Using Coke to Paint on Aluminium!

Hey there! Have you ever thought of painting on an Aluminium sheet? No? I did, but the paint doesn't remain intact on the surface. If you just wipe it with your fingers it gets removed easily. This is because of the oiliness on the surface and Yeah! I did want to find a way out.

After a bit of research on this topic I finally got a method to permanently paint on the Aluminium foil using Coke! so let's get into making it.

• Aluminium Foil
• Cardboard(or Acrylic sheet)
• Coke
• Cookig oil
• Sponge
• Crayons
• Paint (also paint brush)
• Fevicol

As a starting point, you would need a smooth and strong surface. The best surface to wrap the aluminium foil around would be a piece of glass, acrylic, or tiles because they are smooth and there won't be any bubbles inside.

I have decided to take cardboard 'cause I couldn't find any of the above at my home. I wouldn't suggest a cardboard piece because you will fall into trouble at step 5. I then grabbed aluminium foil from my kitchen and wrapped it over the cardboard. I tried my best to remove the air bubbles, I have also used a drop of glue to paste the foil. As said earlier because of the grooves there are quite a few bubbles remaining.

If you are using an acrylic sheet, pour little water over it before wrapping the foil. This will make sure that no air bubbles are trapped. If you can't get rid of the air bubbles it's absolutely fine 'cause after step 5 we will get rid of it.

Tip: Avoid using glue at the front to paste the foil else this will make the foil uneven.

To sketch onto the aluminium sheet, we need an image. Taking inspiration from Google I have found a silhouette and decided to sketch it by myself on an A4 sheet and then transfer it.

If you wish you can take a printout of any sketch and then transfer it.You can also directly sketch on the aluminium sheet by skipping this step but the catch is aluminium is extremely malleable so if you make even a slight mistake it would be very difficult to reverse, so I wouldn't suggest you to do that.

Note: It's not mandatory to only do silhouette you can do any Sketch even with different colours.

How do you transfer an image from paper to aluminium foil? Carbon paper will do the work. In order to transfer the image to the aluminium foil, I have pasted the carbon paper onto the cardboard and placed the sketch over it, then used a pencil to draw and transfer the image.

Make sure the carbon paper is fixed well else the image transfer will create errors. I have used a pen to redraw on the surface of aluminium so that all the lines are visible.

I have used crayons colour pencils to fill in the colours into my sketch; Do not use any other colour pencils except glass marker or crayons else you won't be able to fill colour. it doesn't really matter what colours you use because we will erase it after step 5 but colour it darkly and uniformly. You might be wondering why to fill colour if we will remove it later, this process will ensure that the oiliness is reduced to a minimum on those areas which are to be painted later.

While colouring be careful because even if you place your hand on the sheet there will be an impression and it can ruin your sketch. You can see bubbles forming in my image that's because I didn't use a tissue paper.You can place a tissue/paper/cloth below your hand to avoid the hand impression.

So, first of all, we need to make preparations for this step. I have placed a metal plate (you can use a tray/bucket) and place it below the cardboard. Now I have taken the secret ingredient- the Coke and started pouring it on the sketch. Ensure that you are pouring in for a little while and leave it as such for a couple of minutes then drain the coke.

Since I'm using a cardboard I had to be extra careful in this step such that the coke didn't ruin the cardboard.

For removing the coke marks and the design, you can use cooking oil and a sponge to wipe; you can also use water and wipe it with a sponge.Do not remove the outline completely or this will make it difficult while painting but remove the colour completely. This step will even remove any bubbles or uneven surfaces.

But why coke?Coke has Phosphoric acid and Gum Arabic which will react with the surface of aluminium foil and will convert this sheet into a Painting plate.

The plate is ready to be painted. All you can do now is to paint with any colors. I have used acrylic paints.

If the design is not visible, you can paint the whole sheet completely and let it dry. Then wipe the whole sheet with a cloth. Since you are sketching on a surface that is no longer oily, the colour will remain intact and you will get cool looking silhouettes like mine. if you wish You can use different colours 'cause the colour doesn't really matter now. In my case the the outlines were well visible and paint was stuck on surface very well.

Allow it to dry and then use your thumb and try to erase the sketch, if the paint comes off then repeat step 5 and 6. After this the paint will be permanent.

As you can see because the cardboard had grooves, there are still uneven areas in my sketch that's why i suggested the use of acrylic sheets. I have used a bit of water to remove them. Yes! it works.

You can now hang your showpiece at your desired place. Hope you enjoyed the build :)