Altered Tins
Through the Ephemeral Notions Yahoo group, I signed up for an altered tin exchange. My coworkers donated their emptied Altoid tins, which I put on the grill for 30 minutes and then sanded to get the paint off, as seen here. So nice and clean without that paint!
My two assigned colors for this project were Amber and Jade - or as close to them as I could get. Using alcohol inks, I did one color on the inside and one on the out for each tin.
Then I started brainstorming in my sketchbook for what kind of design/altering to do. These are what I came up with: a tissue holder (with the face on top), a postage stamp holder (with the stamps decoupaged all over the outside), a nature shrine (with the bee on top) and a mini art kit (with the word ART on top).
These ended up being a lot of fun to do, though figuring out the best way to remove the paint was difficult, as being pregnant, I couldn't use anything with fumes. So, these were sent off to the group moderator, Terri, who will shuffle up all the tins she receives (there are about 20 of us participating) and then send them back out to everyone. I will get 4 altered tins from 4 different people. I can't wait to see what the other people did!
posted by Kira @ 3:07 PM
7 Comments:
Hi there - I've got some tins I want to alter, and I've been trying to figure out a non-chemical way to get the paint off them. Yours is the first idea I've found online; everyone else just says to paint or paper over them I have a question, though - when you say to put them on the grill for 30 minutes, do you mean an outdoor grill, or do you mean in your oven? I don't have an outdoor grill, but I don't want to stink up/burn down my apartment by putting anything crazy in the oven. Would you recommend trying this?
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Priya - I can't find a way to email you directly. I did mine on an outside grill, but I know people who did it indoors using a blowtorch. You must make sure you have plenty of ventilation! Good luck!
Thanks! I guess I will wait until it's warm out again :-)
i'd like to start making altoid shrines. what grade of sand paper do you use, and what type of paint? rustoleum? do you put varnish on top of it all when finished or gel medium?
Pam - I can't access your profile to send you an email, so I'll put my answer here: I used a fine grade sandpaper. The only "paint" I used were alcohol inks. Some people in this trade used acrylic paints, but they can remain tacky, so you have to be careful not to use them where the lid connects. You don't need a varnish with alcohol inks, so I can't say whether you should use a varnish personally, but if I were you, I would just experiment a little. Maybe varnish would prevent the tackiness if you're using acrylics. Thanks for your post, by the way. I completely forgot about these tins. They were really fun to make. And I got some super cool ones in return.
Yours is the first I've heard about using a grill. BRILLIANT! Don't mean to get so technical, but how hot do you get the grill and do you place the lid on the grill to cover the tins or just leave it open? Thanks!
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