We all love small accessories, and they are often available in abundance at market stalls and carts. These cute, trendy items like keychains, pens, cups, rings and bracelets, among many others, are popular with both boys and girls.

Yes, it’s super cool to buy them, but it’s even cooler to make these small, nifty accessories yourself! Not only is it a fun way to unleash your creativity, but it’s also light on your pocket, saving you the expense of buying them elsewhere.

Today, let’s make an accessory we all adore, a keychain. Its purpose has evolved over time — from being a simple keychain to something we now love to hang on our bags for a stylish, personalised touch. But whatever your purpose of making it, this project is all about creativity and fun. So, let’s get started and create something amazing!

Items you need:

1. Foam sheet (colour of your choice), I used pink

2. Glue tube

3. Hot glue

4. Ruler

5. Pencil

6. White paper

7. Scissors

8. Key chain ring, or you can use a string

Directions:

1. On white paper, draw six evenly spaced triangles. The height of each triangle determines the size of the cap, so make sure to adjust it accordingly. In the example shown here, each triangle is slightly more than one-centimetre-tall, see picture 2.

2. Cut out the triangular shape from the white paper. Use this as a stencil to trace and cut the same shape from the foam sheet, pictures 3 and 4.

3. Ask an elder for assistance with the hot glue. Use the glue to join both ends of the foam sheet to form a circular shape, pictures 5 and 6.

4. Carefully use hot glue to join one corner of the triangle to its opposite, picture 7.

5. As you join all the corners of the triangles, you’ll notice it naturally forms a cap shape, picture 8.

6. To finish, secure the top centre where all the corners meet by attaching a small circle cut from the foam sheet. This will resemble the button on the top of a cap, picture 9.

7. It’s time to cut the front visor of the cap. Using the same foam sheet, cut a wide oval shape. Trim the top edge slightly inward to help secure it to the cap’s dome; see pictures 10 and 11.

8. If you have an old or discarded keychain, you can attach it to the cap. If not, a simple string works just as well. Secure it firmly to the cap. Decorate the cap as you like to give it a personal touch, picture 12.

The writer can be contacted at [email protected]

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 7th, 2024