trench art
Battlefield souvenir making
Trench art is decorative objects made by soldiers, prisoners of war, or civilians from war materials—shell casings transformed into vases, bullet cartridges fashioned into letter openers, aircraft aluminum beaten into jewelry.
The term originated with World War I, when soldiers in the trenches crafted souvenirs during idle hours, but it covers similar work from any conflict: His grandfather brought back trench art from Vietnam.
- militariaCollected items from armed forces
- bulletFired metal projectile
- shell casingAmmunition's metal container
- vaseOrnamental container for flowers
- artillery shellsLarge-caliber explosive projectiles
brass · letter opener · shrapnel · paperweight · ashtray · World War I · embossing · arts and crafts · engraving · etching · memorabilia · war memorials · WWI · no man's land · carving · hammered · handmade · wartime
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