They are very cute, but I personally couldnt paint them like that - no talent with painting LOL

Those are beautiful, kind of a watercolor look to them. They seem to have a lot of texture, as well. I don't think it would be too difficult to do - it's pretty impressionistic, not a lot of fussy drawing or fine lines. It's sure worth a try.
-Sprout

Grandma cindy, You COULD paint those!
Spray with cheap flat white, use 79cent acrylic paint, a
size 8 brush for the larger sqiggles, the handle of the brush for the dots and the small commas.
Just dip the handle in the paint. Easy and fun.

Those are beautiful Luna! And, am I seeing in the picture that they are $39.99 each??? Wow! You could definitely do something very similar with the can flowers. I think it was excessfroufrou who posted the flowers and instruction on the can flowers.

Uh - oh ......... I just happen to have a bunch of empty cans .......!

********* Kathy --- were you in there taking pictures ? ROFL !!!

I believe if you use a glue gun to define the 'squiggly' lines on the petals then the paint would stand out...

What a great idea. Aluminum cans (beer or soda) are so thin that you could probably just use a stylus or something simaliar to get a raised design on them. Just work from the back side.

What a neat idea! And look at how much money you can save!

Luna- Did you take a really good look at these to see how you think they may have been done? What about that raised detail? Has anyone made a pop can flower similar in style to this one? I tried doing a search for tutorials, but didn't find anything. Thanks.
-Sprout

I didn't think the texture part would be necessary but I tried it on my experimental can with a ballpoint pen and you can make dimples and lines with it.

I thought swirly colors on these would be pretty. Just prime with a metal spray paint and then use an acrylic paint as the base. When that's dry, mix another color with a little water and paint over it. Continue until you get the look you desire. I had thought of using car paint too on these, especially because you can get little touch-up bottles of it and it comes in metallic colors.

As for the paisley design, I thought if someone was stamp savvy, they could stamp a design on the petals.

Toomuchglass, I take pictures with my cell phone all the time. If anyone would ask, I'd say I want to show them to a friend in case they'd want to buy them. I always sneak around stores like that to get ideas. he-he I took that picture at Milaegers in Caledonia. That place is like a candy store for people who love gardening. Like this dahlia for instance. It was as big as a dinner plate.

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Luna! That is why they are called "dinner plate dahlias!! It's sure pretty tho! I think most of paints have a texture paint or with pop cans just take stylus or old pen that doesn't work & use tip of it to make lines from backside. They make craft paints in metallics also. Even Patio paints has a couple of metallic colors.Dazzling Dark Patina is a silvery blue & Rich Espresso is a lovely brown/bronze look. Jan

Keeping in the thoughts of BEER, lol, the centers could be beer bottle caps! Or, just buttons, beads, or gems. The bottle caps would add texture w/ the rigid edges! Or, if your running the "stem" wire thru to hold it together, face the open end of the cap towards you, secure within the cap & then place a 1/2 round gem over it to cover it up.
Luna - thanks for sharing this! While I've always had this in the back of my mind, these guys give me new insight on the coloring!
Sprout - I recall someone posting can flowers they'd made, full instructions too! It was with using the whole can, minus the very top & using 2 or more layered on top of one-another. That was like the ones I'd always seen, but, I'd always wanted to cut out larger petals & piece them together like these.
Cindy - As far as the designs, there are rub-ons that have paisley designs, or, just find the design online, pencil in and then paint.
You can buy the craft paints like the fabric paint in tubes w/ a tip so you just randomly squeeze squigglies.
$39.99??? Wish I could get those kind of prices!

DANG YOU Luna, I'm still working on using up my 100+ teapots, have everything ready to start sparklers, (which I can't wait to do!) and, now, this! My daughters wedding is the 7th, made 7 Medieval costumes for the wedding party, all the flowers etc, but I still have to finish her gown, can't do anything til after that. Maybe it's the incentive I needed.

Love those beer cans...I've been giving the guys cans to a homeless man so he can get a little extra cash...gonna have to save a few. I never thought about saving on old pen to use as a stylus...now that's really using your head. Another project for my to-do list gonna have to have some can flowers.....bet at least one of them starts out as flourescent pink!!

I am still blown away by the colors. I know you can get just about any color in acrylics, but the colors in the photo look like they may have been mixed with a white - very soft. Love the color combos.

Giggles- thanks for the great info. And good luck with your daughter's wedding!! It sounds wonderful.

Somebody else mentioned using a rubber stamp for the paisley design. I thought that was a great idea, too, and an old pen used as a stylus. WOW!! I am nearly ready to roll.

This would be a great winter project. Like many others here, I have tons of things on my 'to-do' list, before the end of the season. (lol)
-Sprout

Kathy, it was me that made all the can flowers, but these are beautiful. The colors are amazing, gives them a different twist. I also used just a regular ball point pen to do the designs on them. I just put them on a thick towel and pressed pretty hard. Thanks for sharing.
Frou

Be careful Beer and Soda cans are thin and can cut. I played around with making one of those beer can airplanes recently and the material is really thin. I bet those flowers are a lot thicker metal, but then you would need a machine die or torch to cut that material. I wonder if there is other flat metals at the hardware store you could buy that is thicker but can still cut.

This post reminded me of the one I posted not to long ago about the soda bottle Plastic butterflies, really easy! I wonder if you might want to try forms of thick plastic to paint?

I have made flowers out of beer can they pant up very well and I just used scissors to cut them.You can also use flashing it is tin you will have to use tin snippers but it is doable .I used patio pants
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nanatricia, I love your can flowers with the button centers! Now that's really using your noggin'! Love what you did with the pots too. That's kind of the idea I had for the flowers.

Giggles, good luck with your daughter's wedding. It sounds like it will be beautiful and romantic!

Excessfroufrou, I was too lazy to go back and look to see who it was. he-he I knew someone would fess up. Thanks for being such an inspiration for these and for providing the great instructions!

I was surprised when I cut up a beer can that it wasn't as sharp as I expected. But I used regular cutting shears. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Socaliegal, I was thinking of you when I saw these btterflies. I can imagine these being made with aluminum cans too.

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nanatricia...cool butterflies & thanks for info about the flashing...that's what I made some garden stake tags out of ...& now I have some left over copper pcs of flashing from the Dutch windmill...so I'll have to try something! TFS this post, luna! Jeanne S. ...butterflies are quite elegant!

excessfroufrou did a step by step that I can't find...Can anyone find it ???

Here is a link that might be useful: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/junk/msg0610505920127.html

There is a process called marbelizing in which you use different colors of acrylics in water to dip objects into and it causes a marbeling effect. It is very pretty and might be able to be used for the beer can flowers. Just type "marbeling with acrylic paint" into your browser and a lot of sites will come up for you.
You can then give it a raised surface with some of the ideas already expressed here.
What a bunch of talented and creative ladies all of you are' This is such a lovely forum to visit.
I finally made some totems and will take pictures and post soon.

so many great ideas!! And I love seeing super expensive stuff at the store and thinking "I could do that! -- for almost nothing!"

Here are some more can flowers....

Loving seeing all these. Recommend NOT using beer bottle caps because they have steel content and rust pretty quickly. Perhaps would work though if primed with rust sealer stuff. The big buttons would hold up well, I think.

Rosie

I've made a few of these soda can flowers and really love them in different colors. My problem is I haven't figured out how to make a base for them so they will stand up in a flower pot. I've been using wire about the size of a coat hanger but the whole flower twists and turns in the flower pots. Has anyone used something else like maybe a slat for the stem? Any suggestions?
Thank you, Marilyn

How do you cut the cans and not get your hands all cut up?

For stems: I use "threaded rods" from HD for stems. They come in various lengths & thicknesses. I have a group of them potted up in an 18" diameter pot filled with old, used potting soil. I mulched the top with river rocks. I have made many hundreds of aluminum can flowers, various sizes & designs, & have never cut myself. I always use very sharp craft scissors, about the size of embroidery scissors. I get them in Hbby Lbby in the craft section of the store; not the sewing section. They last a long time & are inexpensive. They cut a nice clean edge with no rough edges. I am still re-doing my junk garden; I had a lot of damage March 2012 in a mini-tornado. When I'm a little further along, I'll post new pictures. - Laura

i am a scrapbooker. i used some beer can art in some of mine. getting the raised pattern is easy using a die cut such as cuddlebug or sizzix with embossing folders. can also dry emboss with a stencil and an embossing stylus. love the flowers.