Ninja Star Thumb Tacks

If you've been with Instructables for a while, you've probably seen some images of ninja star (shurken) thumb tacks floating around. In this Instructable I will be showing you how to make your own for about a dollar.

First, get your materials. For this, you will need:

Plastic Ninja Stars- I found some at my local dollar store in the kids section. They usually have a plastic ring around them so no one gets hurt. I got three stars and a knife for a dollar! What a deal!

Aluminum Tape- Very strong, and very shiny tape. I prefer it over duct tape. I'm not sure where to get it, but try Home Depot or some other home improvement store.

(RamDragon says:
aluminum tape is often found in auto repair stores sold as trim, tough some kinds can be found around heating and plumbing sections of hardware stores. Just, you know. FYI.)

Staples


Tools:
Scissors
Stapler
Dremel, or something else that can cut plastic, like a saw.

First, you have to get the ninja stars ready.

Using your Dremel, or other cutting tool, get rid of that safety ring.

Then, pick a point, and cut it off. Try to make the cut as straight as possible.

Since my design for the ninja star thumb tacks is pretty weak, you can't just push them into the wall. They'll break. You have to make the holes before hand. You can do what I'm about to describe, or just take a real thumb tack and make two holes that are the same distance apart as the legs on a staple.

So, using a stapler, put a staple in the wall. I recommend putting it in vertically, like in the picture because A) that's how ninja stars are thrown. Vertically, not Frisbee style, and B) this way is much stronger. (I'll explain that later)

Take the staple out of the wall somehow. I used my fingernails, but you can use a thin blade something. Just be careful, please. You can chose to save the staple for the next step, or get a new one. Your choice.

Now it's time to make the amputee ninja star into a thumbtack.

Using scissors, cut a little piece of silver tape that is about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long, and a little narrower than a staple.

Now, use that piece of tape and tape a staple onto the ninja star's stump, or if you feel like it, don't use tape and glue it. Your call.

Now, just put the ninja star thumb tack into the wall where you made your holes earlier. You can use it to hold up papers, or just use it as decoration like I did.

The reason the ninja tacks should be vertical is because the tape can't support the weight of the plastic star when it's horizontal. It'll just bend and the ninja star will be parallel with the wall. Not cool. Diagonal could work and looks pretty good. That's what I did for my first ninja star thumb tack.

Draw blood with red marker for added effect.