Introduction: Tin Can Roses

I wanted to do something special for my wife for our recent anniversary. Since her birthday was only 8 days previous and I went all out I was on a budget. I was not about to let an anniversary slip by without a memorable tribute so I got to work.

I have a relatively unsophisticated collection of hand tools, no power tools to speak of and I'm not exactly overwhelmed with raw material choices around the house. After mulling over a bunch of ideas in my head over the course of a couple of days I decided on making her a dozen roses. I created them using pretty simple household stuff.

Materials Needed:
(6) Soda Cans
(12) 11" pieces of constuction or strong craft wire (for stems)

Tools Needed:
Scissors (Don't use your wife's sewing scissors because they will be dull and worthless after cutting through tin cans.)
Ballpoint Pen (Use a pen you don't care about because it will probably not write after this little adventure.)
Sanding Sponge or Sand Paper
Needle Nose Pliers (These will be used to cut and bend wire)

Please Note: Be careful not to cut yourself on the sharp edges of the soda can.

Step 1: Rinse and Prepare Soda Cans

Thoroughly rinse the cans with hot water to keep them from getting sticky and gumming up your scissors. Once they're clean and dry cut off the tops and bottoms of the cans so only the sides remain. You can use a metal ruler to straighten out the material once you've cut the edges straight.

Step 2: Sand Off the Paint

Use a sanding sponge or plain old sand paper to thoroughly remove the paint from the surface of the metal.

Step 3: Draw a Swirl Shape on the Material

With a ballpoint pen that you don't need to ever use again and don't mind potentially destroying, trace a swirl shape from roughly the center of the material outward. The pen should make a little indentation in the material that you can use to cut out the final shape.

Step 4: Cut the Swirl Shape Out of the Material.

Once you have your swirl shape go ahead and cut along the line you just drew.

Step 5: Wind the Material Around the Pen to Make the Rose Bud.

Using your crappy ballpoint pen, wind the material around the tip of the pen in a spiral. Try to keep the inside edge together as much as possible so you end up with more of a bloom shape. The idea is that surface should slant out from the bottom in sort of a coned spiral.

Step 6: Poke a Little Hole for the Stem.

At the base of the spiral you just created use a thumbtack to poke a little hole. this will be where you will poke the wire through for the stem. Try not to make the hole too close to the edge or the material may tear. This doesn't have to be perfect because it most likely will not be seen when the project is complete.

Step 7: Cut the Wire for Your Stem

Cut a piece of construction wire to about 2" longer then the final length you would like your flower stem to be. For my project I cut the lengths about 11".

Step 8: Bend the End of the Wire Into a Small Bundle

Using needle nosed pliers, wrap a small part of the end of the wire into a small bundle. This will help keep the shape of the bulb of the flower and also make a nice little bud in the center.

Step 9: Thread the Wire Through to Form the Bulb

Carefully thread the straight end of the wire down through the middle of the petals and through the small hole you made with the thumb tack, then bunch up the flower as tight as possible and wind a little curl in the wire to keep the bud nicely bunched together.

Step 10: Now You Have a Rose

Now you have your first rose. You can carefully bend and shape the metal at this point to make it look as much like a rose as possible.

Step 11: Make the Bouquet

Once you have made all of the roses you can arrange them however you see fit and use a small piece of construction wire to bunch them together into an arrangement of a dozen, or just three to five if you're lazy. You can also use the scrap pieces left over from cutting out the swirls to make little leaves to attach to the stems.