Moving Wall Art Made From Recycled Soda Cans

I am always trying to find new ways to recycle the waste we generate at home to save it from going to recycling centres or landfills. In this project, I am sharing how I upcycled some aluminium drink cans into Shimmering Aluminum Can Art. My idea was to create an image of a star and then cover it with small circles cut from aluminium drink cans.

The circles are so light that the slightest breeze will make them move giving a shimmering effect like a twinkling star. Click here to see the moving aluminium can art in action.

This was my first time trying aluminium can art doing it this way so I started small. I was not sure how long it would take and I wanted to see how time-consuming it would be. But it turned out to be a surprisingly quick project to do. I will share some of the tips I picked up along the way and also the mistakes I made.

Supplies

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Aluminium cans
Hole punch (circle-shaped)
Wooden board (size of your choice)
Nails
Hammer
Paints (if you want to add colour)
Sandpaper (for smoothing edges)
Safety gloves and goggles
Drop Saw/jig saw/hand saw
Utility knife/scissors
Scissor clamps

Step 1: Cutting the Soda Cans

Working with aluminium cans can be sharp and potentially hazardous. Wear safety gloves and goggles to protect your hands and eyes. You will need around 20 cans for a board of about 45cm square. Start by cleaning the cans thoroughly, and removing any residue or liquid. Once cleaned, cut off the tops and bottoms of the cans to create cylinders. Use a utility knife or scissors for this step. Next, cut down the cylinder so you have a flat piece of aluminium to work with.

Step 2: Cutting the Soda Can Circles

Next, using a circle hole punch cut out circle shapes from the aluminium can. The circle punch I used was 2.5cm but they do come in other sizes. I found it easier to cut out the shapes all around the outside, then cut away the excess and do the same again.

Step 3: Drilling the Holes

The hole size will depend on the size of the nails you will be using. The hole size should only be a fraction larger than the nail so you have room for movement. I did do a test run and just nailed the circle straight to the board without drilling the hole first but this did limit the movement of the circle. The idea of drilling a hole in each circle did not go down too well so I found a way to drill them in batches. I pilled about 20 circles together and clamped them with some wood clamps.

I placed a block of wood under the pile and drilled them all at the same time. For the next pile, I used one of the circles from the previous pile as a template so all the holes were in the same place.

Step 4: Prepare the Board

I used a piece of plywood 45cm square as the base for my project.

Step 5: Making the Wooden Star

The idea I had in my head was to make a wooden star to go onto the board to make the star stand out more from the background and add dimension. I did not want to spend too much time making a star so I went with a simple star created in the same way as you would when making a barn quilt.

This is done in a few quick steps. Start by cutting some plywood into 7cm lengths, I used offcuts for this step. I clamped 4 pieces together and cut the ends to a 45-degree angle. Next, I added a straight cut to the wood leaving me with pieces of wood at 17cm. To get the layout of the star you need to draw a line from each corner across the board, this will help you centre the star.

I repeated this step with the 45-degree angle cut from the other side of the drop saw, this will give you the opposite side of the star. I did it this way because only one side of plywood has a nice surface and I did not want to do lots of sanding.

To work out the length of the smaller pieces I laid out the design marked the wood where the star matched up and cut it to size.The smaller shapes will slot into the gaps as shown in the image below.

Step 6: Painting the Wood

Next, I painted all the wood black ready to be glued into place on the board. If you are going to hang your project outside in the elements I would recommend that you seal the wood with some outdoor polyurethane to protect the surface. This was one of my first mistakes It was here I should have painted the star gold so it would stand out more against the black. But I only realised this after I started adding the gold circles.

Next, I added the pencil lines to the board again so I could line up the star before glueing it in place. To glue the star to the board I used some wood glue and a blob of hot glue to hold it in place while the wood glue dried.

Step 7: Adding the Soda Can Circles

Here comes mistake number 2, I should have used nails with larger heads on them. These ones worked great but after watching the wall hanging get a really big gust of wind I did notice that one circle fell off. That particular nail did seem to have a smaller head than the others but I felt if I were going to do it again I would go for larger ones.

This step went surprisingly fast, I did not mark out the board I simply added the circles one next to the other.

Step 8: Embossing the Aluminium Cans

I wanted the star to really stand out so I added texture to the aluminium for the star. I did this by using an embossing folder and press to emboss the aluminium. Before I embossed and cut out the circle I used gold spray paint to paint the aluminium.

Once embossed I followed the same steps as above for cutting them out and adding the hole. I have used this technique before on another Aluminium Can Art project when I decorated a shop mannequin using embossed recycled cans. When I was adding the gold circle I had an overlap and decided to cut the circle so the star stood out. But in hindsight, it was easier to leave the outline of the star visible and just have the circles on the inside.

Step 9: Hanging the Board

To hang the board I attached a keyhole bracket to the back so it slip onto a screw fitting to the wall. Before I mounted the board to the wall I tipped the board forward so all the circles fell to the head of the nail so that the breeze could get under the aluminium circles. Now you can just sit back and wait for the breeze and admire your Aluminium Can Art.