Make your own scrap metal crafts
The festive season can get expensive – but the good news is, Singletons are here to show you a handful of our favourite Christmas crafts using scrap metal, so you don’t have to buy anything new!
With most of these craft projects, you can use what you already have at home, so you’ll be helping to save some pennies – and the planet.
The countdown to Christmas can be made even more exciting by getting stuck into some festive scrap metal crafting, and adding a magical, metal touch to your home has never been easier.
We’ve picked the best metal Christmas decoration DIYs for you to try. From upcycled cogs and cosy copper ornaments, to scrap metal Christmas trees and huge welded installations, no matter your skillset or how crafty you are, you can find a recycled metal project that is just right for you.
Reminder: safety first when it comes to scrap! If you’re planning on making any of these fun scrap metal crafts, always wear eye protection and gloves to avoid any mishaps and injuries.
What Christmas crafts can you make with metal?
There are hundreds of things you can do with scrap metal, but here are some of our favourite festive crafts:
Drink can decorations
Keep hold of your cold drinks cans this Christmas – most cans are made from Aluminium, which is ideal for craft projects as it can be easily cut with scissors or craft knives, and flattened into sheets. The aluminium sheets can then be shaped, punched and cut to create anything from wall art, wreaths, and garden ornaments to jewellery, charms and flowers. Clean off labels for shiny silver, or keep your favourite logos showing!
Mini Christmas trees
For this craft, all you need is wire. It really is simple! All you need to do is wrap steel or copper wire around a paper cone, starting at the smallest end, wrapping around the cone and attaching a ribbon from the top. Choose your wire based on your decorations or go for a mix of metals for a unique look.
Copper is a warm, whimsical metal that goes well with more traditional dark red and green Christmas ornaments. Steel wire, on the other hand, has a beautiful silver tone which goes great in a snowy-white, Christmas scene.
Copper pipe Christmas trees
Copper pipe trees can be used to make quirky tabletop Christmas décor, or in place of a traditional Christmas tree, depending on how large or small you make them.
For this craft, it’s best to cut your copper pipes to size using a pipe cutter or hacksaw, cutting various diameters of copper pipe to create the traditional Christmas tree shape. To assemble, you build layers using the lengths of pipe, adding tees, elbows and fittings, soldering or using a strong adhesive on the joints as you go for durability.
Copper is super durable and can lend itself to several aesthetics; it can be polished to an almost luxurious rose-gold colour or left to develop a patina.
Scrap metal snowmen
Snowman ornaments made from spare nuts and bolts are really easy to make, but they make great gifts. Anyone handy will have at least a few hex nuts knocking about in a drawer somewhere – simply stack three together, with the largest on the bottom, and secure with all-purpose glue. Embellish with other small metal pieces from around the house to create hats, arms and noses.
Welded nails star
If you have any nails left over from DIY projects, these are perfect for turning something spikey into something sparkly. When welded together, nails can turn into gorgeous star-shaped ornaments for your tree. Why not try using nails and this method to make different shapes and see what Christmas magic you can create?
Shiny metal birds
Thin sheets of metals such as aluminium, brass or copper can be cut without having to use any special equipment. You can easily fold and stamp them using nails and a hammer to create textures and unique shapes. You can use the same method as the drinks can decorations to create metal stars, cute robins, angels or any other festive shapes.
Metal wreaths
Give your door a metallic touch by creating a sensational scrap metal wreath. Simply collect up your small bits of scrap and stick small pieces of sheet metal together with old wire to form a circle. If this isn’t festive enough for you, you can cut out shapes such as leaves or stars from thin pieces of sheet metal using the methods above to help add more decorations.
If you need any help with your Christmas crafts, or still have items that are more suitable for scrap than crafting, contact us for more information or pop into our scrap yard for a quote and same-day payments.
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