Craft: make a practical wall accessory and pincushion storage jar
EQUIPMENT
Old springform baking tins (various sizes)
1 sheet of coarse sandpaper
Paint sealer (I used Resene waterborne smooth surface sealer) 1 can spray paint (for use on metal) Stiff cardboard
1 sheet of cork board
Scissors
General purpose spray adhesive Material and ribbon of your choice (not too heavy)
Sewing machine
PINCUSHION STORAGE JAR
Mason jar with lid
Stiff cardboard
Pieces of scrap fabric
Cushion stuffing
Needle and thread
Hot glue gun
Ribbon
PROCESS
1 Remove the cake tin bases and set aside. Give the outside of each tin’s ring a good sand to remove any rust or silky Teflon surface. Brush away the sanding dust, then paint with one coat of sealer. Let it dry for at least 4 hours before coating with spray paint, then set aside again to dry completely. Note: Make sure your tins are in the closed position, so they can slide open and shut easily and don’t become clogged with paint. 2 Trace around the base of each cake tin onto a piece of cardboard (for the pocket holder) or cork board (for the pinboard). Cut out. Spray card or cork board with glue and adhere to the bottom of the cake base. This creates a smooth surface. 3 Cut out two circles of fabric for each pocket-holder tin and one circle of fabric for the pinboard tin – each circle needs to be approximately 5cm larger than the cake tin base. To make the pocket, cut a quarter off the top of one fabric circle, fold the straight edge over and sew in place to neaten the edge. With the right sides facing up, place pocket on the other fabric circle and sew together around the outer edge. To divide the pocket into compartments, sew a straight line down from the straight edge to the outer edge of the fabric. Thin ribbon can be sewn on at this stage to highlight your compartments. Or you could decorate the pocket with ribbon strips – either sew them on before joining the pocket to the base, or glue them on afterwards. Important: If too much ribbon is added, the fabric will increase in thickness, making it too hard to keep the tin closed at the final stage. If the tin does spring open, simply drill a hole and use a selftapping screw to hold the clasp in place. 4 Spray the reverse side of your finished fabric design with spray adhesive and stick it down onto the card or corkboardcovered tin base. While sticky, fold over the excess fabric by pinching and pleating it tightly over the edges and adhering it to the back of the tin base. (Don’t worry if this looks a little messy as you won’t see the back and the painted tin ring will cover the edges).
5 Place base into your dry painted tin ring and close shut. Voila!
6 Hang finished tins in a random pattern to add interest to your wall. They make a great, practical accessory for a boring office space.
PINCUSHION STORAGE JAR
1 Trace around the lid of your Mason jar and cut out a cardboard circle about 5mm smaller than your lid. Trace and cut a piece of fabric, making it about 3cm larger than the lid.
2 Scrunch up a little cushion stuffing and place onto your cardboard shape. Layer your fabric on top, flip over and sew around the outer edge of the fabric with a simple running stitch. As you pull the thread tight it will gather around the cardboard shape, creating the dome you need. Tie off the loose thread so it all tucks up on the underside of the dome. Use a hot glue gun to stick dome onto the lid of your Mason jar.
3 To hide imperfections, hot-glue a strip of ribbon around the base of the dome. 4 For the smaller storage jar, shown above, simply hot-glue a fabric circle onto the cardboard circle, making the fabric 1cm larger so you can fold the edges over the cardboard, then hot-glue onto the Mason jar lid. Glue a strip of ribbon around the lid to decorate.
Marsha Smith gives old baking tins a new purpose and creates decorative storage jars for the sewing room or office.