When Old Soda Cans Blossom into Beautiful Flowers

Photo: Christine Eige

  Old soda cans are not something we usually associate with delicate flowers. But where other people see trash – recyclables at best – Chicago-based artist Christine Eige sees infinite opportunities. The elegant lilies and roses Eige creates from upcycled soda cans look so real you could be forgiven for leaning in for a sniff of their sweet scent.

We can easily see why Eige’s creations are so believable: she makes optimum use of aluminum as a material – utilizing its flexibility and often bright, painted colors – in order to make the flowers as life-like as possible. This one here, probably her most time-consuming composition, consists of five small lilies in pink and white, two medium-sized ones in white and orange, and a large orange lily that crowns the bouquet. Along with some cleverly crafted aluminum leaves (one of which displays the tell-tale logo of a Mountain Dew can) they are 'planted' in a decorative pot with real soil, making the arrangement seem, at first glance, like an authentic floral display.

Take a moment to look and see if you can identify all the different soda cans the artist has used here. There’s Strawberry Sunkist for the pink flowers; Diet Dr. Pepper for the white ones; Mountain Dew for the leaves; and Orange Crush for the orange flowers. Eige also used Sierra Mist cans, Sunkist Lemonade, Coke Zero, Monster and even the odd beer can. Can you find them all?

Christine Eige is a graphic designer by day and a freelance artist by night. She’s also a student, majoring in graphic design and photography, with a minor in art history. For more of her amazing artworks, which also include hairclips (pictured here) and photography, check out her website or Deviant Art page.
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Written by Simone Preuss