Outdoor Lighting With Tuna Cans??



It has been awhile since I have blogged. Of course, I have never stopped crafting, just had tons of family work that needed to be done.

I hope all of you are having a super summer so far! It is hot here in Arizona already and since we spend a great deal of time outside, especially at night, by the pool I wanted to make something "fancy" to look at. Not to mention that our pool light isn't working anymore, so we needed a little more than the moon light we seldom get.

Somewhere on the web I found a creative project with a tuna can made into a light. I just had to try it.  I believe she used hurricane glass and simply painted her tuna can and they looked wonderful, but I am always about the fancy stuff, so I just had adorn mine with all kinds of shiny stuff to glam it up.

Here is my supply list:

I made 3 of these all the same so they would line up nicely along my pool fence line.

• 3 Tuna Cans
• 3 Wood Screws
• 3 Wooden Dowels
• 3 Globes
• Drill with appropriate Drill Bit
• Awl (to help tap the hole in the can prior to screwing)
• Copper Colored Spray Paint
• Glass Tiles
• Misc String Beads
• Aleene's Craft Glue
• Patience

Start out by cleaning any labels and excess glue off of your tuna cans. Since I was covering mine instead of just painting them I wasn't too worried about a few spots here and there. However, if you are going to prime and paint them without adhering any "bling" make sure they are nice and smooth.

Use the awl to poke a hole in the center of each tuna can. Since this is the bottom of the can no one should be able to see any scratches or imperfections.

If you would like to paint your cans do that now, also paint your wooden dowels. (I didn't do this first but I believe it would have been much easier.)

Once dry, screw your can to your dowel. Be careful here that you are using a screw that will not split your wood. I did apply a dab of E600 glue to the bottom of each can prior to drilling just to give it a bit more stability.

Make sure your screw is flush with the can.

Now start decorating it. When I went to Home Depot to buy my dowels, I stumbled across this sheet of clearance glass tile and fell in love with it. Oh the possibilities!!! I will use this over and over again. I measured around the can and cut a strip of tiles to fit. Since I had some gaps I found some scrap pearl like beads that I had on a string and added those in between. I suppose you could even go so far as to grout these, but it would make your cans quite a bit heavier.

I also found these great amber colored light globes from a discarded ceiling fan at my local Deseret Industries Thrift store and just knew they would work perfectly in the tuna cans and the colored tile.

I had to use clothespins to get the strips of tile to stay in place while they were drying. The tacky glue worked great. It was dry by morning and we started this project late in the evening.

Actually, it looks okay even without the globe. Just pop in a tea light and let it shine. I like the globe on mine though just for the extra fancy factor, plus it helps the candle light shine a bit more.

I suppose you could make something similar to this for indoors as well. Who knows that may be my next project. Let me know what you think, or if you have made something similar post a link to your project below.

Thanks for stopping by.