As you can see this is a very small vintage box. It was a cigarette case. The body is pewter or steel and the top is inlaid with tooled leather. It is slightly curved, to fit better in a pocket I suppose. The nice thing about the curve is that it fits very nicely in the palm of your hand when painting. I purchased a 12 X 12 inch sheet of the kind of steel used for duct work, metal shears, and JB Weld epoxy cement. I made a template out of heavy paper to fit the curve of the case, and traced it onto the metal for the pan divisions. This made the cutting of the sheet metal more accurate and less tedious. I used an ultra-fine permanent marker to trace the template onto the metal before cutting. When mixed, the epoxy is close to the consistency of peanut butter. With the partitions cut accurately, there was no problem with things needing support while the epoxy sets up. This is so small that I had to make the compartment for the brushes and pencil go diagonally across the box so it would be long enough to hold them. The interior is painted with an enamel meant for metal surfaces. As small as it is, there is still a water compartment and room to store an eraser and sharpener.
Your stuff is amazing! How interesting it is that you teach! I, too, am a teacher. I taught kindergarten for 6 years, third for my seventh, and high school (art) for five years (still going at it btw).
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiosity, since you're handy with metalwork would you be able to compartmentalize a found travel-size vintage metal tin for me like this? If so, how much would you charge?
Keep up the good work!
Alex Bodnar
www.mrbodnar.com