Tin Can Luminaries

For part of the centerpieces for our anniversary dance, I did tin can luminaries. I got the idea from a library book from our local library. They were pretty easy and I love how they look.  Here's how they turned out and then I'll show you how I made them. 

Cool, huh?! I like how they turned out. We're saving them for Christmas now. 

We'd been saving tin cans for a while to do this. I filled up 10 of them with water and stuck them in the freezer. I really technically only needed 5, but I froze more just in case I messed one up and then I'd figured I'd use the extras as decoration too. The ice helps! It keeps the can from bending, but even more so, it is much less bouncy when hitting it with a nail/hammer. 

Here's the materials I used:

10 tin cans (all roughly the same size)

Hammer

Nail/puncture device

One 32" length of wire for each can

Two 4" lengths of wire for each can

Wire Cutters

Ribbon

Raffia

And to fill: Pinto Beans and a electric candle. 

 I started by using a nail and a hammer, but it was hard to hold the nail still, so my husband brought me the little bent screwdriver thingy (I have no idea what it's called) and it worked much better. I laid the can on a wadded up dishtowel to keep it from rolling all over. 

 After punching the little holes, I stuck a screwdriver in the hole and swirled it around to make some of the holes a little bigger. 

After punching the holes let the ice melt in the sink. While the ice is melting, you twist the wire handle. I used the leg of my folding chair to twist the wire. Warning, your hands get dirty. 

Don't twist the last 2 inches of the wire. Cut the wire off your twisting device (my folding chair leg). Twist the ends (only on one end of the handle) into curls. 

Feed the uncurled wire ends through one side of the tin can. 

Pull the wire handle through to the curls. 

Feed the uncurled end of the wire through the other side of the tin can. 

Curl the ends of the wire. 

Bend down the top inch of each of the 4" wires.

Curl the ends of the 4" wires, then feed the bent end in through the original handle holes. 

I then hot glued the ribbon to the can. 

I then tied some raffia around the can to make it more countryish. 

And voila! 

We couldn't use candles in the building we were using, so I bought the little flickering electric ones to put in the cans. I also didn't want to deal with sand, and we had a big bag of pinto beans, so we used pinto beans to fill the cans. 

These were fun and simple and looked great. Best of all, their cheap!