Polymer Clay Ambitions and Twisted Kneads

What CAN you do with an Altoid Tin ?

The words 'vision, paradise and suitcase' were mentioned in my clay group. Well, all ya gotta do is mention something even vaguely beachy (paradise) and I start breathing heavy. We were talking tins - as in Altoid - and what you can do with them. My reply was turning into a novel  . . . you know, too many ideas, never enough time so you think you gotta share every light bulb moment with anyone that will listen ( you too, huh?) . . .  instead of force feeding my good friends a huge email they may or may not be interested in I'm just gonna put all the stuff here and give them the link. Choice is good.

Since the main discussion was about Altoid tins that's what we going to start with but don't let that limit you from covering, decorating or using any other tin of any size or shape. If it ain't moving, chances are you can cover it, decorate it, stamp it ... put stuff on the outside, put stuff in the inside, love it, hug it, show it off. It's your happy little tin and you can you with it as you will. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't. Here's some of my happy little adventures into Tinland

You can see where I'm going with this. Bits and pieces of paradise ...dream home stuff. In the background is the start of a beach scene inside an Altoid tin. Cushy bed, lazy lounge chair, plants, token flamingo -  all the dream  island comforts. These are pieces that go with the Altoid beach scene. Major changes made to beach scene. Future pans include some sort of Tiki type roof to cover the top of the tin and bamboo poles to hold up the 'roof'. It's a room box works in progress. An oblong Altoid Tin covered with tiger cane and used to hold mini tools made with polymer clay and found objects. Perfect for a mini maker! View of tiny tools tucked inside. The size is three and a quarter inches long and one and one half inches wide. Mini Altoid tin covered with leather-look clay. Empty inside but add some mini spools of thread, a needle or two, a couple of buttons and tiny folding scissors and it  would make a cute little sewing kit to take on that tropical vacation! Eyeglass case covered with 'abalone' clay. (Apologies for the poor picture quality.) Inside of eyeglass case with handmade clay tools. Trippin' dragons absconding with my suitcase

Links Desiree's Desired Creations One of the best tutorials I've come across for covering tins. Great instructions and lots of step by step photos. She has many other amazing tutorials including the Skinner blend and lentil swirl beads so be sure to check out her tutorial pages   http://www.desiredcreations.com/howTo_Desk.htm NoraJean.com  This is Nora Jean's (a.k.a. "NJ" ) index on covering tins. You MUST check out this site. She is an amazing and unique artist that does things with tins that will drop your jaw! No common, ordinary stuff for this creative lady. Fair warning - her site is extensive and covers all facets of working with polymer clay so grab a big cup of your favorite brew and settle back in a comfy chair for the day . . .  or week . . .  or month! You won't be sorry. Squidoo   Lots and lots of information on anything you wanted to know about using tins. Several links to video demos too! Valeriana Solaris  Steampunk is the hot thing right now and this artist has wasted no time using it to decorating an awesome tin. No tutorials but some cool eye candy. Glass Attic    The Polymer Clay Encylopedia!! The very best place to go on the web for ANYTHING to do with polymer clay.. Diane Black is the owner of this site and has done an outstanding job on gathering information for years and then sharing it with clay lovers   everywhere. This particular link will take you to her page for "covering" but be sure to bookmark her site as it has a massive amount of information that you will go back for again and again. There are a great many more links and I will add them as I go. If you are interested in finding more links yourself you can type "altoid tins + covering" in your search bar and you will find hundreds of links to check out.

Altoid Tin made into a mini purse Seashell Tin Old cigarette case covered with clay and used for business cards. Various shapes and sizes of covered tins.

Just kickin' some crazy ideas around This was where my simple little post started turning into a full blown word explosion. One idea led to another and then another and if it had been a real conversation even I would have been reaching for the duct tape to shut me up. Okay . . . Mini roombox. or shadowbox inside a tin. A tiny bakery perhaps . . . decorate the outside like a layer cake. Mini sewing tin. Use a quilting design on the outside and put mini spools of thread, a couple of needles, a needle threader, a pair of those small folding scissors and a few buttons and you got yourself a nifty little kit to take along on those tropical vacations in case you rip your sarong or something. Nice gift for a traveling friend too! First Aid Kit. Decorate outside with clay "bandaids, aspirin, ointment tube" and maybe texture the background to look like gauze (even use real gauze to make the design texture) - or - use alphabet stamps to make the words 'boo-boo box', stamp a big 'ouch' or just use xoxoxo for hugs and kisses. Put real bandaids, aspirin, ointment, wipes and gauze inside. Mini Make up kit. Decorate the outside with a big puckered-up glossy kissy lip or mini make up stuff like eyeshadow, brushes, lipstick. Fill inside with lip gloss, shadows or whatever your heart desires. Emergency Chocolate tin. Decorate outside with clay 'chocolate candies' ... M&M's, mini candy bars or make the whole tin look like a big chunk of chocolate and stamp "use in case of emergency". Fill it up with wonderful chocolate tidbits! ( I personally like this idea - a LOT!) Business Card Tin. Decorate with a theme appropriate to the business. If you are great at doing transfers with clay you could even transfer the image of your business card on the outside. If you are making it for a friend you could go one more step and make a stack of business cards to go inside by using your handy, dandy printer and some of those special papers for making business cards. Mini Game Tin. Make a Tic-Tac-Toe design ( # ) on the outside and make X and O clay pieces to put inside. A small pencil and mini pad of paper tucked inside is a nice touch for those serious players. Cool idea when you are traveling with kids! ( I reckon you can do checkers or Chess or other games too if you are more inclined to do the hard stuff, lol!) Crayon Tin. Another good travel idea. Make some clay 'crayons' to decorate the outside and put real crayons on the inside. Or, just cover the tin with stripes of bright colors and make it easier on yourself. Card Tin. Continuing on with the travel theme . . . Decorate the outside with hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds or dice or whatever card type theme you wish and put a nice new box of cards on the inside. Another kid pleaser. (Can you tell that I have traveled with kids before, lol?) Bead Kit Tin. My favorite. I always have lots of scrap clay and therefore end up with tons of beads. Love making them, never seem to find time for stringing them. To solve this dilemma I take the set of matching beads, add a clasp, some glass or seed beads and maybe a pendant  that coordinates with the beads and include beading cord/string/wire to put inside the tin. I use mini zip bags to hold all the parts and pieces. The outside of the tin is decorated with colors that match the beads inside. I think these would be a good item to sell. I've never sold any but everyone that has received them loves them - especially kids. Mini Tool Tin. As seen above in the photos. Decorate however you please and then make little tools from stuff you have around the house. Just put clay 'handles' on those big honking sewing needles and little needles too and you've got a tool for making holes in beads. Cut a knitting needle in half and you can make really big holes or even use it for sculpting and smoothing. Look around - you will be surprised how much adding a 'handle' to something can change things! It's a perfect thing for mini makers! Once you start thinking about all the possibilities that lowly little tin becomes a magical thing. The ideas are endless. I have lots more but it's time for a break. If you have any suggestions or ideas for tins and want to share just let me know and we'll add them to the list and make sure you get credit for your light bulb moments! hugs, luny contact luny