Penny (too many) for your thoughts??

[zaluly]

Well that makes cents! Sorry, I LOVE crafts that you make puns with, love the touch of OCDness that it must take to
do a thing like this--no offense! love the fact that there are 2 of you, that just happen to have a bit in common, doing it..also, you piqued my interest about pre-1982 pennies

[kjlutz]

I love it.

I need to think of a penny project to do and collect for before it goes the way of the buffalo here in Canada. 

[LiveLongandCraft]

That is really cool.

[hipmama1970]

Oooh, I like it!

[christina_e]

Love it. That's absolutely awesome!!!!

Cheers, Christina

[Vanthia]

I got curious about the 1982 thing too... so I went to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_%28United_States_coin%29)! it appears that was when the mix of metals used was sometimes changed:

Years    Material
1793–1857    100% copper
1857–1864    88% copper, 12% nickel (also known as NS-12)
1864–1942 1946–1962    bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc)
1943    zinc-coated steel (also known as 1943 steel cent)
1944–1946    brass (95% copper, 5% zinc)
1962–1981    brass (95% copper, 5% zinc)
1982    varies, (95% copper, 5% zinc) or (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper)[5]
1983–present    97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper (core: 99.2% zinc, 0.8% copper; plating: pure copper)[6]

I'd imagine that the change to the mix of metals would also affect the appearance of the pennies, so asking for pre-1982 probably allowed for a more consistent look.

it really was a great idea you had here though! and it looks fabulous!

[thisbirdsabsurd]

This looks fantastic!  We were just looking at websites with floors and tables done with pennies and I've been trying to figure out how to transform an old coffee table I have!  You're great inspiration!!

[alteredmommy]

its so shiny fantastic!

I'm also hoarding my pennies up here in Canada for they are slated to be abolished in the next year or so.  I move too often for an entire floor, as much as I love the look....maybe an "area rug" that I can take with me   thanks for the great inspiration!

[lisaahouser]

Hi all-
Thanks for the posts! I too spent many a nite looking for inspiration on the web. I knew I wanted to do this someday...and a cabin-thing made perfect sense. We also have a rug made outa wine corks at the kitchen sink and a lamp made outa keys, a set of 35mm slide curtains, a blender lamp, a hot-pink boar rug, ...I'm a crafster junky. (waaay too much free time)

Anyhoo- the pre-1982 penny: those pennies were primarily made outa copper (thanks for great chart Vanthea!) so they are cleanable (vinegar and salt)...shiny!! If you soak post 1982 pennies, the amount of zinc is such that the pennies will corrode and pit....ugly!

I DID sort the 4000+ pennies, soaked the pre-1982 to make em shiny, and threw in the post-82 for contrast. If I did it again...I would probably set up some sort of contrasting swirl pattern, or maybe a profile silhouette, or an abstract repetitive pattern on the floor with the various shades of coin...(NOT!!)
U-go-4-it and post pix!!

[Kimbles]

Our 1c pieces are long gone (in Australia) but this would look cool with 5c pieces too. And they seem to stay shiny with no effort. Resin hates me though. What sort did you use?