I posted this on another forum but I'll post it here for those guys that didn't see it!! :thumb: I was inspired by a post of a hotel floor made with pennies. I decided it would be cool to make a craft project with pennies. I came up with an idea of making an American flag with pennies and I used the dimes as stars. The flag contains 2622 pennies and 50 dimes. I got 3 $25 boxes of pennies to make the flag. The hardest thing about the project was finding the bright red lincolns. During the search through 150 rolls, I found 2 dimes, 17 wheat backs (1 of them was from 1910 and the rest were from the 40's and 50's), 7 Canadian cents and 1 panama cent. How I made it!! I measured the pennies and decided that I wanted to do 3 rows per strip so I would need 39 rows. I cut a 3/8" piece of plywood to 26.5" by 48". I used amazing goop household adhesive to glue every penny down. During the process I learned I could only glue about 3 rows down at a time or the penny's would move when I pushed them into place. The process isn't as time consuming as one would think. I could do 3 rows in about 20 minutes. To make the frame I bought some 3/4" x 3" x 8' oak. I used the table saw to rip a grove in it so the flag would sit flush with the plywood. I was going to add glass to the frame but I really didn't like the way it looked so I took the glass back out. To preserve the pennies I sprayed the whole thing with a clear coat finish (matte finish). After it dried you could even tell I sprayed it. I did test the clear coat before I sprayed the whole thing to make sure it wouldn't do something weird. I used (6) metal brackets to secure the frame to the plywood. I used a 200 lbs bracket to hang the flag on the wall. The flag is hanging by the plywood back and not the oak frame. I thought the flag may be too heavy for the frame to support. So what it cost!! Plywood......$10 Frame.........$25 Spray...........$5 Adhesive.....$10 Hanger...,....$15 Coins..........$31.22 Total...........$96.22 Overall I am very happy with the flag and I have already started a new bigger flag with an added twist. I am going to do a 3' by 5' flag but I am going to make the stars out of each state quarter that the star represents!!
Will the state quarters be with the obverse or reverse showing, because personally it would seem a waste to assemble them and have the identical obverses out.
Good luck!! My sure you only glue about 3 rows down at a time and then let them dry. Otherwise they will end up moving on you.
If you ever make a small one again, might I suggest a roll of rough steelies for the stars. I can get them at the local pawn shop for $6 a roll, but would need two to get enough non re-zinced coins for it
I thought about that. Really I wanted to use proof roosevelts as the stars but I talked myself out of it!!
Maybe you could do a large amount of those and sell them at a local show. That would be interesting, one of each random combo of cents and other coinage. I garentee you that people would pay 20 dollars all day for it
It seriously took me over 24 hours to make this one. My hands smell of copper for a couple days after I did the 150 roll search!! I don't think I would ever make one to simply sell, it is not worth it for the buyer or the seller!!
They would definitely sell at a show. Original idea and it looks great the way you combined the browns and reds
Well thank you all for your inspiration. I just made the 3' x 5' sized one with the state quarters. You can check out how I did it here. Thanks for the help.
