Penny Art

Today's the day that penny pinching begins in Canada. As mentioned, you will no longer get them from the bank, but you can still use them to pay for purchases, or you can bag them up and head for a sorting machine before your next visit to the bank or you can donate them to a worthy cause.

Or......use your hoarded pennies in an arts and craft project. Here are a few for inspiration.


Manhattan Mettle by Ann Carrington.
Mixed media: metal punching, dollars, dimes, subway tokens, spanners, nails, pins...
8m x 5m, www.anncarrington.co.uk

Here's a close-up of this very detailed work:
 

 

 

How about a bowl....

Coin Bowl
By Johnny Swing
www.johnnyswing.com



 

or a portrait of someone you admire..... 



Painting with Coins
Nelson Mandela by Ed Chapman, 44″ x 31″, 5,340 pennies.
www.edchapman-mosaics.co.uk

 

Or watch this video of Abraham Lincoln appearing in pennies:




Then there are functional pieces:







This floor at the Artisan Tattoo and Coffee Gallery in Garfield, Pennsylvania needed 250,000 pennies and more than 400 man-hours to install. The coins were all laid with Lincoln facing up and the whole thing was sprayed as a last step. Four to six volunteers, solicited through Facebook, worked 10 to 16 hours a day for 3 weeks straight.

Mel Angst, the owner of the Gallery, said that at a total cost of $2500, the unit cost for materials came out to only about $3/square foot, cheaper than many tiles at the hardware store and with the bonus of a far more interesting floor than mere tile. Good thing there was no labour cost though.

The volunteers who managed to stick around for 30 hours were rewarded for their back-breaking efforts by the offer of a free custom penny tattoo.

This technique of laying pennies could be used on a smaller scale such as a table-top or a counter:

Penny covered Counter
Lincoln Room Bar, San Diego
How to: makeprojects.com
www.tumblr.com

Finally, how about an adult-assisted project for the kids, the perfect gift for Mother's or Father's Day :