Basic Skills:

To learn specific designs, click: DESIGNS

Making Tubes:

Make a strip of the appropriate width and length for your project. Flatten it a bit by running the edge of a flat object (or a table edge) along the strip's length in the direction of the curl. Use a round pen to curl the long edges of the strip. Then roll the pen until the strip is curled into a roll all along its length.

Carefully thread it through the roller as shown in the video below. The main tricks to using the roller are:

  1. Never let the un-passed part of the strip get crossed over itself (in other words, hold the bottom part of the tube in the desired rolled shape as you pass the middle/top part of the tube through the roller).

  2. As you pass the roller down the tube, it helps to twist the roller in the same direction that the strip is rolled in (or do the functionally-identical thing by twisting the tube in its winding direction as you pass it through the roller).

  3. For safety and ease of use, you should wrap a cloth or paper towels around the part of the tube you are gripping and pulling on.

  4. Make your intitial threading through the roller by twisting the tube into a pointed shape (then untwisting it back into a tubular shape once the tip passes through the roller).

  5. If the rolling goes badly, don't try to fix it. Discard it and start over with a new piece.

  6. Never grip the tube and shove it with enough force that it might cut your hand if your hand slips. You should be able to thread the tube through the hole applying minimal force, and if you find yourself trying to jam it through, you're doing it wrong. If you do decide to apply force, use a rubber gripper or towel to protect your hand from laceration.

You can multiply the strength of tubing by inserting tubes inside tubes.

When you're making a small tube, it can be hard to separate the panels from the can. I recommend cutting the first panel at an acute angle, then making a series of shallower angled cuts so that the top of the panel is shaped like a semicircle. Then it's easy to insert your knife in the can so you can make a cut that's parallel to the top surface of the can.