The sorry tale of my lunch tin
 

One day, lunch tins began to appear in the Gallery. And Bagpuss scoffed.

Then there was a lunch tin with "CARDS" stamped on the side and Bagpuss pondered.

More lunch tins appeared and Bagpuss started to feel a familiar longing...

Suddenly, Bagpuss realised that she wanted a lunch tin ... NOW!!!! (And so did all her stamping friends.)

Bagpuss began scouring the internet for lunch tins and discovered that they are like hens' teeth in England - and that shipping them from the USA was not cost-effective.

And Bagpuss wailed.

Finally, Bagpuss managed to track down some lunch tins and bought every single one in the shop - all nine of them.

Bagpuss dutifully followed Emily's wonderful tutorial and decorated a lunch tin which might not exactly "rock"... but is quite pleasing to the eye.

Bagpuss painted the lid in cocoa brown, impatiently allowed it to dry and then added a layer of coffee-coloured paint (acrylic).

Finally, all Bagpuss had to do was sand down the lid to achieve a trendy distressed look with the cocoa-coloured paint showing through.

But, despite using a VERY fine sandpaper, BOTH layers of paint came off at the same time - peeling away like so much sunburned skin! :o How Bagpuss groaned and gritted her teeth (but did not swear!).

Bagpuss wonders what went wrong... should she have sanded the tin lid to start with to provide a key? Should she have not used acrylic paints from a bargain shop? Should she just throw in the towel and cover it with patterned paper?

Anxiously awaiting ideas for the next instalment of this sorry saga...

I cant help and I am sorry...but I loved your story!

I'm not sure if we can get mod podge over here - would PVA glue do the same job? Or perhaps wood varnish?

Sorry, I don't have any idea how to help, but your story had me cracking up!! :p

I have had a lot of problems with acrylic paint peeling from metal surfaces (and I assume the lunch tin is metal).

You might try this on one, because I'd hate for it to ruin it, but could you sand the metal surface first so the paint has something to grab onto?

This might be a very bad idea, but in my mind it works.

And btw- great narrative.

I don't know if this would help, but I know that you can make acrylic paint stick to glass better by adding just a little glue in with the paint. Mix well, of course. Maybe you can try that next time?

Hope that helps!

I'm sorry to hear about your tin, but your story was very entertaining.

I have a tin but have not decorated it yet...I'm so sorry you are having such a hard time your first go with it!!

Thanks for the tips everyone! Our tins are exactly the same as yours - Provo Craft, imported from America. I think I'll try sanding it first, then painting in brown, then using a crackle medium before painting in cream. I'll test out the PVA glue, too. If the worst comes to the worst I can always cover it with paper! (And I still have 7 tins to go... if I can fend off the stamping friends! :))

Thanks for enjoying my story! I might start referring to myself in the 3rd person in real life - it gives one an air of being slightly unhinged, don't you think? ;)

I had a similar problem with painting a prefinished wood piece, so I bought a can of spray primer and coated the wood with that first. Just make sure you get a formula designed for use on metal.

Sorry for laughing (at your expense), but this was a great story! One of the most well written stories I've seen on SCS! :D

I can't help you at all with your problem...but really enjoyed reading. I used to think people who talked about him/herself in 3rd person were WEIRD, but for your story, it totally works! :D :D :D

Keep us posted on your tin adventures!

I've used primer to paint on metal. Loved your story, by the way!

Laura

I haven't tried painting yet, so I can't help you there. I did get the making memories paint in case I do want to paint it. I made my first lunchtin a couple of weeks aga and just covered the top with paper. It is pretty good for a first attempt. The handle was different on the top, so I couldn't use the template that emily made up. The next few I have purchased have the correct type of handle, so I have printed off her template to use next time.

Jeanette

You crack me up! How about asking Emily for some advice?

Enjoyed your story, unhinged is good, deranged better.

You may want to try what I have done, Bagpuss. I very carefully and meticulously coated my entire lunch tin in a powdered white finish so it will coordinate with any card I put in it (but especially any future Yoko Ono cards I make!). On days I feel especially saucy, I may tie a little piece of ribbon to the handle, or maybe set some fashionable inkpads on it to highlight my design. HTH!!

Poor Bagpuss. I hope Bagpuss can find some lovely catnip to roll in when feeling stressed and that some of the suggestions the nice people on this thread have made worked with the lunch boxes. Bagpuss could easily have a fan club with stories like that!

ha ha ha, your story rocks! sorry to hear about the lunch tin...hope there is a happy ending to this saga!

Let us know how it turns out - post a pic too! Great story - I'm pondering over the tins myself........

We do have modge podge over here, Helen, we have it in my local craft store, Francil Iles in Rochester, but I'm sure they would have it in others, especially if they do napkin craft, you know where you glue paper napkins to things.
They sell it at Hobbycraft, but I just typed it into google and there were loads of places that did it. It is spelt "modge podge". HTH.

My main craft was painting with acrylics for 10 years. I then started stamping and scrapbooking. I have painted several metal items. The acrylic paint will not stick to metal. I sanded the metal first and then painted it with a primer made for metal. It is then ready for acrylic paint. I also alway sprayed several light coats of acrylic sealer over the painted metal to protect it.

I have painted my metal mailbox which has been outside the last 10 years.

Good luck,

Tina R

Thanks! The spelling might be where I'm going wrong :rolleyes: . Kellybee has kindly sent me some links so I'll try those first. Our nearest Hobbycraft is in Nottingham and I HATE going into Nottingham. :(

Thanks for the tips - I'm learning a lot here! I've only ever used it on chipboard, which I suppose absorbs enough to allow it to be sanded?

Just had to add my 2 cents: sorry about the tin, but lo-o-o-ove your story-telling :) please let us know how it all turns out!

TFS, Nancy

:rolleyes: Well it turns out that my local craft shop sells Mod Podge! Who knew? I think I've just not looked properly before :rolleyes: . I'm very much a double-sided tape gal, so I've probably been in the wrong part of the shop!

Will keep you posted but it might be after the weekend now.

Glad you found it! I look forward to reading "Sorry Tale 2, Mod Podge Stories"

Chipboard does not have to be sanded before it is painted with acrylics. Wood or metal needs to be sanded before using acrylic paint.

Keep the questions coming,
Tina R

I'm liking this idea more and more!!! ;)

Just thought I'd update you... turns out my nearest craft shop has Mod Podge, but only gloss, which I'm not buying when I have a vat of PVA glue in the kids' craft box. So I went to another craft shop in town and had this conversation:


Me: Do you have any Mod Podge please?
Shop lady: No - it's just PVA, you know.
Me: Yeah, I know - but I wanted the matt one.
SL: Sorry, we don't have that. What are you doing - napkin craft?
Me: Er, no - that's not really my kind of thing. I'm doing a lunch tin.
SL (with slightly sneering tone) Oh. Very American.

Cheeky cow!

YOU ARE KIDDING ME!!!

LOL

This is SO funny!!!! I hope it works, I haven't tried to do anything to metal. I've done glazed ceramic tiles and have some tumbled ones here just waiting...

Be sure to let us know how it goes.

You kinow I had to laugh, as soon as I read Nottingham, I thought of Robin Hood. LOL

LOL! Wherever I've been around the world (not that many places, but it has happened in more than one country), as soon as people have established I'm English they want to know where I'm from. When I say "Derby", I get blank looks. But if I say "not far from Nottingham", they say "aaah - Robin Hood!" It's quite annoying, really! :) There's quite a lot of rivalry between the two cities - Nottingham people think they are SOOOoooo much better than us! :mrgreen:

(I had to edit your typo - sorry! :twisted: I dithered for a while but decided it would annoy you more to see it repeated, so I fixed it!)

ROFL. I did NOT see that typo. Man, I either have to clean my glasses more often, or make the font larger! It sucks getting old, my eyes were already bad enough.

Yes, I can truly imagine that the Robin Hood thing would be annoying after awhile!!!!

When my mom and I flew to England back in 1971, we flew into an airport that was about an hour outside London - I think it was Gatwick - and were bussed in to the hotel (it was a loose group of tourists), and went through a forest. One of the famous ones, but I can't remember which they said! Is that something you'd know, or would I be better off finding a map of the area?

DH says Epping Forest?

YES! Epping Forest - and Dick Turpin!! I remember now! LOL

Where is Emily's tutorial? I would love to follow it....
 

I am trying to find tins too! but I saw a beautiful basket with a hinged lid that they sell everywhere that looks like I could do it instead of a tin. I think it was on Iris's gallery.

Jomama, you'll find Emily's tutorial if you go into the Resources section and click "Tutorials". I think it's at the top. Hope this helps - if you're still stuck let me know.

Oh my word! That's just too funny.

I ordered a dozen of the purse-style lunch boxes from www.orientaltrading.com for dd's birthday party "goodie bag". I had planned to stamp the girl's names on them using Stazon. DD wants to decorate them, but after reading your most interesting saga, I think they will remain that ever-coordinating color--white!

She asked for a Stamp-A-Stack party "just like you do for your stamping ladies on a Sunday afternoon"

However, I think we'll just do 2 each of 4 VERY simple birthday designs.

Please post a picture of your finished lunchbox!

Tin troubles
 

Don't know if it's too late for this tip or not but I took a tin decorating class at a local scrapbooking store and we used alcohol inks to decorate our tins. They dry quickly, no finish is needed and the effect of the alcohol inks with the alcohol blending solution is great! We "alcoholed" the top 1/3 in one color, the bottom 2/3 in a different color, tacked a ribbon to cover up the dividing ink line, a cut out card stating "cards" in the middle and embellished with acrylic flowers (also alcohol-inked) buttons and ribbon. You can try looking on Archivers' website at: http://www.archiversonline.com/. There is a picture of the tin we did on the home page in the lower left-hand corner. Good luck and hilarious story BTW!