Soda Can Sculpted Bust

Not too long ago, I decorated a mannequin with a steampunk theme using metallic wax pastes (the bronze mannequin shown above). When I posted the project, many people were convinced that it was metal. This gave me the idea to try and cover a mannequin using aluminium cans to get a genuine metallic look. My first thought was to cut up aluminium cans and just glue them to the base of the mannequin. But being a sucker for punishment and wanting to create something unique, so that idea was not good enough. My idea was to try to emboss the cans with some sort of design. I had seen on Pinterest where people were using foil tape and embossing a design into the surface using a pen. But I can’t draw to save my life so that was out too.

When I was cleaning my craft room drawers recently I found an embossing folder I bought years ago. I bought it with the intention of using it to emboss cards made with my Cricut. At the time I did not realize that I needed an embossing machine to use the folder. So it went back in the drawer until now. My idea was to emboss the cans using the folder to give the surface a nice textured look. I must warn you that this is not a quick project, it took many hours of work over a 3-week period to complete.

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• Recycle soda cans
• pop rivets
• pop rivet gun
• scissors
• stanley knife
• embossing machine
• embossing folders
• scrap leather
• chain
• spike studs
• leather cord



Cutting the cans

You will need at least 30 plus Aluminium cans to make this project. To cut the cans you will need a Stanley knife and a pair of scissors and gloves to prevent injury. Using the knife you cut into the top of the can at the start of the flat section. You only use the knife to make a hole to get the scissors inside and then cut off the top section. You can now rinse out the can.

Next, using the straight line of the text as a guide cut down the middle. This will save time later because these edges will already be straight.

You can now cut off the bottom using scissors. I wanted all the aluminium cans to be symmetrical in shape where possible. I used a cutting mat and ruler and cut all the sides of the cans straight.

I will explain first how I embossed the cans without an embossing machine. If you have an embossing machine you can just use that. I have since bought one for future projects.  I put the aluminium can in the embossing folder and tried to line up the design in the centre of the can.

I then used a very primitive method, I put it on the floor and stood on it. This definitely worked but the pattern was not always consistent due to a difference in pressure. In hindsight, I should have used a piece of wood over the folder to make the pressure more even. You can see in some areas where I pushed too hard and it cut through the can. So this method does work if you really wanted to do a similar project without an embossing machine. The folders are only a few dollars to buy.

I also made a mistake with the embossing. I could only see the silver side clearly, the other side was hard to see due to all the colour printing on the can. Due to this issue, I chose the wrong side and my embossing was reversed. You can see from the images above the differences between hand and machine embossing. As you can see it is worth buying an embossing machine, and they are not very expensive. I used the excess embossed cans to create this wall hanging. 

Folding the Aluminium cans

When I first started adding the aluminium cans to the mannequin, the edges of the cans kept stabbing my hands. I thought this could be a hazard after a while, so I decided to fold over the edges of the cans. I used a ruler and a butter knife to fold all the sides over. The butter knife bent enough to make it easy to fold the sides over the ruler, and then I used the knife to flatten the fold.

I wanted the fold I had just added to look like it was a sewn hem. I used a tracing wheel and ran it around all 4 sides of each piece. This will give the appearance that the cans have been stitched.

This step was the most time-consuming step of this project. You will need a drill and a pop rivet gun  and rivets for this step. I found this step really difficult because I was not strong enough to keep using the rivet gun after a while. My poor hands were so sore from holding the drill and using the rivet gun after the first day. I could not justify buying a battery-operated rivet gun, but I have ordered one of these drill attachments for my next project.  There were approximately 400 rivets added to the mannequin.

Start by placing the aluminium can at the bottom and work your way up. Drill a hole in the first corner and add a pop rivet and repeat this for all the corners. And then repeat this step for the next few hundred times. I started by covering as much of the mannequin with large pieces, then used the smaller pieces to fill in any gaps. I did add some random pieces just for the layered effect.

The cans will need to be sculpted around the curves of her groin and breasts. You will get folds and creases but once painted these will add to the effect. Once I got to her breasts, the curves make it harder to attach without all the creases. So I had to add smaller patches, so I had plenty of overlapping on her breasts. Once the body was completely covered I added a red metal flower and she was done. She sat in my craft room for a while and I hated it more every time I looked at it.

I do mixed media art projects and know if you add black gesso and coloured wax pastes to textures they will pop. So I went ahead and painted the cans with black gesso.

Once the paint was dry I dipped my finger into some silver wax paste and rubbed it over all the raised surfaces. After 12 hours I sprayed the mannequin with 2 coats of clear spray polyurethane. This will protect the surface and prevent the silver wax from going dull over time. I have found recently that using black acrylic paint has a better finish with no need to seal the surface.

She was more appealing now, but she was still missing something. So she sat again for a while until inspiration hit.

I have a bag of scrap leather and faux leather and decided to try and make her some leather accessories. If you are looking for free or cheap scrap leather, your local upholster is the best place to go. I have one that keeps all the offcuts he was leftover after covering furniture. They just throw it away, so it is a good place to ask.

The leather scraps I get are never the same colour, but beggars can’t be choosers, and I was going to paint them anyway. All the accessories I made up as I went along. I cut some shapes similar to the shape of the mannequin’s shoulder. The first one I cut was too small so I used it as a template to cut a bigger one. When I saw the two on top of each other I liked the look, so kept them both.

Next, I punched so holes around the edges and added some spiked studs. And added some eyelets for leather laces for the second layer.

The leather around her neck and body was made from faux leather stripes, folded in half and glued. I kept adding more strips until I was happy with the look. They were glued together using hot glue. I added some holes and screwed the studs into the leather.

I messed up here again by adding the metal studs before I had painted the leather. So they had to be removed before I could paint the leather with black gesso. To add some character to the collar you can add some 6mm half pearls. The belt was one of my husband’s broken ones that I recycled.

I must have become too involved and missed taking the next photo of all the leather painted black. To add some colour to the black leather I used some ruby coloured wax. You can apply the wax in the same way as I did for the aluminium cans. The ruby colour is metallic wax so the colour is stunning.

The silver studs were screwed back onto the leather. I used the silver wax that I used on the mannequin and went over the laces. This made them stand out more. Finally, I glued some steampunk charms and added the repainted metal flowers from earlier. To get all the charms to match the base of the mannequin, they were painted black and highlighted using silver wax. The apothecary pouch that I made in the photo, was just that little bit too much so I did not add it in the end.

You can glue all the leather accessories onto the mannequin using a hot glue gun and black hot glue. The black hot glue will blend in with the colours more than the clear. I used some cheap junk chain I found in a charity shop to add some character to the front. The last image is how the mannequin looks from the back. I was happy at last with the outcome.

You can find lots of unique DIY project on my website Unique Creations By Anita