DIY Tiny Ant Sculpture – Upcycled Drink Cans
I like to believe that I create innovative items from unlikely materials. Perhaps you will agree?
Like many of my projects, today’s starts with an empty soda can that becomes a cute little ant creature.
You can check out the detailed tutorial in this video or read on for a quick step-by-step overview.
Step 1 – Making Aluminum Sheet
The first step is to break down the can and flatten it into an aluminum sheet. Watch this video if you want to know more about how I break down my cans. Since I only needed one metal sheet, I used the iron method to flatten the can.
I use my iron on the highest heat setting and let it sit for ten minutes on the aluminum. If you use this method, be sure you are working on a heat-resistant surface, and don’t leave the iron unattended.
There are two other ways to flatten the aluminum. If you would like to know more, watch this video.
Step 2 – Making Beads
At the bottom of this post are free templates for the beads: a PDF to cut by hand and an SVG to use your Cricut cutting machine. Each template will make three large and six small beads for three ants.
You will need a bead roller, and I highly recommend this Recycled Paper Bead Roller by Green Creativity. It is under $15.00, and I have used mine to roll thousands of beads from beer and soda cans.
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There are two sizes of metal strips. The small beads are rolled from one small strip, and the large beads are made with one small strip and one large strip combined together.
I use a small piece of aluminum/metal tape to attach the large and small strips.
I cut a long, narrow, triangle piece of tape for the ends of each bead strip. The wide end of the tape is applied to the aluminum tip, and the paper backing is left on the tape at the tip.
The beads are then rolled on the bead roller, and the paper is removed from the tip to secure the shape.
Here is a look at the two different bead sizes.
Once the beads are rolled, they need to be sealed. I use mod podeg high gloss for this step. To apply the Mod Podge, I place each bead on a toothpick brush on the sealer and then allow the glue to dry.
Once the Mod Podge was dry, I placed the beads in a small container and added some drops of black alcohol ink. This step can be a little messy, so I recommend wearing gloves. Shake the container and add alcohol ink as needed to cover the beads.
Remove the beads from the container and allow them to dry, then add an additional coat of Mod Podge to seal the ink.
Step 3 – Assembling Ant
You will need two five-inch pieces and two three-inch pieces of 22 gauge wire to assemble each ant. I used my round-tipped jewelry pliers to make this coil shape in the two longer pieces of wire.
Then, I slid a 5mm black bead onto each wire and threaded the two wires through one of the larger beads in opposite directions. The coiled ends make the antenna, and the long ends of the wires are twisted below the bead.
Next, the wires are threaded in opposite directions through one of the smaller beads and pulled tight to the larger bead.
The second small bead is added in the same fashion.
The excess wire will become the back pair of legs.
The two three-inch pieces of wire are threaded through the middle bead and shaped with a slight bend in the front wire to separate the legs.
I added a minimal amount of clear e6000 glue to the middle bead to hold the legs in place and a little more glue to secure the 5mm beads to the large bead.
Once the e6000 has cured, you can trim the legs and do the final shaping.
I used my round-tipped jewelry pliers to make coils for the feet and adjusted the rest of the wire by hand.
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Happy Upcycling,
Cindy
