I love the twinkle and sparkle of Christmas and am a total fairy light addict but there is nothing quite like the soft glow and gentle glimmer of candle light. For this week’s Festive Friday I have been hammering tins again, this time making tin can lanterns to light up the dark Winter nights!
I’ve been collecting pull top food cans for some time and may now have a ridiculous number however that doesn’t excuse Mr TS who thoughtlessly squashed TWO to put in the recycling last week! I have an image in my mind of the house and garden decorated with hundreds of these lovelies all twinkling away, wouldn’t they look amazing hanging from the branches of our apple tree?
After advice from fellow bloggers I filled the cans with water and popped them in the freezer before using them this time. This means when you are hammering on your design the can doesn’t buckle and bend; for last year’s lanterns I used a drill so this wasn’t a problem but this time I was in a hammering mood!
I invited my lovely friend Sue over for a cuppa and a bit of a bash and we spent a lovely couple of hours catching up and creating a bit of Christmas at the same time.
We mixed up a bit of free style hammering with some more controlled patterns having discovered that it is actually really tricky to hammer a free style star on to a ridged can. For the stars I drew around a cookie cutter onto tracing paper which we then held onto our cans and hammered through. We used nails to hammer small holes and it took some trial and error, we weren’t sure how they were going to look once they were lit – they didn’t look very inspiring in the daylight…
But, pop a tea light candle inside, turn the room lights down low and they really come into their own!
Sue and I put our cans into the workbench and tightened it up gently so they didn’t get squashed but also didn’t move about. It’s a bit dangerous hammering a nail into a rolling object so, if you’re going to have a go, make sure your can is well secured. The workbench is still up in the kitchen because Bonus Boy is very keen to have a go – it’s going to keep us busy this weekend!
I love those lanterns, Chris. I was trying to think of what to put in our windows this year and you’ve answered the question. I have loads of tins hanging about! I hope mine turn out as well as yours. By the way, I’d love to join your Festive Friday Pinterest group – may I? I’m Adele Jarrett-Kerr on there.
Of course you may! Thanks Adele! 🙂 Do let me know how you get on with the tins! x
Twinkly gorgeousness I love them!
I’m so pleased with them! 🙂
I love your lanterns! I have a lot of tins waiting to be recycled and that’s exactly what I am going to do with them:)
What a beautiful idea! I cant believe nobody has thought of this yet. I just love it when something which was destined for the bin gets re-used in such a decorative way.
How cool! Really effective too – you really nailed it *boom boom*
I love these lanterns, and what a clever tip about filling them with water and freezing first! I am going to have to give this a go with our frugal Christmas this year. 🙂 I’ve linked up our frugal (ie: free, made with recycled materials I found outdoors) Christmas tree – I hope you like! Great idea for a blog linky too!
You are like seriously clever.
Can I have a badge?
wow your lanterns look amazing!
What I have done so that the cans don’t get misshaped is freeze water in the tin, then hammer the nails into the ice. Works well!
Yes, I mention that in the post! It works very well – if you wear gloves, brrrrr!