Empty sweet tins
 

Wondering if anybody has any suggestions on what to use empty sweet tins for, I have a few quality street tins and would love to reuse them. Thanks

use for tins
 

spray the inside black and put a very fine hole on the front and now you have a pin hole camera . great fun to try ...its one of the earliest forms of photography and works the same as the camera obscura ....try it or google it even ...worth a look
check this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura

Repaint the outsides using the same enamel paints as you would for modeling kits. Bake some cakes. Line the inside of the tins with pretty paper & pop the cakes in.

Xmas pressies 2010 done!

MW

I always use old sweetie and bickie tins to store cakes/buns/bickies I've baked. I never painted them as they do the job without the paint, but if you are artistic then give them a new look by all means. I've always had a habit of keeping these tins, great for storing most things, stationery, photos, receipts, recipes you always mean to organise, etc.

I think the cake idea is good.

Or spraypaint them and line them with some padding and velvet and use them for jewellery, or silk scarves.

Explain how to make the camera obscura again Thepallasbull. I had a look at the link but don't quite understand it. I paint the insideof the tin black and put a pin hole in the side of tin. Then what?? I'd love to try this with the special needs group I work with. Thanks and Regards, Athy55

About a year or so ago I watched a fascinating series on BBC called “Genius of Photography”. In one of the episodes they made a room-sized camera obscura and the result just blew me away. You might like to check it out on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuJ_Jd6Qgyo

These can be recycled at any recycling centre where they take metal. We do it every year.

empty sweet tins
 

When my children were younger they got so much entertainment from the upturned old biscuit/sweet tin and a wooden spoon !!! Would bang away making their " music" for hours on end....( Hint - make sure you have earplugs first) Great fun !! You could also fill them with soil and make miniture gardens like a friend of mine did. little pebbles for the pathway and little miniture mirrors just showing out of the soil for a water feature. Then little animals, small branches of trees etc....to make the rest of the garden. Kids in playschool especially would love doing this. Its messy but still artistic !! Maybe you could have a word with the local kindergarden or creche and suggest this to them for the spring !!

Thanks guys for all the replies, especially like the idea of making a miniature garden with the children. And also using them as cake tins. Thanks again

sweet tins
 

I stood up a few biscuit tins (and lids) as reflectors behind my seedlings on the window board, so they grow up straight (for once!). M.

Propagator
 

A friend gave me a great tip, use a cfl bulb and cable, punch hole in the side of the tin, connect cable to light fitting inside the tin, turn the tin upside down and plug in to socket, put seed trays on top and you will get them to propogate much quicker than leaving them on the windowsill. make one for your gardening friends as an easter pressie!
Good luck.

tins
 

i store all my Christmas decorations in tins which I covered and made all Christmasie one year.

Sweet tins.
 

I have painted mine in bright colours and used them for storing bits of cotton/threads, nails, screws etc.