serve as an interesting element of this heart plaque. They are linked up in parts before being joined together as a whole, which is then attached to the board as the hearts are embedded within the circles.

Beautiful memento: This Plaque of Love is made out of soda cans.

Plaque

From soda cans and mounting board

You need:

2 Coca-Cola soda cans

12 soda can bases

20 soda can tabs

A3 paper

Mounting board – 31sqcm

Red satin ribbon – 40cm

Thin wire

Pencil and ruler

Old ballpoint pen – no ink

Scissors and cutter

Piercing tool

Pliers

UHU glue

Sponge

Acrylic paints – blue and red

1. Follow the measurements in the diagram to cut away the shaded area of the A3 paper. Fold the paper in half, lengthwise. Follow the measurements to draw the heart shape and cut away the shaded areas.

2. Place the paper template onto the mounting board, trace the outline and cut it out.

3. Dilute the blue acrylic paint with a little water and use the sponge to apply it all over the board, including the sides. Mix the red paint with a little water and sponge it all over the blue layer. Leave the board to dry.

4. Cut out the top and base of the Coca-Cola soda cans. Open up the can into a long strip. Draw a heart shape on a piece of 4cm sq scrap paper. Use that as a template to draw and cut out 20 hearts from the soda can.

5. Cut out 12 bases from soda cans. Trim the sides to reduce it to 0.4cm. Pierce a set of holes, 0.5cm apart on the sides of four bases. Link one circle to another with a short length of wire passed through the holes on the sides. Join four pieces together in a row as shown.

6. Follow the diagram to join up the soda can bases with wires attached to the pierced holes on the sides, into one singular piece.

7. Turn the piece of soda cans over, with the outside facing up. Place it onto the painted board.

8. Place a soda can heart into the sunken soda can circle at the center. Pierce a set of holes (vertical) into the heart, right through the soda can circle and board. Bend a short length of wire and pass the ends into the holes and twist them together at the back of the board to fasten the heart and circles to the board. Next, fasten soda can hearts to the top two and bottom circles. Then attach the rest of the circles with soda can hearts.

9. Pierce a set of holes in the middle of the top of the board. Pass the ends of the red satin ribbon into them from front to back. Thread the two sides of the ribbon in and out of the holes of five soda can tabs (three tabs are placed with two tabs with their backs together) to link them up. Tie a knot at the top tab. Tie another knot at the ends of the ribbon to form a loop for hanging.

10. Cut the rest of the eight soda can hearts into half. Pair up the print sides and the silver sides together into two-colour hearts. Glue four hearts onto each side of the board.

11. Arrange soda can tabs around the heart board, in between the hearts. Bend a short length of wire over the middle separating the two holes of a tab.

Pierce a set of holes onto the board for attaching the ends of the wire through them. Twist the ends of the wire at the back to secure the tabs.

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