Film is no longer used as much as before and the film canisters that go with it are almost usually just thrown away or kept somewhere, gathering dust. If you have plenty of these canisters lying around the house, you have to know that there is a decorative value to it. You also have to know that since film canisters are almost passé, these items are now considered vintage and thus, possess a nostalgic element to it.
This is the type of decoration or accessory that still works in today’s trends. You can turn film canisters into belt buckles, key chains or jewelry, among other things. For this particular project, this guide is for making dog tags out of film canisters.
First, you will basically need the following materials:
- 35 mm film canisters, used and empty
- Fliers or bottle opener
- Hammer
- Markers
- Coin
- Some working gloves for your hand’s protection (optional)
- Scissors, cutter or nail nipper
- Sand paper
- Nails
- Nylon
Below is what you have to do next:
- Collect empty film canisters. If you don’t have then, check with friends or go to a local photo lab and ask if they can part with these (they don’t use it anymore, anyway).
- Take the cap off on each of the film canisters. Use the bottle opener if you must, especially if these have been stocked away for a long period. Peel off anything that may be stuck on the surface of it.
- Put on your gloves and take your fliers to open the canister. Once it is opened, use your hammer to flatten it. You don’t have to pound so heavily though but just enough to achieve a flat surface.
- Put a coin on top of the flat surface and then trace this using your marker.
- Cut the traced area out using a pair of scissors or nail nipper. When it’s done, smoothen the edges with sandpapers. You now have a disc sheet for your dog tag.
- Punch a hole in the upper middle of this disc using a nail and a hammer. Again, sandpaper this to smoothen out the surface.
- You can also keep on using the sandpaper to remove the paint on the film canister’s surface.
- Put nylon or a similar material on the hole so you can clip this or tie it up your dog’s collar.
- Do not forget to write your dog’s name and your own details such as your name, address and phone number on the collar.
- You can also embellish this with glitter glue and other ornaments to make a more unique dog tag.
This project is fun to do as it is more personalized. It’s also not just restricted to dogs, you can hang this on to your other pets, perhaps including parrots. And you can also use dog tags as bag key chains or trinkets.