Altoids Tins Art Ideas

Apparently you can do almost anything with an Altoids tin. If you look on YouTube you can find EDC, Survival kits, 3D printed watercolor palette inserts (I need to try that!), “wallets”, pocket stoves (!), digital cameras, flashlights. Obviously some of those ideas take more work and parts than others. But the creativity is endless!

I found a workshop by Peg & Awl (I mention them a lot lately!) where they were making tiny pieces of art the size of vintage tins. I haven’t gone out to find any vintage tins, but I have a few tins around (once I eat all the mints!) so I am working on making small art in tins, that I can give as gifts. It fits nicely into my Steampunk and Maker kind of vibe.

Tiny Tins

I used to despair that all I like to draw is “little art”, but I guess there are lots of ways to use art that small for things anyway.

Some little mushrooms I painted, to go into the art tin.

A big (and much closer) art inspiration is Natto Soup (Becca Hillburn). You should check out her books, art, Discord, YouTube, Insta… she is prolific, cheerful, helpful, and always striving to make better and more accessible art. I am going out of my way to put some links in here because I don’t know why anyone would read a blog if it didn’t point them to interesting content.

So here are Five Specific Hopefully Interesting Links

2025 – New blogging?

I don’t know if I will post more blog entries in 2025, but I know these things:

  1. I am not a fan of this WordPress blog any longer
  2. I am glad I own this domain, and the others, but I’m sure not doing much with ’em.
  3. Do I need new hosting?
  4. Would it matter?

Anyway, I have been doing a lot of creative stuff lately! In 2024 I :

  • Grew some herbs
  • Learned to make ink/pigment/watercolor from natural berries and things
  • Learned to alter the ink/pigment/watercolor by changing the pH
  • Documented all my ink samples in a ring-bound card catalog
  • Learned to make paper
  • Bound a little book filled with homemade paper
  • Learned to carve erasers into rubber stamps.
Sample cards showing all the inks I made from various plants!

I have been very inspired by a website called Peg & Awl. I wonder what other websites are there to inspire that I haven’t found yet? The internet is a big place, but sometimes it feels like all I do is check social media! And here is this blog post, not on social media, but in my little cul-de-sac of the web. Let’s enjoy the freedom we have to create the internet we want – while we still can.