THE GREAT COOKIE CUTTER CAPER

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Have you ever looked at a large pile of tin cans—flattened for recycling—and thought they must be good for something other than filling up the trash bin?

Well, you're right! With tinsnips, a pair of needle-nosed pliers, and your own fertile imagination you can turn that heap of metal into a collection of cookie cutters which will rival store-bought cutters costing 50¢ apiece or more. The variety of shapes is limited only by your inventiveness and dexterity.

First, check your supply of empty tins. The cans that most vegetables, fruits, and pet foods come in are about the right size for star and heart shapes. Gingerbread men and animal outlines will require something larger, perhaps one- or two pound coffee cans.

Once emptied, the containers should be thoroughly washed and the labels, tops, and bottoms removed. (Most can openers take off the ends without leaving sharp metal edges . . . but check—carefully—to make sure, and discard any cans with jagged rims.) Flatten the resulting cylinders, and use tinsnips to cut an inch-wide strip from the top and another from the bottom. These closed, double strips will be bent into shapes for the cookie cutters. (Return the center portions to the scrap pile until you can come up with a use for them!)

A heart-shaped cutter is probably the easiest to make and the best to start with. Simply pull the flattened circle of meta apart in the center to make a football shape, and then bend one of the pointed ends inward. With needle-nosed pliers, it's no kick at all.