Upcycled Faux Priceless Chinese Vases
One of my favourite things to do with old tin cans is to upcycle them into planters. Last year I created colour in my garden with my popular 5 minutes Moroccan planters.
However, I think this year's tin can planters have surpassed those. I have sort of created an optical illusion with these planters so that they actually look like priceless Chinese vases (kind of!).
I used extra large tin cans for this DIY. If I don't have any catering size tin cans just ask at my local cafe and they happily give me theirs.
The first thing to do after removing the labels is to spray paint the tin cans a bright blue colour. You want to choose blue paint that is similar to the blue you get with blue and white Chinese porcelain.
On my blog (link at the end), using photos of real antique vases I created these large printable vase images. You can download them for free from the blog.
It's best to print these vase images using a laser printer. I get mine done at my local print shop. However, if you have to print them at home on an inkjet printer, spray the images with an artist's fixative (otherwise they might smudge).
Carefully cut out each vase photo from the background paper.
Next, using a decoupage glue such as Mod Podge stick the paper cut out the vase to the front of the tin can. Then spray the whole tin can with an acrylic varnish spray. This will protect your tin can planters from the elements.
I spray 2 coats of varnish for extra protection.
All that is left to do is to choose flowers for your Chinese vase planters. I think blue flowers look great in the vases.
I love how these faux priceless Chinese planters look. They look fabulous in my back garden.
If you are looking for something other than planters to make from tin cans of different planters, you should check out this popular wind chime.
Resources for this project:
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Love it !
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Cheers and thank you.
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They are so cool looking!
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Thank you so much
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
what are those blue flowers you used?
Do you have issues with the cans rusting on the bottom and leaving rust rings on your shelves? I saved a bunch of coffee cans to use for planting, then thought the bottoms would rust and, also, maybe the cans would draw too much heat in the sun for the delicate roots?