I have been making these since my mum discovered the golden treasure inside a tomato puree tube when washing up once when I was a kid. Every Christmas we would make decorations. It’s a beautiful material and something that would otherwise be discarded. You can use any metal tube; you can find them in food and skincare products quite widely available.

Top Tips: 

-   The metal can sometimes be sharp but try to round off any sharp bits using your scissors. Children will need to be supervised.

-   Cutting metal actually sharpens your scissors so don’t worry about blunting them.

-   Think carefully about how to use the most of your material. Don’t just place your template it in the centre. You can use offcuts to make small shapes for garlands and gift tags.

-   Practice making marks on some offcuts to see what works best. You can make different effects by drawing on the reverse side too.

-   You can use your spoon to smooth out and erase any drawings that may go wrong.

What you need:

-   A tomato puree tube or similar (washed out and opened into a rectangle)

-   A magazine or book for leaning on (this helps with embossing)

-   A teaspoon for smoothing

- A tool for drawing such as an old ballpoint pen (with no ink left), a pencil, end of a paintbrush, or my favourite - clay sculpting tools

-   Scissors (small pointy ones are best)

-  Ribbon or string for hanging

- A template for your chosen shape or design

(Or you can download and print Louise's Owl Template HERE)

Method:

• Carefully cut the top and bottom off the tube, and up one side, to reveal a square of glorious gold. Wash out and dry.

• Place your metal on a tea towel, book or magazine. Smooth it out using the back of a spoon. You can do it on the reverse side so as not to spoil the gold. 

• Cut out the template by placing it onto the metal and drawing around the shape. Make sure you place it to one edge so as to use the least amount of the material. 

• On the pieces of metal left over, practice your drawing marks. See how they differ when you draw from the reverse side of the metal. You can play with lines, cross hatching, circles, dots and wiggles.

• Now draw details onto your bird. You can use my lines as reference or take a look at pictures of real owls. I like looking at Victorian illustrations of birds for inspiration, as well as Mexican tin ornaments.

• Be careful making a hole for the hanging loop. Add a nice ribbon to really bring the decoration to life.

Thanks to Louise for this sweet activity!

Louise Lockhart is an illustrator living on a farm in rural Wales. She spends her days creating designs from paper cut outs and line drawings, observing little things that others may overlook. Her bright and colourful work is instantly recognisable and she has applied her designs to everything from pyjamas to biscuit tins. Louise also makes her own products for you and your home, which she sells in her online shop The Printed Peanut.

Louise has created a discount code for our readers. Use code: OWLNUT10 to take 10% off your first order at  http://www.theprintedpeanut.co.uk/

Enjoy!