Magnetic Chalkboard Spice Tin Tutorial

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So. Excuses for my month's absence. Do I have to give those? Well, in summary...

Forgot to take a picture.
Sick.
Anemia.
Busy.
Forgot.
Strained my eyes.
Forgot.
Forgot.

I actually made and photographed a sewing project the week after my last post, but I never managed to take a picture of the finished product. Eventually I'll do that. Maybe in the dead of winter I'll finally blog about a light blouse for a warm September. For today, though, here's a simple project I did last weekend while the aforementioned eye strain kept me away from computers, books, and everything I usually do for work and play:

Before last May, I had spent the previous 23 years living with other people who already had things like cheese graters and spice jars. So had my boyfriend. So when we got our own place it took us a while to accumulate our own kitchen paraphernalia.

In fact, we never did get around to the spice jars, since I had a set of twelve little tins meant for holding specialty tea that did quite nicely. The only problem was that the Sharpie I used to label them rubbed off too easily, so that I was wasting brain cells remembering that "gano" meant "oregano" and "inna" was code for "cinnamon". And stacking them on a shelf was just not an efficient storage system.

"One of these days," I often said, "I'm going to paint these with chalkboard paint and stick them on the fridge." And after 148 days, I did.

Here's what you'll need to do it yourself:

• 12 small tins
• Painter's tape
• A piece of sandpaper
• A small can of chalkboard paint
• A paintbrush
• 12 fairly strong magnets

Step One:
Clean and dry your tins. Mine still had spices in them while I did this. I don't really recommend that — if I'd emptied them, I could have painted the whole lid instead of just the top. I also could have cooked using spices that weekend.

Step Two:
Carefully tape around your tin until just the surface you want to paint is showing. Smooth the edges of the tape down firmly.

Step Three:
Scratch up the surface with sandpaper. The scratches give the paint something to grip.

Step Four:
Paint the lid with chalkboard paint. Don't worry if the first coat is very thin — it will stick better with every coat you add, and it dries quickly. I did about five coats on my tins, painting in a different direction each time so that the brush strokes didn't make little ridges all facing one way.

[Somehow I missed taking this picture. Imagine a painted tin sitting on the table. Thanks.]

Step Five:
When the paint has dried thoroughly (I left mine overnight), remove the tape carefully. If any paint has bled down under the edge of the tape, you should be able to chip it away neatly using a fingernail through a rag. Fill the tin with your spice and write the name on with chalk.

Step Six:
This was my favourite part of the project. Tins are magnetic, right? And so are fridges. And so are both sides of a magnet. So who needs to glue the magnet to the tin? Not us! Stick your magnet on the fridge.

Step Seven:
Now stick your tin right on that magnet. Did you buy yours at a craft store? That's too bad. They're cheaper at the hardware store. Just thought I'd mention it.

Aww, look how nice they look! And we didn't have to buy them at, say, $9.95 for a set of five. Ouch!

And, hey, shout-out to my friend Sarah at Meat Locker Editions whose pamphlet made it into two of these pictures. We did our book publishing certificates together and now she's running her own not-for-profit arts organization. You should definitely check it out.

Oh, and Mom, Dad, my eyes are fine. I went to the optometrist and everything. Please don't worry.

Happy crafting, everyone!



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