Day 173-A 5-Step Guide To Rusty Tin Cans

In 1810, nine years before Singapore was founded, a patent was granted  to an Englishman called Peter Durand for his method of canning food. In those day, these cans, made with sheets of iron, were so thick they had to be hammered open. 

 Sardine Can c1900

 Picture courtesy of Maine Maritime Museum at www.//mainemaritimemuseum.org

One must credit Napoleon for the advent of tin cans for he was the one who came up with the reward of 12000 francs for anyone who could invent a way to preserve food for his army. Having just been defeated by Nature, his army starved on retreat from the harsh winter in Moscow, Napoleon had dreamt of victories by preserving food to feed his army. Till today, rationed canned food remains the staple for all armies of the world. (February 1937 article entitled "Romance of the Tin Cans")

 "Hole and Cap" can C1889-1919 CW Swaim Canning Company

Picture courtesy of National Museum of American History

I wanted to make some rusty tin cans for the next room in the tribal house. Having convinced myself after 2 hours of extensive research that tin cans were already prevalent in British India, I then searched the net for how early tin cans were made.

Hole and cap vegetable can. Early food can labels featured the product inside, rather than brand names or logos.

Picture courtesy of National Museum of American History

This is what I found out from this site called "Can, A Visual History" -an amazing resource for pictures of antique tin cans:

The earliest cans were laboriously made by hand. Iron was pounded into sheets and dipped into molten tin.... Using considerable skill and muscle, artisans cut the sheets into rectangular bodies and round ends. The body pieces were bent around a cylindrical mold and the seams and ends were soldered in place. One of the ends was made with a circular hole through which the food would be stuffed. Once filled, the holes were plugged with a soldered metal cap. This soldering process sometimes left a bit of soot mixed in with the can's contents. This process allowed even the most skilled craftsman to make only 10 cans a day.

Armed with my new found knowledge, I set about recreating the ancient art of can making.
 

 STEP 1:

Gather your old aluminum tea light cups. Most importantly, you should keep the metal wick tabs or wick clippings that can be found at the bottom of each candle. If like me, you have kept them around for ages, the parts would have been perfectly rusty by now. 

Above is a close up picture of 3 rusty wick tabs. The hole in the center  of each tab, make these bottoms perfect  tops for  "hole and cap" cans, if you know what I mean. 

STEP 2: 

Cut the top part of the aluminum cup leaving the circular bottom. Don't throw away the bottom, you may never know what you can turn it into but for now, you won't need it.  Cut the top part with the edge at the bottom so that it will look like the edges are  already nicely crimped. 

 Varnish Can courtesy of Maine Marine Museum

Before the next critical step, examine this picture of an old varnish can carefully. Notice the haphazard soldering and irregular seams of the humble tin can. This is because the can was stamped, cut, folded, rolled, seamed and crimped by hand. IMPERFECTION is KEY.

 STEP 3

Roll the top part of the can into a cylinder to fit the bottom piece which will be glued together eventually. This is the tricky part because rolling an aluminum sheet is not as easy as it seems. Also to prepare for the glue, make sure all residue wax is removed from the pieces. 

  

This is my cylindrical mold.
  

STEP 4

After gluing, this was what my tin cans looked like. Completely irregular and distorted, anything but perfect. As you can see, I have made them in slightly different sizes with different looks. Tins can have personalities too, you know. Step 4 is my favourite. Painting !  I always spray paint my 1st coat for metal parts. The paint stick better. I used my favourite colour, "Brown", of course.

After you have spray painted Brown, dab a bit of Metallic Black mixed with Burnt Sienna onto the cans,. They should look pretty rusty after that.If this look suits your project, you can stop at Step 4. If you like something fancier, proceed to 

STEP 5:

Pick suitable vintage labels and again age them with rough handling and  tearing before gluing them onto the tins. Finally , give it your best rust touch up with dirty  paint water.

These tin cans have so many uses, I am sure I won't stop making them. And if you make some rusty cans, I will love to see them too.