the ReFab Diaries: repurpose soda cans
Showing posts with label repurpose soda cans

This refabber was very quiet Nov-early Jan because I was home in South Africa for the first time in over a decade! It was an amazing trip ... restorative and inspiring. And I took a ton of "refab" pictures to share with you! The first set focuses, obviously, on upcycling. It's everywhere! It always has been ... people living below the poverty line (with no capital) create things using found materials. Free materials whenever possible. In the past, most of this stuff was sold on the side of the road. Today, it's easily found in more formalized settings ... everywhere from flea markets to high-end "souvenir" stores in Knysna and Cape Town. Soda and tin cans are an obvious, go-to material. So you'll see a lot of things created from those. But there were some surprises!

Scroll down for inspiration and tutorials... 

Pop cans and washers = a whimsical butterfly wind chime! Sweet tutorial from Made by Marzipan.

Look ... look again.  A pop-tab curtain?  How freakin' cool is that?  Get the how-to here ... (via decorhacks
I'm still thinking about smoothing rough edges ... in this case sharp, metal edges.  Considering the quantities of soda/beer consumed across the planet, it's safe to say we're drowning in the cans.  And the idea of re-using them is appealing, especially for jewelry! But what about all those sharp edges? Apparently, there are ways to smooth them, make them safe.... bring out a softer side.  Here goes ...


Great, detailed how-to for these sweet metal flowers ... not designed to be worn so no worries about those edges, except in the making.

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