How to Get Creative with Aluminum Foil

As the holiday season nears, many of us will undoubtedly soon find ourselves with plenty of excess foil. We use it to cover Thanksgiving casseroles as they bake. We use it to wrap up leftovers. We use it to line the bottoms of pans as we roast potatoes and other delicious root veggies. We use it a lot.

In those instances when we can clean it up reasonably well, it can be recycled, though we should note that this should be done with special precautions. Foil doesn’t behave like an aluminum can or other metal items we commonly recycle, and sometimes recycle centers don’t want it. Recycling it effectively requires doing a bit of homework. If it’s clean and whole, it is better to reuse at home for as long as possible.

Now, when the foil we use is too abundant for saving to reuse, there are gobs of ways to get creative with it. Foil is a great medium for arts and crafts projects, and taking on these projects is a thoughtful way to repurpose and upcycle the foil we use.

Embossed Tin

Source: ArtOfMiami/Youtube

For those of us with a bit of sketching skills (or those willing to trace), embossing used foil can be a fun and easy art project that stands out as something quite extraordinary. Simply back a drawing or picture with a piece of aluminum foil then, with light pressure, follow the lines around the drawing again. The drawing will show up on the aluminum foil behind it. Once in place, the embossed foil can be embellished with markers or paint to look antique.

Pendants

Source: The Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo/Youtube

Truthfully, lots of crafters go out and buy aluminum tape to do this craft, but since we are using our old tin foil here, we might have to rely on strong glue to fix it to stuff. For a simple pendant, cut out a basic shape—heart, star, triangle, etc.—from a thin cardboard box, such as a cereal box. Top that with a little crafting foam (or a scrap of repurposed cloth) then wrap them together with glue-backed foil. Emboss the foil with little doodled designs, color it with a marker (black works best), and wipe away the ink. It’s easy but looks great.

Beads

Source: Hectanooga1 – Crochet, Knitting, Jewelry, Crafts, Cooking/Youtube

There is no need for us to ever go out and buy costume jewelry when trash is around. Foil is great for making shiny beads. After cutting out small squares of old tin foil, ball one of them up into a spherical (or other shapes), cover it with another square of tin foil and another and another until it is the desired size, gluing the last sheet of foil with typical school glue. Punch a hole through it with a nail. From there, the beads can be tinted with markers or paint to give them a more finished look.

Decorative Letters

Source: what’s she doing now ??/Youtube

We can also make pretty snazzy letters to sit on shelves or desks, or be hung on the wall. Again, cut out the letter shapes from cardboard boxes, stacking them as thickly as desired. Sketch some shapes on the letters and trace them with glue (a hot glue gun is good for this). Cover the letters with the old foil, smoothing it out over the letter so that the texture of the glue shows. Finally, use markers or alcohol paint to give the tin an antique look.

Christmas Ornaments

Source: Studio Jocelyn/Youtube

Repurposed aluminum foil is perfect for DIY Christmas ornaments. Using the same techniques as above, we can make lovely “antique” metal Christmas wreaths, stars, embossed angels and so on. Furthermore, sheets of foil can be cut into strips to act as tinsel on the tree, or it can be sculpted into icicles to hang from wherever. The bead technique from above can be employed to make DIY Christmas baubles. Foil is also very malleable and yields well to sculpting 3-D Christmas shapes.

Tinfoil Roses

Source: my food bug/Youtube

Of course, nothing is quite so impressive as those who can make simple works of art on the spot, and foil has historically been a great material for doing this. We all know about to-go foil packages from fancy restaurants sculpted into swans and such. Well, it’s no big feat to learn to make a rose from aluminum foil, and it’ll delight those who receive one. These can also be done for table settings or upcycled bouquets. For a craft project, the foil could be tinted beforehand so that the resulting roses have the antique look.

With a little effort, we have the potential to do something useful and/or beautiful with much of the garbage we produce. Tin foil is especially good as it can produce quality upcycled crafts that look like much more than reimagined trash. Many of these projects could work well as personal gifts for friends and loved ones, meaning we aren’t wasting money and we are buying junk.

Related Content:

• 7 Ways to Engage with Your Kids at Home with Crafts
• 7 Crafty Things to Do With Plant-Based Milk Cartons
• 9 Cool DIY Crafts & Uses for Mason Jar Lids
• 10 Home Items You Can Reuse Over and Over Again

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