PVC Candy Cane Decorations

Intro: PVC Candy Cane Decorations

Want to decorate your driveway with big, big candy canes? They're easy to make and with a little work and spraypaint you'll have some large canes to turn your entrance into a bit of candy wonderland.

Here's how to do it.

This instructable was brought to you by Krylon.

STEP 1: Get PVC Pipe and Paint

These candy canes are made of standard 3/4" PVC pipe. If you want, you can opt for the 1" PVC or, with ore work, something even bigger.

In the picture are the PVC pipes cut to 5' lengths. Easily done by cutting the standard 10' length in half with a saw. Bring a saw to the hardware store and you can easily cut these down to size in the parking lot for easier transport.

You'll also need some paint. I used Krylon® Fusion for Plastic in Satin White and Dual™ Paint + Primer in Banner Red

STEP 2: Bring the Heat

The magic to bending the pipe isn't any super strength, it's softening the PVC with a heat gun. By heating all round the pipe with the heat gun you can easily bend it with your hands. Be sure to wear gloves!

Also, PVC is known to offgas some nasty stuff when being burned so also be sure to do this in a well-ventilated area AND wear a respirator. Be safe and healthy, everyone.

STEP 3: Clean and Paint

With the pipe bent, clean it off with some soap and water and dry it off. You're now ready to apply the base coat of white paint. Here, I used a few coats of white Krylon Fusion.

STEP 4: Mask the Stripes

With the white paint fully dried you're ready to mask it off. It's good to wait a full 24 hours to be sure it's dry. Then break out some 1" masking tape and wrap it around and around and around the whole pipe.

STEP 5: Paint It Red

Now you're ready for the final, colorful step, painting it red! Apply a couple coats of red paint and you're good to go. For this I used Banner Red Krylon Dual paint.

Let the paint dry to the touch and you can peel off the masking tape. You'll want to wait a full 24 hours to be sure it's as strong as it can be.

STEP 6: Plant the Candy Canes!

For each candy cane, I put a 2' piece of rebar into the ground, wrapped the end with some wadded up masking tape, and slid the candy cane on top of it.

Comments

[BillT38]

I've read somewhere that if you fill the pipe with sand first it keeps it from kinking when bending. I guess this would be especially true for larger PVC pipes.

[blunsford schmidt]

how hot should the heat gun be to bend the PVC?

[n0ukf]

Or instead of masking and painting it red, you could wrap it with red electrical tape.

[fungus amungus]

Or even red ribbon glued down. I've seen both of those before, but I prefer the painted-on look. It's flatter.

[n0ukf]

...or be flashy and use reflective tape.

[canucksgirl]

Great job. I love the look of them along your pathway. :D

[fungus amungus]

Thanks!

[Kiteman]

(Adds to "to do" list for 2012's decorations.)