After 5 days of working, I am finally proud to show you my Campbell's Soup Stool!

The 60s are one of my favorite decades even if I wasn't born yet...and one of the many things that come to my mind whenever I think of the 60s is Andy Warhol and his paintings!
His Campbell's Soup Can painting is so famous that I am sure that all of you know it, even if you are not an art lover.

I thought it would have been fun to make a big version of this can and turn it into a stool! And why not, even a useful container!

Plus red lucid leather reminds me very much of the 50s/60s style so this is definitely one of my favorite things between all the ones I have ever done!

I admit it took some time...but making it with so much fun!!! :)

Step 1: What You Need

cylindrical wood/plastic/hard cardboard bin - it must be strong enough for you to seat on!
red and white aerosol varnish
red, white, black, yellow acrylic paints
cutter
1cm (0.39 inches) thick upholstery foam
red artificial leather
adhesive tape
staple gun

In case you don't have a cover already, you need 2 pieces of wood.

Step 2:

First of all we have to paint the bin using the aerosol varnish.

Divide your bin in half: use a ruler to find the middle points and attach your adhesive paper all around the bin following those signs.

Now your bin is divided in 2 parts.
Color the upper part using the red aerosol varnish.
You may need to spray the varnish twice or even 3 times to make it "perfect"!

Let it dry and remove the tape.

Now place another piece of tape on the red part, following the same line you created before. Also cover the rest of the red part with a newspaper page so that you won't ruin it with the white paint.

Spray your second part using the white varnish and let it dry.
Remove the tape.

Ps: my bin had a handle and I decided to leave it there so that I could carry my stool more easily. In case you have it, paint that too.

Step 3:

As you wait for the varnish to dry, prepare your stencils!

Stencils will help you painting the written parts, it would be hard to do them otherwise!
I downloaded a picture of the "Campbell's" from the internet and I printed it on a regular piece of paper.
I couldn't really find the others, but they were pretty easy so I decided to draw all of them by myself on paper.
You can either do all of this by yourself or download the pictures here:
Campbell's
Tomato

Once you have printed or drawn your words, you have to draw little rectangles inside the letters, as you can see in the pictures...let's call them bridges!
Bridges are important because thanks to them, stencils won't break and they will keep the letter parts together.
It's even more important for letters that have circles inside, like A, P, B etc...
If you don't draw bridges, circles will be cut out from the stencil and your letters won't appear the way they should.

Now that you have your bridges, start to cut your words using a cutter.
Remember not to cut the bridges too!!
Try to be as accurate as possible.

The last stencil you have to draw is a simple circle.
Draw it on a piece of paper using a compass or a round shape.
Its diameter has to be about 10cm (3.93 inches). This also depends on how big your bin is...try to keep the right proportions.
Cut the circle out.

Your stencils are ready!

Step 4:

Now you have to prepare something that will allow you to paint with your stencil.
So cut a little square of upholstery foam and join its angles together with your fingers and secure it with adhesive tape. (see the pictures).
This will make the painting easier!

Take the Campbell's stencil and place it at the top of your bin's red part.

I used glue pads to stick the stencil to the stool but you can use adhesive tape too.
Just be careful when you remove it, it might ruin the varnish.

"Dirty" the top of your foam with some white acrylic paint and start to dab on the stencil.
Keep doing this on the whole word.
You may need to do this a couple of times to obtain a solid color.

When you think that it's enough, remove the stencil!

Step 5:

You're probably wondering what to do with the blank spaces left by the stencil's bridges...don't worry!
Simply use a thin brush and white acrylic paint to color those spaces.
You could also improve the edges of your letters with a brush, just in case they didn't turn out as they should.

And voilà! The Campbell's word is done! Isn't that amazing?

Now place the other stencils where the words should be and do the same!

The "condensed" word is white, and goes right under the Campbell's word.
The "Tomato" word is red and must be placed in the middle of the white part.
The "soup" word is black and goes right under the "Tomato" word.

Anyway, look at the pictures to see exactly where the words should be! :)

Step 6:

The circle stencil must be placed between the red and white parts, just where the line that divides them is.

Paint it with a yellow/orange acrylic paint.

Now use the same color and a little brush to paint some kind of "inside border" in the black "soup" word as you can see in the picture.

Keep using a brush to draw a red line all around your stool, at about 1cm (0.39 inches) from its very bottom.

Finally, draw little "stars" right above the red line, using the same yellow/orange paint you used before.

Step 7:

Let's give a final touch to the stool!

Paint a black shadow on the right of your "Cambell's" word's letters using black acrylic paint and a little brush.
This way the world will look tridimensional!

All this will probably take a while to do, but believe me, the result is worth it!!!

You can spray your whole stool with transparent varnish to protect the acrylic paint.

Step 8: The Cover/seat

In case you don't have a cover for your bin, you can use 2 pieces of wood to create it, like I did.

Simply cut one as big (or just a little bigger) as your bin's circumference.
Cut the other one 1 or 2cm (0.78 inches) smaller than the first one.
The smallest piece of wood will be attached to the bottom of the biggest one and it will keep it still on the stool.
You can use 2 screws to keep them together like I did. But before doing this, let's cover both of them!

Cut a circle from a piece of upholstery foam about 2cm (0.78 inches) bigger than the first wood circle.

Place that wood circle on the foam and using a staple gun, start to staple the foam to the upper side of the wood.
The upper side will actually become the bottom.
This is the way to do it: staple the 4 cardinal points first, then their half etc...
Always gently pull the foam.
Keep stapling this way to obtain a perfect circle.

Step 9:

Now take a piece of red artificial leather. It doesn't have to be perfect, just make sure that it's bigger than the seat.

Place it upside down on a table and lay your seat upside down in the middle of the leather.

Just like you did with the foam, pull the leather a little and start to staple the cardinal points to the wood.
Keep stapling all around the wood and finally cut out the excess leather.

The first part of your seat is done!

Step 10:

Cover the other wood circle with another piece of red artificial leather, like your did for the other one, but don't use the foam.
This will be the bottom of the seat so there is not need of foam.

Once you have covered it, place it on the bottom of the biggest circle and join them together with a couple of screws.

Your seat is done and most of all, your stool is done!!!

Simply put the seat on your stoll to cover it...and you can finally sit on your 60s stool!
...and use it as a container too! :D