Use 3 Old Soup Cans To Create This Rustic Hanging Porch Décor

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Your old soup cans may not look like much, but if you're a DIYer who loves a crafty challenge, they may be something you want to rescue from the recycle bin. Although it's not uncommon to see these trashy treasures get turned into something practical, like pots for herbs, another use is to turn them into charming rustic wind chimes for your porch. And why not? According to folklore, wind chimes attract good spirits and shoo away the baddies. And in rural areas, chimes have been used to keep birds from eating farm crops. Indeed, there's something to be said for making an instrument of wind song out of a couple of old soup cans and extra chime parts. Here's what you need to know to get started.

For this unique wind chime to work properly, you'll need three old soup cans of different sizes: small, medium, and large. Cover their exteriors with a coat or two of light-colored chalk paint, like white, although something bright like Colorantic Lemon Pie Chalk Based Paint from Amazon would be cheery, too. You also want some clear enamel, paint brushes, and decorative two-ply napkins. The rest of the chime's basic supplies include green floral wire, wooden beads, and a small and inexpensive set of chimes from a store like Dollar General. You'll also need a pair of scissors, roll of plastic cling wrap, and drill to put the soup can chimes together.

Start by painting your cans with two coats of paint. Then, drill a hole in the middle of the top of each can. Next, pull apart the two-ply napkins, saving the decorated piece. Add a coat of liquid enamel on one of the cans. While it's still wet, wrap the decorated napkin around the can — you'll likely have a bit of excess that hangs over the bottom and top. Smooth out the wrinkles in the napkin carefully with a sheet of plastic wrap to protect your fingers and so you don't tear the napkin. Do this before you remove the extra overhanging napkin.

Repeat this process for each can: You'll end up with three cans covered with different napkin designs., creating a visual contrast. Next, string a long piece of floral wire through the hole in the smallest can, so it flows out of the hole at the bottom and top. Attach a bead to the wire inside the can and on top of the can as stoppers, leaving a couple of centimeters between the can and beads. Repeat this process with all the cans. When you string the cans together, the beads create height between each can to prevent the cans from collapsing into each other. 

Lastly, take apart the wind chime you bought for parts. Attach its hook to the top of your chime set. Then, add its chimes to the bottom can of your chime set. Pull the chimes inside the can so they're high enough to hit the interior of the can. This causes the chimes to ring when the wind blows.

Napkins and other decorative embellishments play an important role in creating a charming wind chime. They give the plain cans flare: This is largely due to the decoupage techniques you used to decorate them. However, while decoupage can turn ordinary items into inexpensive art, it's not your only option as far as adornment is concerned. Painting designs on the cans is another way to personalize them, either with the help of some rustic-themed stencils or your own raw talent.

You can also augment the chimes' rustic appeal if you add other decorative elements like textures, beaded string borders, or embossing. These types of techniques introduce a tactile element to the cans' designs, without making the soup cans completely unrecognizable. Since using reclaimed materials — cans, in this case – is one of the reasons why this DIY looks so rustic, you don't want the can to disappear from the design altogether.   

Lastly, you're not limited to using only three cans. If you have four or five cans in different sizes, it's possible to add sections to the chime: Each can just needs to fit into the one above it and below it, like the sections of a telescope. It's an inexpensive and easy way to make the rustic wind chime look more interesting as it sways on the rafters of your porch in the night's breezes.