How to Make Flower Rain Chains

Flowers

• 1

  Set an empty aluminum soft drink can top-side down on a solid work surface. Drill a 1/4-inch diameter hole through the center of the bottom of the can.

• 2

  Cut the top 1-inch off of the can with a pair of tin snips. Be careful not to cut yourself on the sharp edge of the cut aluminum.

• 3

  Draw flower petal designs on the outside of the remaining portion of the cut can with a black marker. To create lily petal shapes, the petals need to be long and narrow with pointed tips. To draw rose-shaped petals the top edge of each petal will be softly rounded. Do not draw lines or cut petals any lower than 1 1/2 inches from the bottom of the can.

• 4

  Cut along the drawn lines with the tin snips. When finished cutting out the petal shapes, bend the individual petals outward in a gentle flare.

• 5

  Repeat Steps 1 through 4 to create a total of five flower rain cups for a 9-1/2-foot flower rain chain.

• 6

  Spray all the completed aluminum can flowers inside and out with a copper-colored, metal exterior spray paint.

Tubing

• 7

  Using a copper tube cutter (a small hand tool used to cut through copper tubing and pipes), cut two, 1-inch lengths of copper tubing for each copper flower. Drill a 1/16-inch hole through each 1-inch section of tubing at the middle point. Drill through both walls of the tube.

• 8

  Cut 19, 6-inch lengths of copper tubing with the tube cutter.

• 9

  Make a 1-inch diameter loop at the end of the 16-gauge copper wire. Measure off 12 feet from the loop and cut the wire.

Assembly

• 10

  Thread the tail end of the wire through two sections of 6-inch-long tubing. Pull the wire all the way through the tubing until the 1-inch diameter loop rests at the top of the first 6-inch long section. This creates the top end of the rain chain. Next, thread the wire through the drilled hole in the middle of a 1-inch length of copper tubing. Thread the wire through the hole on the inside of a flower cup. Below that, thread the wire through the drilled hole of another 1-inch length of copper tubing. The horizontal sections of tubing will hold the flower cup in place. Holding the rain chain by the loop, the flower cup is facing up so it can catch the downward flowing rain.

• 11

  Repeat Step 1 until all the flower cups and tubing have been laced onto the wire.

• 12

  Finish off the end of the rain chain by adding one last 1-inch section of copper tubing. Wrap the copper wire around it a number of times before cutting off the excess wire.