Crayon Etching On Metal Tins Tutorial

I love these etched tins and am to excited to show you how to do it!  My children made these tins for their Grandfather’s Birthday.  They literally drew the pictures onto the tins themselves and the designs were then permanently etched into the metal! 
I have actually etched a few metal things before these using two different methods.  Then, I was doing some research online and found this method and thought it was something my readers might want to try.  I saw a few variations on this but I mostly followed this tutorial, by Kylyssa on Squidoo.  My technique is a combo from what I had already done, and then hers, using the crayon for the resist.
Supplies: Pencil, copper wire, 6V Battery, Crayon, Metal Tin, Medium Plastic or Glass Container, wires with alligator clips attached on both ends, Acetone (Nail Polish Remover), sandpaper (if using an altoid tin or other tin with design and/or color on it), salt, and water.
Your supplies are shown above, and can all be bought at your local store like at Walmart. That 6V battery, I found in the camping department (they use them for lanterns).  They are about $1.  The wire and alligator clips can be bought at Radio Shack.  They are about $3.
You could use Altoid tins, however, I bought a huge supply of plain tins, as I’m using them for many things.  If you have Altoid tins you will need to sand off the design on the top (or anywhere that you want to end up etched), using sandpaper and lots of elbow grease!
If you buy tins from a hobby store that are like mine, you will still need to remove a protective layer they all have on them.  You can remove this by using acetone (or nail polish remover).  Make sure you remove all of this protective layer because the etching will not happen where any of that protective layer is left.

I take the top off of the bottom before I start working with them.

It makes them easier to work with and they come apart very easily, just be careful not to break the hinge.

You will take your crayon and cover the tin in crayon.  Get as much crayon onto the tin as you can.  The crayon is actually going to be the part that resists the etching and the tin will stay shiny where you have crayon. 
Next you use an embossing gun (or hair dryer) to melt the crayon wax.  This is very important to get a nice crayon layer, as you will get pot marks of etched dots wherever the crayon did not end up covering.  I found this worked best by coloring a layer of crayon, melting the wax completely on the tin, and then adding more wax with the embossing gun going at the same time so it melts wherever you touch your crayon (because the tin is heated up and the crayon has the embossing gun over it as well).

You want as good of a layer of wax as you can get.

The above picture is what will happen if you don’t have a nice layer of wax.  This was my first attempt and actually I was pretty happy about it….until my next attempts were exactly how I wanted it!  If you look closely you can see lots of white dots etched all over the tin.  Yes, you do see the initials that I etched into the tin, but the rest of the tin does not have a solid shiny look that can be achieved if this is done correctly.
After you have your layer of crayon on you need to let it cool (those tins can burn you as you do this because the metal conducts the heat all the way through them). 
Take your pencil and draw a design into the crayon layer.  You want to go all the way through the wax to the tin.  This is quite easy to do.  But you are also not trying to draw onto the tin, either.  When you draw onto the tin, you are removing the wax.  The above picture shows how the wax can curl up in tendrils and still stay attached.  Make sure to brush this wax off or it can mess up your design by covering up some of the part that you drew.

Here is one that my Son drew up.  It is a picture of he and his Grandpa wearing pirate hats.  I did have my kids first draw out what design they wanted to do ahead of time.  I traced the tin shape a couple of times on a piece of paper to give my kids places to figure out what they wanted to draw.
I love what they each chose to do.  I was surprised by how easy this was for my kids to do.  I did not have to do any redos or even touchups on them.

Next you will set up your etching bath.  The above picture shows my set up. 
Bend the copper wire so that it holds onto the container on the side (as you see on the left side of my container).  Then you bend the wire back and forth the length and width of your container.  You do this so that you have an even current running through the container.
Boil some water on the stove and dissolve salt into it until you can’t dissolve anymore salt into it.
Put the bent copper wire in place in the container and pour in your salt water.  You should let the water cool off before continuing as the hot water could melt the crayon and ruin your design.
Attach the wires to the battery and into the water.  One wire will go from the negative on the battery, to the copper wire (see my yellow clips).  The next wire goes from the positive on the battery and then clips onto the tin (the green clips).  You will then float your tin (that is crayon covered and already has the design drawn into it) in the water with the design face down into the water.  To keep my tin completely level I draped the green clip’s wire over a glass.  This will help the tin to etch uniformly.
Leave your tin for 5-10 minutes.  You will see bubbles in the water and the water will get really yucky/mucky looking.  This is all normal.  The longer you leave the tin in the salt water, the deeper the etch will be.  Take your tin out and wash the gunk off and then remove the crayon. 
You could go one step further and put paint into the etched part, to accentuate the design.  However, I did not find that I needed to do this.
Here are my kids’ tins with their own designs on them:
The above tin is my Daughter and her Grandpa climbing a grassy hill.  The sun is in the top right corner, peeking out from a cloud.   

My oldest thought it through and knew her Grandfather would be using these for all his small parts.  She labeled one tin “gears and gadgets” and another “springs and stuff” and then drew gears and springs onto them.  I thought that was so ingenious.

Here is my Son’s all finished up.  Notice how shiny the rest of the tin is?  We got good layers of wax on these babies to protect them during the etching.

Here they all are together.   

My final thought is to have your kids also etch the bottoms.  I had my kids write a message as well as their name, age, and the year.
My kids’ tins say “You are #1 Grapa from______”, “Love You”, and “I (heart) U!”.
What person wouldn’t adore a momento like this?  I will be having them make some for themselves as well as for me! ;)
Keep tuning back in because I will have parts 2 and 3 to this tin etching!  Each one will show you a variation on this kind of etching!
Rebecca

I am linking to the following parties; Stephanie Lynn

Crayon Etching on Metal Tins

These tins were given to my Father-In-Law by my children.  He works with lots of tiny parts and so this application of crayon etching on metal was a perfect project for my kids and I, to give to him for his Birthday!  The pictures are actually etched right onto the tins and they were drawn directly onto the tins by my children!  Stay tuned this week because  I am finishing up the tutorial on how we made these out of just crayons and salt water! 

This will actually be a 3-part series on etching into metal!  The projects are all finished, I’m just writing up the tutorials! 

Rebecca

This week is National Eosinophil Awareness Week. Do you know what an Eoshinphil is?

My 4 year old and I both have a disease called Eosinophilic Esophagitis. When we eat food that we are allergic to, the white blood cells in our esophagus attack the tissue in our esophagus. This can swell our esophagus, it hurts, food gets stuck, I choke. If my 4 year old accidentally eats milk, he will throw up for 24 hours. That has happened 5 times. We have gotten better about not letting him accidentally eat something containing milk. Since part of not being sick for my son includes not eating a lot of specific foods, he has a feeding tube that he gets most of his nutrition from in the form of an amino acid formula. They break down food so that there are no proteins that would make him sick. It tastes nasty. Getting the special formula in him is only going to happen via a feeding tube.

 

This video was made from the local support group. Please take a few minutes to watch it. What I wish people knew about EE is that it isn’t fun.The hardest part is feeling not normal. When a teacher sends home a request for you to not send in specific foods, please know that there is a child who didn’t ask for their food allergy. The child doesn’t want to be left out. Don’t punish the kid by going against the request because you think it is annoying.

While I think this EE monster is annoying and painful and uncomfortable etc, I feel fortunate to have my son. I know there are many things that are much more severe or difficult to deal with. I am thankful that my son ONLY has EE.

 

You can read more about my EE story from last year.

~Anjeanette

Fairy Garden Garden-Gotta Check This Out!

My kids and I are having so much fun in our fairy/rock gardens!  I think you will be seeing many more updates on this as we make all of the hundreds of things we have planned for these gardens.
Let me give you the first look at our Fairies’ garden.

I’ll point a few things out because, quite honestly we have spent way too much time on these creations! ;)
We made a garden with rows for each plant type.  Starting along the top row we have corn, next are green onions, zucchini, carrots, and then lettuce.  Along the left side are our sunflowers.

The coolest part of this is that all of the vegetables are removable!
Oh ye-ah!  I wanted this garden to be completely interactive for my kids.  So, they can “pick” everything for picnics or regular meals.  Even the basket to hold the bounty was made by us!
Now, when the season is over the kids can take everything out, down to even the corn stalks themselves!  Then, you will just see the rows of dirt!  They can pretend to plant their garden and watch them grow!

Here is all the produce we have so far.  Notice in the basket we even have strawberries.  We have a strawberry barrel in progress for those to “grow” in.
Also, the corn can come out completely down to just the corn cob, ready to eat.  Or they can pick corn cobs with 1, 2, or 3 husks still on it.
Oh and my zucchini plants...  I think zucchini plants are the most gorgeous vegetables that you can grow!  These were so much fun to make…we even included tendrils under the flowers and stamens inside!
 
We have a campfire to cook up our bounty.  We still have to make a “metal” bucket to actually cook the food in.  We’re thinking we’ll make some more veggies that are already cut up, so that we can make stews and such.
We tried to make the rings in the logs, like real ones.  They turned out pretty cute.  Again, everything is interactive so each part of the campfire is its own piece so that it can be moved however, or wherever they want it to.

Here is a shot of where the Fairies’ garden went into place.  We added more pathways, sand, and even some moss.  We wont be able to actually grow anything in these fairy gardens, the kids talked me into moss being the next best thing!  I think it’s pretty clever.

A very cool thing about making a polymer clay garden is that my kids are learning a ton about vegetables.  We had to really think through what makes a vegetable really look like what it is supposed to look like.  The corn husks needed the fluff on top of the stalk.  However, we did take liberties with how the corn attaches, so that we could make it interactive.  We looked up pictures on flikr, and actual produce from our refrigerator to get colors, leaves, shapes, and more “just right”.  It is also fun figuring out what tools will make the right effect that we are going for.  It was my oldest daughter’s idea to have a false bottom on the garden, for the vegetables to be able to push into.  It works like a charm!

Rebecca
I would LOVE to see any fairy/rock gardens that anyone else has!  We are getting our inspiration from anywhere that we can!

I'm joining the fun at the following parties!
The Persimmon Perch, Skip To My Lou, Keeping It Simple,  Making The World Cuter, the DIY Showoff,

End Of The Year Ideas

With the end of school upon us, I thought I’d share some ideas for the end of the school year/summer starting. 
Last year I had a party where I played a movie I made from pictures of my children throughout the year.  I also passed out awards to them for the things I was proud of them for, during the last school year.  I also put together a 3 ring binder commemorating the last school year. It includes pictures of my children (school pictures, field trips, etc). It has all the artwork and papers I kept over the last year. This 3 ring binder is just for the night as all of those papers will actually make their way into each child's personal school books

Katrina had a kick off to summer party as well!  I love the banner and placemats that she made!


I always fill out my “Who Am I” and Yearly Milestones at this time as well!

These end of the year giveouts that Anjeanette makes are sooo cute!  She has her Son give them out to his friends from school!


This class phonebook was Katrina’s idea.  It’s a great way to help your kids stay in touch with their school friends over the summer.  I made this one with small spiral bound index cards.  I still have it and LOVE it as it has friends phone numbers from previous years, too!

If you didn’t do things for Teacher Appreciation Week, it is still a nice gesture to do these things for your teachers as an end of the year “Thank You”!

Anjeanette shows how to make a whole week of amazing quilted Teacher Appreciation Gifts!

Here is a gift to say, “Thanks for being a great teacher, we need S’More teachers like you.

I love this idea for the School Bus Drivers!!

Hope you all are managing this chaotic time!  We have 2-3 things going on each day, here!  Whew!  Good luck!
Rebecca

Rock/Fairy Gardens!!

 
We’re making better and bigger fairy gardens than the pots we had before!
This is turning out to be more fun and a better idea than I first thought.  Look at the cute pebble paths?  Those fairy houses we made last year out of Fimo Clay.  Wait until you see the new Fimo Clay Fairy stuff we’ve been working on!  But they’re not ready so I’ll post those another day!
 
I am loving these fairy gardens because it gives us even more reasons to be outside.  It gives us something to do together that we are all enjoying.  It also gives me us an excuse to do more crafting!  Gotta love that!  My kids have so many ideas for these things that I cannot keep up!
 
Here’s a view of more of this daughter’s fairy garden.  I have these “rings” of dirt in my backyard that are perfect for each child to build their own fairy gardens in!  In the middle (kind of lower right of the picture) that was my attempt at a pond, with island in the middle, waterfall off to one side that has a hidden fairy house underneath the waterfall.  I’m not loving how it turned out, but dear daughter does, so that is all that matters!
 
Daughter number 1 made a tunnel with a cave.  I thought it was so cute.  I’m having fun making surprises for the kids to be found in their fairy gardens.  I made that pile of gold nuggets to go in my daughter’s mine.  Now she is making a mining cart! ;)  Our ideas are breeding off of one another.  Love the arch?  It’s a horseshoe from daughter’s birthday party about 3 years ago!  We’re using what we have.

My dear Son’s Fairy Garden is turning out more Army Barracks right now.  He can’t make up his mind between garages for cool cars, or an airport.  Yet, his fairies are the army men (last year, said army men even got wings!).  I’m still mulling this one over.  I’ll come up with something to delight that sweet boy of mine!
 
This all started with my children bringing home more rocks to collect.  Being the good Mother that I am…..I usually toss, said rocks. ;(
But I finally decided to let them pile them up in their own piles in the backyard (it’s mostly rocks anyway…we live in AZ after all).
We found large rocks and I cut out their names in Vinyl.  They put their vinyl letters on the rocks however they wanted. 

Then, I let them have at those rocks, with spray paint.  It was interesting the colors that each of them chose.  I would not have guessed it!

We had my kids covered with gloves and giant face masks to do the spray painting.  Those masks aren’t for tiny faces (and the gloves weren’t for tiny hands either), but they worked.  Once they were done spraying, I peeled the letters off the rocks.  Now their name rocks will go in their fairy/rock garden.  The rest of their rocks they can scatter as they please.  There is plenty of room for plenty of rocks. 
Now maybe I can regain my title of “Good Mother”, by not throwing out anymore of their precious rocks!
 
One more picture to leave you with.  Isn’t she a beauty?  I’ve been drooling over something like her for about 10 years now!  She was my Mother’s Day gift this year!    I was not expecting to get her, so it was a very nice surprise!  She’s already got egg shells and banana peels in her (I stole them from my Mom at our Mother’s Day brunch.  I know my Dad thought I was kooky, but it’s not the first or last time he’s thought that of me!).

Rebecca
PS  Thanks to my whole family for a wonderful Mother’s Day!  You all are too sweet and it was such a joy to spend the day with you. As always, the food was to die for, as well!  I am so thankful to have such wonderful and amazing family in my life!  I think the water balloon launcher broke, so all the cars should be safe now ;)

Mother’s Day Ideas

Anjeanette made these flower brooches with her Sons.  She was also thoughtful enough to have my children make me one, as well!  How lucky am I?  I love that this brooch is a direct copy of my children’s artwork!  And of course my kids love to see me wearing it!  I think it would make an amazing gift for Grandmother’s as well!

Anjeanette and I were lucky enough to be invited to a Mother’s Day Tea for a class that both of us have a child in, yesterday!  Man, they know how to make a Mom cry!  Check out that handprint hot pad.  That is my Son’s handprint and on the back it has his name and the year!  I can tell you now, that this is my new favorite hot pad!  I love it!
The kids had lots of poems and songs memorized for us that they performed.  They were super cute, sweet, and amazing!  I just love stuff like that!
There was a whole packet of amazing poems for Mothers.  I had to share this one with you!

When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking
“When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately wanted to paint another.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you feed a stray cat, and I learned it was good to be kind to animals.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you make my favorite cake for me and I learned that the little things can be the special things in life.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I heard you say a prayer, and I knew there is a God I could always talk to and I learned to trust in God.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I learned that we all have to help take care of each other.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you give of your time and money to help people who had nothing and I learned that those who have something should give to those who don’t.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I felt you kiss me good night and I felt loved and safe.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you take care of our house and everyone in it and I learned we have to take care of what we are given.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw how you handed your responsibilities even when you didn’t feel good and I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grow up.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw tears come to your eyes and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it’s all right to cry.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw that you cared and I wanted to e everything that I could be.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I learned most of life’s lessons that I need to know to be a good and productive person when I grow up.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I looked at you and wanted to say, “Thanks for all the things I saw….When you thought I wasn’t looking.”

Rebecca
I am so thankful for all the Mother’s in my life!  But even more than that, I am thankful for the chance to be a Mother myself!  I love every day that I get to be a Mother!  Thanks to my children for making it the most amazing job I will ever take! 

Happy Cinco De Mayo!-Wednesday’s Creative Inspiration

This year we’re all heading to my Mother’s house for our Cinco De Mayo Festivities!  Can’t wait!
The above are tortillas bowls that I baked myself last year!  They are super easy, you make them out of tortillas that you bake inside glass bowls.  I will be making salsa and guacamole to bring to my Mom’s house.  I don’t think we have any parties with out them!  Yum!

Though I wont be doing a party myself, I will be making a version of this, for an after school snack. 
My version will be green jello in martini glasses that the rims are coated in sugar (instead of salt)!  Got that idea from my BFF! ;)

Thanks again to everyone who linked up to last week’s Wednesday’s Creative Inspiration!  We had some great Teacher Appreciation Ideas, and as it’s still Teacher Appreciation Week, you should check out the ideas if you are still needing some ideas!  Also, as school is ending, there are great teacher gift ideas!

This week, as always, you can link up anything creative that you have just done.  I’d love if we could link up fun Cinco De Mayo ideas as well!  I love having one place to go for “like” items!


As always, I will be adding in some links to inspiration that I find, as well!

Rebecca

Craft Fail

Sigh.  Do you ever have one of those days?  Well, I’m blaming the above picture on “one of those days.”

 

I have felt like crud all weekend, due to allergies.  Don’t get me wrong though, living in Phoenix, I am still so thankful for all the extra rain we have had that has made things grow here to the point of having lots of pollen in the air! ;)

 

I was really wanting to finish an idea I’ve had in my head for a while.  Maybe that’s not a great idea when you don’t feel well and are doped up on drugs to help you feel better (the combination of both is not a good thing).

 

I don’t like how I feel when I take medication.  So, I tend to not take anything unless I really feel bad.  I have nothing against taking what you need when you need it (trust me, I love my anesthesiologists from all 3 labor and deliveries, and stories have been told that I may have even proposed to one of them due to such overwhelming love for the man that administers those wonderful drugs…though since I was so doped up I will neither acknowledge nor deny if that really happened, but I will admit that my feelings were quite passionate right then! )

 

Anyways…ya. 

Notice the stringy things hanging off my palm tree leaves? 

They are so not supposed to be there.

The discoloration?  Yup, again not supposed to be there.

In fact the whole other side of the palm tree was completely void of any color except black.

 

Apparently when working with polymer clay 425 degrees is not so friendly to your creations. 

Oh yeah, and maybe if  anyone in the house had not had horrible allergies as well, someone surely could have smelled the horrid burning smell fuming from the oven?  We should have smelled it way before the full 15 minutes expired, I would imagine.  Still can’t smell it though, with the smoke pouring out of the oven I would imagine it still smells…well, burnt.

 

Can we count that picture as a sneak peak?

 

Rebecca

PS Happy Teacher Appreciation Day!!  Thanks to all the wonderful teachers out there.