Save your discarded tin cans of all sizes to use in art projects.
Americans generate millions of tons of trash each year. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 220 million tons of garbage are thrown away every year in the U.S. alone. Reduce some of that volume by repurposing your tin or aluminum cans into art projects. Creating with tin cans affords you the opportunity to practice new techniques inexpensively while using a wide variety of colors and styles.
Tin Can Collage
Create a collage using colorful metal pieces from tin cans in the style of David Wasserman, a New York artist. Start by drawing a picture on a piece of plywood. Determine the different colors needed to fill in the drawing. Using tin snips, cut pieces of cans and then nail the pieces to the wood, "painting" the drawing with sections of cans. Wasserman has recreated baseball cards and posters and made life-sized portraits using portions of cans.
Tin Can Place Setting
Make place settings for a party with tin cans. After washing and drying a can for each guest, spray-paint the cans with two coats. Glue three large wood beads on the bottom of the container. Cut down the top of the can and then firmly bend it in with needle-nose pliers to remove any sharp edges. Paint the containers black to look like a witch's cauldron and add a handle to complete the look. After painting the cans pink, write the guests' names on them with a white paint-pen for a tea party, or use blue and white for a winter-themed party.
Tin Can Jewelry
Jewelry formed from tin cans is a wearable form of pop art. Choose your favorite canned beverage. Cut the top and bottom off the can and then cut up the side; flatten the remaining piece of can to make a sheet of tin. Trace a simple shape on the logo of the can to create a charm. Consider drawing a circle, a key shape or a bird. Cut out the shape and then carefully bend in the edges with needle-nose pliers. Pierce the top of the charm with a hammer and nail to make a small hole. Slip a ball chain with a necklace clasp through the charm. You can add several tin can charms to finish the necklace.
Maracas
Use tin cans to make colorful maracas. Insert beans, small jingle bells or rice in the opening in the top of the can. Stick a thick dowel in the opening of the can and then tape it in place. To keep the items inside the can from sticking to the tape, first poke the dowel through a piece of plastic wrap; cover it with several strips of masking or duct tape. Finish the maraca with layers of papier mache. When the maraca is dry, apply paint, let it dry again and then shake it.
Robots
Build robots from many different sizes and shapes of tin cans. You can hang these sculptures in your garden to use them as a wind chime that doubles as a scarecrow. Start with a large coffee can for the "body" and a smaller coffee can for the "head." Attach four or more small tin cans with thin wire to use as legs and arms, and for the hands and feet, use small potted meat or square sardine cans. Continue to add recycled materials to make the robot's facial features, buttons and accessories. For example, you can use bottle tops for eyes, and bend pieces of wire into a mouth shape or use them as fingers.
