Tinfoil Rickrack Tutorial

We're going to get crazy with tinfoil!  That's right: tinfoil. Aluminum foil. It's the perfect material in all its glittery silver splendor. It's cheap. It's plentiful. It's in your kitchen right now. It's there for you in a pinch, but you'll also want to use it for its own sake. Really. You won't believe what we will be able to do with it.

For example, if you haven't seen the snowflakes on my Paisley Santa Christmas Cards, you must check out the full post here. They almost look like ice crystals! And my latest burlap card garland is a huge hit! It can be found by clicking here.

Pin It
But for right now, here's the basic tinfoil tutorial. {Tinfoil Rickrack and "Waffle Cloth" Tutorial!}  I'll unveil all sorts of fun things at the end of this post...

I promise.

The only tool you must have is a crimper. It's worth it. You can use it for many types of projects. Get one when they're on sale at your craft store and you'll pay less than 10 bucks. {Get one wide enough for an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. It will make life easier.} 

The other tool for creating the rickrack: wavy scissors {super cheap}.

Tear off a portion of tinfoil no wider than your crimper. Fold the foil in half {at least}, shiny side out, to give it more substance. Feed it through your crimper.

Here's what it looks like on the first run. 

Now, feed it through again going the opposite direction. This will create a grid pattern. Do that a couple of times. It will look like this: 

Now you have a fairly sturdy mesh or "waffle cloth" that you can work with. The thickness of the "cloth" depends on how many times you fold your foil before you start the crimping process. 

Want buttons like this? Click HERE
Social Media Button Installing? Tutorial here

To create your rickrack, just clip with wavy scissors.  

Notice you can achieve all kinds of patterns depending upon how you crimp the tinfoil. You can vary the width of your rickrack. You can also vary the thickness: for the rickrack, I like folding the tinfoil in thirds before crimping.

Of course, you can also use punches to create tinfoil embellishments like I did with these snowflakes.  In that case, only fold the tinfoil in half before crimping. You don't want it too thick for the punch. 

And with some punches, the opening is so narrow that you will still have to flatten the foil after you've made it into a mesh. No problem. I just grabbed a jar and 'ironed' it across the mesh to flatten it out. {You will still have a lovely design.}

Ok...I want to hear and see your ideas for how you might use this rickrack and tinfoil "waffle cloth"! Lots of cute options for holiday cards. What else? 

Check out The Best of 2012!

You might also be interested in: Star of Wonder Burlap Bags.
-and- Beautiful vintage fabric collage gift bags
See my Creative HITS of 2011


Here are all the tinfoil projects so far!!!!

Share your creations. 

Party with the Wildly Original Crowd now!  

I'm sharing this tutorial at these parties:
Monday:  Craftomaniac, Making The World Cuter, Project Queen, The Girl Creative, Debbiedoo's Newbie Party, The Gunny Sack; Tuesday:  Tip Junkie, Today's Creative Blog; Wednesday:  Blue Cricket Design, Nest of Posies, Savvy Southern Style; Thursday: Shabby Nest;  Friday:  Finding Fabulous, My Simple Home Life, Romantic Home, Tatertots and Jello, Thirty Handmade Days; Saturday:  Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors, French Country Cottage, I Can't Stop Crafting; Sunday: Nifty Thrifty Things, Under The Table and Dreaming Holiday: Home For The Holidays at Uncommon