Spray can lighting

Energy & Sustainability Furniture & Lighting

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.

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July 17th, 2009 10

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Love these hanging pendant lights, made from spray paint cans. As Paul on DudeCraft says:

I imagine the cast offs from one graffiti artist could yield an entire showroom of these babies. Brought to you by the clever kids at Zek.

Can Delight

10 thoughts on “Spray can lighting”

Paul Overton says:

July 17th, 2009 at 3:23 pm

Gareth – Thanks for the link to DudeCraft! Those cans are cool, aren’t they? Cheers.
Gareth Branwyn says:

July 17th, 2009 at 5:22 pm

Love the site, Paul. Visit it all the time.
H H says:

July 19th, 2009 at 1:02 pm

I love this idea. I have a concern about removing the bottoms from the cans, even after depressurization. Any advice or experience?
Anonymous says:

July 19th, 2009 at 10:18 pm

I don’t see any instructions for bleeding the pressure off these cans. Are you certain that depressing the spray can nozzle button will exhaust all the pressure? I have always heard that cutting into pressurized cans can be dangerous.
Gareth Branwyn says:

July 19th, 2009 at 10:33 pm

I think the impression that they’re explosively dangerous is slightly overblown. If you spray the nozzle until the can is empty and then put the can inside something to protect yourself from any shrapnel, and then puncture the can with a nail, you should be fine. A guy on Flickr wanted to see what would happen if he punctured a can. He built a wooden box just bigger than the can, with a hole at the bottom-side for a nail. He punctured it and there wasn’t much pressure release. I think if you guard against anything being able to flying at you, wear goggles, make sure the can is as empty as possible, etc., you should be fine.