I understand the idea- illustrate the tins so that consumers have a pretty tin once the popcorn is gone. But really? These tins are so ugly! I understand the appeal of John Deere, but there is no way I'm displaying these things ANYWHERE! So here's an idea to keep a very functional item, but rework it to make it more appealing.
First off, I washed down the tins inside and out. Then I spray painted them with Krylon's dual paint and primer in grey. I was really impressed with the coverage of this spray paint! It covered the pictures completely in two coats.
Then I printed my graphic out on decal paper. I got the decal paper on amazon.com and just made the graphics on Microsoft Word. Super easy. I eyeballed it for size. I wanted a horse graphic and a simple, clear font with some character. I get most of my free fonts from scrapbookfonts.com. The decal paper is easy to use, just load it like regular into an inkjet printer and print it out on best quality.
After it printed, I took the decal paper outside and sprayed with 4 thin and even coats of MOdPodge Spray in gloss, as per instructions included with the decal paper. I got my spray from WalMart.
The coats dried VERY fast out side. The spraying process took about 5 minutes total.
Once the Modpodge spray is completely dry, cut around the images. Try to get close to the edges, but don't cut out the interior of the letters. If you are just doing a simple graphic you can cut right on the edges of the image, but since I had letters I kept a slim margin.
Soak the decal paper graphic in water for about 15-20 seconds. The paper tends to curl, so I held it under water for about 5 seconds, then flipped it over so it would be completely saturated for the rest of the time.
Once the decal starts to slip off the backing paper, you are good to go! Remove it from the water and position onto the surface of the tin. With a damp rag, smooth out all air bubbles. There can't be any air bubbles if you want it to adhere seamlessly.
As you can see, you can barely see the edges of the decal paper.
Here are my finished tins, ready to be filled. In hindsight, I wish I had gone for more color, aqua, coral or pale green would have been nice. And I also think I would do just letters, without the graphic. I just don't like the Marathon horse as much as I thought I would. I think I would do a cool frame with the lettering inside. So this project gets a A+ for being super easy, cheap, and fast, but a C- for my artistic vision! Now I need to go find some more popcorn tins!
These are going in my pantry, but I think they would also look great coralling toys, craft supplies, sewing notions, or art supplies!
