I am trying to eat better and lose some weight but I have to make sure that I still get enough protein. Apparently tuna is one of the foods with the most protein per calorie ratio or something like that. I can only assume that the nutritional wizard who came up with this tuna rating did not calculate in the mayonnaise coefficient required to make tuna palatable.  I am just kidding I actually like tuna. Or do I? Have I ever had it without mayonnaise? Well I guess I will just keep working on a less mayonnaise plan.

Anyway my new eating habits have left me with several empty tins and one new upcycling idea.

A while back I recovered a table in our living room with some tin can lids.  So in keeping with the tin can theme I decided to make some matching coasters.

To start you need a safety can opener, the kind that leaves the lip on the lid instead of the can, some tuna and your favorite tuna recipe.

After you have enjoyed your tuna delight, let the can lids rust. You can research how to rust metal on line, there are many way to do it, but I prefer the throw them in a roaring fire method. If you are not on a diet you could roast some marshmallows or enjoy a nice Chianti while you wait. I was actually doing yard work while these guys where roasting in our outdoor fire pit, but I will live vicariously by imagining you, fireside sipping the beverage of your choice. No wait this is my fantasy so you are sipping a nice sweet port wine and re-reading Rebecca by Daphe du Maurier for the third time. And while I am at it, since there aren’t any calories involved for me why don’ t you have some delicious Stilton cheese to go with your wine.

Anyway, after digging the lids out of my sooty fire pit, yes that is as glamorous as it sounds, and then washing them off, I decided to dab on a little color.

To seal and add some shine I added a coat of Minwax Polycrylic. Have you noticed that I can’t seem to complete a project without this stuff? I should seriously be a spokesperson for them. That is if they need someone to share all of the unorthodox ways to use their product and presumably they don’t.

To add substance, I filled the lids with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. I have experimented with this product on a few small things but I am not super familiar with it and this is the first project I have used it on. I think it turned out pretty well.

Once the Mod Podge was dry it was time to add some feet.

To add feet I used thin slices of wine corks that were sanded smooth with some sand paper.

The feet were glued to the bottom of the lids with E6000 glue.

And that’s it. Flip them over and they are ready to use.

Happy Upcycling,