New way to open cans.

My dear friend Paula from Picardcreative does neat things with lids to tin cans. You know, fruit, veggies, beans, spaghetti, etc.



I love that one.

Anyway, I wanted to save lids for her also. One problem: no can opener that opens without the rough edges.

Looked *all* over town and no one had one. No one had even HEARD of them. Granted, this is Kansas, but are we *really* that far in the dark ages???

Time to think outside of the box!

My first experiment was on a can of beans. Not only did it work, it worked so well that now the lefty in the house can open cans too!

Here is a pic tutorial of how to do it with a "normal" can opener.

Can of pears. My snack. Here's to hoping it stays down. (I'm home sick from work)



Here is the can with my regular can opener. I think I paid $5 for it at walmart a thousand years ago.



I turned the can horizontal instead of vertical, like it should be...
(NOTE: you can see the can is punctured by looking at the handle...it's shut)



I've gone all the way around the can now, and slightly moved the lid away to show you. The good thing about doing it this way is that it doesn't fall into the can, it stays with the opener. The bad thing is it's hard to open tuna cans, you have to drain the tuna in a strainer. Oh, and occasionally you get a ribbon of paper in your food. It's easy to pull out, though. (One way around that is to remove the label *before* you open it)



Final pic, the lid is off. The sharp edges of the can have been happily smooshed to the lid, and are no longer a threat.



I'm sure Paula would love more lids, and now you don't have to get a new opener just to help her! Use the "contact" button in her studio to ask her where to ship the lids.

The Grande Experiment

If I can get even one set of these beads to do what I want it to do, by whatever method, I'll post the detailed instructions.

That said, I've made a big mess. I've been making some fabric beads, using three different types of glue.

The first two sets were cut differently, and glued with your regular run of the mill white glue, slightly watered down. Once they are completely dried, I will find a way to coat, or at least lightly saturate, them with polyurethane. I have high gloss right now, but if it works, I'll be buying small cans of semi gloss and matte/flat. The polyurethane is so they don't fall apart if you happen to get them wet.







These next four were done with Gem Tack by Beacon. They were slightly less messy than the white glue, and this glue was designed to add individual rhinestones to your things. It is not meant to be drycleaned, but from what I gather, won't fall apart when you wash it or get it wet.



This last set was glued with Dazzle Tack, also by Beacon. Ohmygosh what a mess. The glue is clear and slightly runny, and seems to dry really quick. The upside is that if it's going to stick to my fingers like that, hopefully it will stick the fabric together.

Again, not for drycleaning, but I'm fairly sure that no one sends their jewelry to the cleaners on a regular basis.




More updates to follow when I'm done watching glue dry! ;-)