How-To's Day: Filet a Soda Can

Kevin here,

This week's How-To is a technique I use to prep beverage can materials for some of our upcycled products.  It took me months and many cut fingers to hone my craft.

Soda Cans are cool because they have flashy graphics that marketing science totally knows what you like.  Except last year's silver polar bear can from Coca Cola in partnership with the WWF.  Sorry cute bears, but you were a little hard to see behind all the flashy diet-cola lies!

I heard Pepsi is nice...

These flashy images are printed on aluminum and that makes them recyclable but also good craft materials.  Here's my method for stripping the guts of a soda can to maximize the design real estate.

Items

• Exacto knife
• Flat edge surface
• aluminum can

Choose anywhere to cut down the length of the can.  Don't cut through the interesting stuff.

Start at the bottom of the can.  Slice around the diameter and cut the bottom off.  Removing the bottom, first, will make the last step much easier.

Hold the can upside down in one hand.  Peel the highest corner with the other hand and strip the can of the goods.  Since the heavier aluminum is at the top of the can, keep the tension where it is ripping to retain the most graphical surface area.  Roll the aluminum strip on a surface edge to flatten.

Being able to quickly strip the design off the can in the last step is actually kind of fun.  If you do several in one sitting it's like craft meditation. 

Of course, save the soda tab for other projects. I'm curious if other parts of a soda can make awesome crafts.  Let me know if you have made anything with the tops and bottoms of soda cans.  It should be interesting.

--Kevin Sears

How-To's Day: Make an Upcycled Can Garland

Wanna make this Upcycled Can Garland? You can make one of your own with a short amount of time & minimal supplies. It is really durable and has an industrial feel.

The  upcycled aluminum makes a wonderful modern touch when it comes to materials.

Here is the supplies and necessary tools to make this project:

Clean, washed and dried cans, Fiskars Paper Crimper, Gloves, Box cutter or X- acto cutter,  1" circle paper punch, 1/16" hole punch, cotton crochet thread or sturdy thread & a needle with an eye large enough/ size of the thread. *Optional: Bone folder, extra sharp small scissors

Here is the basics on stripping down a can to utilize it as supplies:

I like to make the first vertical cut where the nutritional facts or writing is.  I marked in the photo where the initial cuts are made- you can mark it if you'd like, but I just marked it for this tutorial.

Once you cut up the middle you can move on to the top:

After you take the top off, use the same method to remove the bottom. Once you get the top and bottom removed you can flatten it out.  Anything with a 90 degree edge like a table. You can run the can rectangle across it to help flatten it out.

 Yay! Now the can is ready to be used in what ever project you may desire. ;)

 The next step is using your 1" circle punch to make circles out of the can.  

Until this project I had no idea you could use the paper punch on aluminum cans. They work great! If this is something that interests you/ you respond to the materials you should try other punches too.

I like to get as many circles out of a can as possible, which takes some patience- but I want to make the most of my materials. Plus, I think assembly line style saves time in the long run... Whatever you choose, get your circles ready and on to the next step. I made 100 circles in my garland. 

Finished length: ~8' (It's a bit longer + string length) I think it was a bit too long for the string strength. I would say get 100 circles made then see how much the smaller amount of thread described below needs.

Use the small 1/16" hole punch 2-holes across from each other.

The part that I think makes this project look "un-handmade" is this crimper.  The Fiskars Paper Crimper is available online or is a great addition to use one of those JoAnn 40% off coupons. When you run the circle through the crimper they end up coming out oval looking. I made sure the holes are parallel and in line with  the crimper lines.  Doing it other ways makes the shape different. Test out other ways if you'd like too. 

Once they come out of the crimper, I took a second to run the bone folder down the 2 sides to smooth them out.  This part isn't necessary, just an added step you can take.  Here is the finished circle:

Now to MAKE the Garland:

I took the thread and spread it arm to arm 3 times when I tried it the first time.  I think that  length was a bit too long to use... Towards the end, after the thread went in and out- rubbing across the aluminum so many times it made the string fuzzy towards the end. My best advise is to make the garland with 2 arms lengths of string and make it closer to 6' rather than using 3 arms lengths of string which made 8'.

Once you knot the tread onto the first circle you string up the back and out the bottom hole.

Loop it back through the hole before stitching into the side you want facing up. To make it shiny and reversible/ cool from both sides I flipped the side that showed so that every other one was the printed side:

The stitch connecting the next circle doubles back kinda like a figure 8 and holds everything tight and in place. To save time you can just stitch in and out through the holes- the circles will slide down on to each other. This way is easy and will pretty much look the same. With stitching each one together  and doubling back took me  the good part of the afternoon- it is a super afternoon movie watching project :)

Continue stitching them together until you:

A) run out of string B) It get's long enough for you to decide it's long enough C) You run out of patience or D) all of the above ;)


Then you are all finished! Yay!! Now decorate and use it- It is great to enjoy  the fruits of your labor:

We'd love to see your finished garland or other projects that use these "sequins" for your upcycled Holiday celebrations this year.

Good luck and happy making! XOXO, KC

Weekend Wrap-Up & Coming Up this Week Oct. 24th-28th

Why Hello there :)  

Hope you are having a super day and y'all enjoyed the weekend- we sure did!  Kevin worked Saturday so I did too.  We squeezed a lot in to what time we had left so this weekend felt really productive.

In my what I wore Friday post I dropped a note about our karaoke night but didn't include this gem:

Yes. They are indeed singing Right Said Fred- I'm too sexy.  That totally happened.  For more details/what else went down- check the post here.

It felt like the end of summer here this weekend.  I was quite surprised how sunny and beautiful it was yesterday in LA. Over all we had a super weekend and I feel like we are making the most of what little time left there is in October.

One of the best things about working for yourself is being able to mix business with pleasure. I really enjoy going to find awesome vintage clothes and other cool things on the weekends. Sometimes there are a ton of items I want to collect and save for my personal collection and it helps to be able to wear multiple hats.  While other times I find tons of things that I look at thinking that someone in need could really use this, its just not for me or the business.  

Going to Jet Rag is definitely one of my addictions, and I recently figured out how to connect a need (homeless people who are cold during the winter) to a solution (provide them blankets and coats) while second-hand shopping :)

It hit me recently that searching for someone that is heading up initiatives that I see a need for- well, they may not exist because I am meant to pioneer them. Make Shop Live is working towards an effort helping the homeless on Skid Row keep warm this winter by collecting suitable jackets and warm blankets on our shopping excursions. 

*We could totally use any suggestions for names for this skid row project if anyone has ideas.

**Also, if you are in the LA area and have any warm clothes or jackets to donate we will gather those for the people too.

For our shopping trip yesterday Kevin and I met up with our friends from Maiden Voyage, Klara & Tyson,  at Jet Rag and we turned them onto the $1 SALE.  We had such a good time digging for treasure and trying on ridiculous outfits. We were able to get several jackets and hand crochet blankets to donate to people this winter yesterday so the adventure was also a success. 

After shopping we had brunch and met Klara and Tyson's new little rescued kitty who is super cute! We got a bag full of peppers and tomatoes from their garden and called it a day.  We were hoping to check out the Tim Burton exhibit at the LACMA, but it is crazy since the exhibit is about to close and I think we'll have a better chance not fighting for the tickets if I pick them up in advance.  I look forward to sharing my thoughts on the exhibit once we go.

For the tutorial/ project tomorrow, I think it is going to be a collection of Halloween projects I find online.  I am not too big on making things for Halloween myself.  I am pretty sure it's because I grew up on a street with no kids for the most part so trick-or-treating was a total drag and no one decorated anything.  Pretty depressing I know right??? I love when people are totally into it and I am a totally appreciator of the hard work that goes into costumes, its just not my thing. I did break my "not buying new things rule" to buy a cat costume from Petco... I think that is about the extent to my decorating/ Halloween enthusiasm.  

Christmas on the other hand, I want to start decorating for now! I have been working on a new twist to the circle garland. This one for the Holidays that is made from aluminum cans. This will be the main tutorial for November and I wanted to give you a sneak peek of how great this shinny, upcycled garland is so you can start collecting your aluminum cans for this project.

So, that is that ;) I am not sure if it is the weather getting colder or if it is because I am busy at the moment but my shoulder is killing! I am gonna run and ice it/ call it a night.

XOXO, KC

Things with Cans, Vampires & BatCat

Hi everyone :)  Hope you are having a good day! 

Today I have been working non-stop on our aluminum projects.  I have been working on a special order of Reinbeers that I was hoping to finish by tomorrow. Here is a picture of what a busy day "at the office" is like for me.  I was able to get (5) Reinbeer templates to a sheet of paper this go round which leaves very little paper scraps wasted. However, now that they are so close to each other on a sheet I have to take the time to cut them all out before I can use them.  I started the day filleting a round of cans we hadn't flattened yet. Then I moved on to cutting out the majority of the paper patterns before gluing them down onto the backsides of the flattened cans. Once I cut the body out of the can, I realized any leftover piece can be made into these sweet circles.

For now, I am processing the leftover can pieces into these "sequins" for lack of a better term.  The one thing I want to toot my own horn about is that we really try to use every last piece of everything we come across.  The downside however to this method of supply gathering is sometimes I have to break down the materials at a time when I really need to focus on something else.  In this instance these circles don't take that much longer, but all the time doing these "side projects" prepping everything can really add up time wise.

Wanna know my guilty pleasure/ what helps keep me making things all day?

The Reinbeers Are Coming!!!

The Reinbeers Are Coming!!!

Yesterday, my mother-in-law, Jane started pulling out the supplies to kick the Christmas Crafting Extravaganza into 1st Gear. She spent a large chunk of the day glueing down the patterns on the aluminum we have stored and sorted from all different types of cans.

Last year we tested out a couple of different ideas for ornaments and I will "pull back the curtain" and admit defeat with all the other styles we tested out.  After putting in a lot of time into products that didn't sell... A creative risk if you will- Kev and I have decided to see how this Christmas goes with putting more focus into them rather than some less profitable items.

I am okay with these cute little guys being the only Holiday "staple" we will be carrying this Christmas season.  All of our great products are good for gifts and make awesome Holiday purchases already- worst case scenario next year when I am feeling better we can make a wider range of Holiday items available.

I am really excited to have had this year to plan and gather cans for their bodies.  We ended up getting a ton of different beers and sodas after seeing what people radiated to.  PBR is always going to be a hot item- but I am scared that we have had fun collecting so many different types that are unique and may not be everyone's "beer of choice".  We will be selling Assorted 6-Packs that will have all kinds of varieties for the Beer Lover in your life :)

When we got the questions for certain types and flavors we don't personally don't drink we made sure to collect those items whenever possible.  We got requests for Coke (Which some how we both completely overlooked the fact that their are people who do full out Coke themed decorations!) Then the Miller, Coors, Budweiser questions...  We have been collecting them when our friends have them- (Memorial Day BBQ's are where its at!!!) BUT, neither I nor Kevin are changing our tastes for this endeavor.  I have lucked out and gotten a steady supply of Budweiser from a neighbor, but I however am a big supporter of craft and independent brewers and go for other choices.  Watch Beer Wars and you'll see why-

      The hopes is we will still have a great selection of all kinds of beer and soda varieties for Holiday 2010's batch without losing a sale to a "Big Beer Enthusiast"

I think an added point of interest come this Holiday season is to see the number of cans our household uses across the year.  We won't have a fully accurate count due to collecting a small amount from others, as well as recycling some types we had a ton of.  We sold more than expected of Diet Ginger Ale last Christmas- but I thought recycling down the large quantities of diet soda would keep production time focused where need be.

If there is a flavor or type you'd like to suggest for our "Must Have" list feel free to leave a comment.  

*Check them out for purchase here in our Etsy Shop*

 

Chris Jordan- Portraits of American Mass Consumption

More on Chris Jordan's Exhibit at the AMoA

Below is the exhibition card which highlights his piece Lightbulbs, 2008.  It depicts 380,000 lightbulbs which equals the number of kilowatt hours of electricity is wasted every minute in the US by inefficient residential energy use.  Can you imagine what the depiction would look like if it included all inefficient energy loss?

I like his idea of creating Portraits of American Mass Consumption.  In most of his works he lets the sheer volume speak for its self, but in his piece Cans Seurat, 2007 I think the clever usage of a pointillism classic is the perfect avenue for his masterpieces.

 Hard to believe that each point on this Seurat homage can be so many varieties of our favorite soda cans.

With how amazing the Seurat piece is, it is hard to believe that there would be anything else synonymous with Chris Jordan.  That is until you see his most referenced photograph of Plastic Bottles, 2007.

 

It reads:

Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the United States every five minutes

The scary part is Plastic Bottles was created in 2007.  Who knows what the image would look like if it statistically pictured today's usage.  Maybe no scarier than looking at a close up of his work:

Even though these materials can theoretically be recycled, that is not what I left the exhibit thinking about.  I do my part in recycling but I feel like personally that is not enough.  Once the plastic hits my recycling bin I do not think twice about the waste anymore.  That is the thought process I would like to change within myself is the dialogue when I make choices to purchase things with added packaging and the decision on purchasing things when I happen to be away from home.  When you are out and about and you have an item that is recyclable but no receptacle... how often will you just throw these items away?  These are the questions I ask myself while emerging myself in his work and the questions will resonate in me to hopefully change myself for the future.