Xeramtheum's Down n Dirty Aluminum Plant Labels

After cutting myself numerous times trying to make plant markers out of pie plates and cans, I finally said to heck with it. So I grabbed my aluminum foil and started playing. After fashioning an aluminum marker that was heavy duty and I could actually write on I started perfecting my technique. Astonishingly enough, they really do work! So here goes.

What you need:

Heavy duty aluminum foil
A smooth something for smoothing out folds
Hole punch
Table in front of the tv
Really boring tv show you can listen to and not pay too much attention whilst working.

Step 1

Pull off a sheet of aluminum about 8 to 10 inches long, the length really doesn’t matter.

Step 2

Fold that in half and make a crease

Step 3

Open it up and tear it in half along the crease.

Step 4

Put one piece aside

Step 5

Fold the piece your working on in half (shiny or matte side .. either will do)

Step 6

Fold in half again. I like to fold it so the raggedy edge is not even with the smooth edge but slightly below it.

Step 7

Take what ever you got to smooth it out and smooth it out. I use a round pen.

Step 8

Now fold that not quite half long ways so there is enough to fold over and wide enough to punch a hole in it.

Step 9

Take your smoother and smooth it all out.


This message was edited Mar 20, 2007 5:38 PM

Step 10

Punch a hole on the thick side you folded over.

Step 11

Write on it with a ball point pen. I have found laying it on top of a magazine makes a deeper embossing.

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Maybe I'm just missing something ..................

What did you do with the pieces that you sat aside in step 4?

What do you attach your completed markers to ?

Great idea!

I made another marker out of it. I attach them to plants with twist tie or push them into soil.

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Just wanted to share a picture of an aluminum tag I made a year and a half ago that was buried. I happened to notice something coming out the ground that looked like a brug. I then remember I had planted a lot of brug cuttings in the Spring of 07 that I got from Nestor that had been languishing in the greenhouse for 2 years .. they never took off and I totally forgot about them, mowed over them, put pots on top of them etc. So I dug it up and lo and behold, one of my tags was attached and readable! These things really do work.

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