Introduction: Tin Can Art

About: I love to stay home as much as as I love to travel, I've been to 49 states (missing Alaska) and 31 countries. I have two wiener dogs now and a cat. We all live together in a house in the woods. With no roaches.

I knew a real Tin Man, his name was Bobby Hansson. Not only did he write the definitive work on the tin can (The Fine Art of the Tin Can), but he was an accomplished photographer, sculptor, blacksmith, musician and maker of musical instruments; a true Renaissance Artist. He died in 2015. I wrote this 'ible a few years ago but have just now edited it to reflect Bobby's life in the past tense. Very sad to change the "is" to "was", the "know" to "knew", and I think of him every day still. To pay a bit of tribute for all the wonderful artwork and humor he has added to the world here is a Valentine appropriate in style to honor him, but easy enough for anyone to make something quite similar for someone they love.

Step 1: Supplies

  • A variety of cans
  • A frame or a bracelet
  • Tins snips
  • Cotter pins
  • Gorilla glue, super and reguar
  • Drill, drill bits
  • A photo of your Valentine
  • Some glass or plastic to put the photo behind
  • Something to act as a heart, I used a cookie mold but anything at all may be used
  • Plastic doll arms
  • Folding ruler
Many of these items are optional as you may find that glue alone is enough to secure your "person", or you may want to simply mount your photo on some posterboard and set it on top with maybe a tab cut into the "body" can to hold it in place.

Step 2: Pick a Can for the Body

Picking out a can that will be the body will help direct all the rest of your work. Make sure your body can has a lid, that is really important for attaching a head. The can should also have a bottom as this will make attaching the legs easier than without.

The size of the body will determine how big the legs will need to be, the face, arms, etc. But all bodies and body parts are very open to exaggeration. You can have really long arms or legs, every thing can be totally out of real proportion, your own eyes will guide you as we tend to see the human body in all sorts of things that are not even human.

Position whatever you are going to use for arms so you will know at what angle to cut holes or slits. You may put arms on one at a time with a rivet gun and rivets, or chose as I did to let the ruler stay in one piece to create stability.

Step 3: Arms

I used some folding rulers and doll hands for the arms, they were in proportion to the can I had picked out to be the body. I had the hands hold the heart and see where they need to be positioned to be able to do that, then cut the body can accordingly.

Step 4: Legs, Feet and a Base

It's trial and error to find cans that end up being the same height when stacked, you may end up just using some more ruler pieces. But whatever you use, try to make sure you end up with some feet, the feet can then be secured to a base and then your Valentine will look that much better and be more stable. An added plus to a base that is another tin can, is that you may fill it with rocks to weigh it down if your Valentine is a bit top heavy or prone to tipping over. The bottom tin can is also a great hiding place for money or jewelry.

Step 5: Attach the Legs to the Body

If this was a larger Valentine project I would use a rivet gun and rivets, but with such small tin cans you will easily get away with just using glue. I added some felt pads to give the top of the legs a surface to be glued to the bottom of the body tin can, but you may use cardboard or wood pieces from your ruler.

Felt pads will make things a tad wobbly if they are too thick, but if you need a bit of flex they are perfect, cardboard will create a stiffer "join".

Step 6: The Head

Chose a photo of your sweetie and encase it in something like a small picture frame, or cut out a head shape from some tin cans. I had a funny magnifier that fit well inside the bracelet I was using as a frame, as with all projects that are unique, you will use what you have on hand and it will end up being great.

I added a tin can to the back of the bracelet so I had a surface to glue Bobby's head to. I used Gorilla glue here as it expands as it drys and acts like caulk in that it fills up the whole area with expanded glue. I simply peeled off the dried glue that was in places I didn't want it to be seen.

Step 7: I Love Cotter Pins

They seem like a very forgotten fastener. I use them all the time though and just love them. In this case I drilled holes in the bracelet, then the lid of the body and inserted two cotter pins and that was that.

Step 8: Happy Valentines Day!

Put on your lid with the head attached and you are done, your sweetie will be thrilled. You could even put a treasure inside to be found when the head is lifted off. Chocolates? A ring? Post photos of what you have made and I will send you a patch.