Recycled Man

Donna
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Recycled Man - hanging outside This is a cute project using recycled materials. I actually made a few with some autistic friends that I do crafts with. It was fun and could be a good lesson for students about recycling too!

Total Time: 2 hours

Supplies:

2 tin cans, small and larger, one flattened
32 bottle caps (I asked my local bar and they saved them for me!)
1 roll 20 gauge uncoated wire
14 corks (The same bar saved me the corks too!)
hammer
1 nail to make holes
1 liquid laundry detergent cap
drill to make holes in cork
2 ft coated wire (I used clothesline wire bought at a hardware store by the foot.)

Steps:

Punch holes in all bottle caps with a nail and hammer on a soft surface (like a lawn!) and drill holes in all corks. Punch holes for a face in a tuna or cat food can with a nail and hammer and string metal wire through the holes to look like a face. Punch a hole in the top and through a plastic cap to thread wire through for a hat and make a loop to hook it up at the end.

Recycled Man - putting wire through the holes for the face

Punch holes in the main can "body" to string neck to body, one in center top and one at each corner. Attach arms and legs with wire. I actually tie the wire at the ends to hold them on. It's a heavier duty wire so it doesn't break too easily and mine was even coated (on some places like the top loop to hang.) See photo.

Recycled Man - putting coated wire through center top hole

Recycled Man - tying the body to the head with the clothesline wire

Drill hole through corks and string on 2 or 3 bottle caps alternating with 1 cork and ending with a knotted wire to hold everything together. Arms use 3 corks each and legs use 4. See photo! Note: I chose to turn the 'hands' and 'feet' corks in a horizontal position to look like hands and feet.