Metal mania for the holidays

I have a thing about metal...especially if its old, rusted and has that "to die for" patina...

When I rounded up my materials for holiday inspiration, I knew that these antique tart tins would satisfy my junk metal addiction for festive décor...

I decided that the interior would be the perfect space to create a mini art collage...using found objects and vintage ephemera...and since I've been wanting to experiment with resin, I had my idea and was ready to go...

First I cut out circles from an old dictionary to fit in the bottom of each tin...finding an interesting list of consecutive words was a bit of a challenge...

Next up was gluing each circle to the tin with matte medium...this also ensured that the paper was sealed so that the resin wouldn't saturate the paper and blur the type...

Now the fun part...gathering up all sorts of found objects and assembling the most interesting combination of elements...

Once I had the elements selected for each tin, I lightly glued each object in place so that it wouldn't shift when I poured the resin...

The resin I used is a two part epoxy that I purchased at Lowe's...it is lower grade than the ICE resin used for jewelry but is more economical...and since I wasn't creating high end images, it was perfect for this use.  You want to make sure that you are ready...and have no distractions...because once you mix the resin, there's not a lot of time before it starts to harden.  I used popsicle sticks for stirrers and the straw comes in handy to dissipate bubbles that form on the surface...

With some of the tins, I added a few more elements after the first layer of resin was completely set...it gave a nice 3-D effect to the composition.

After letting the resin cure for a week, I punched a hole in the outer rim of each tin and fashioned a hook from a piece of wire...





























Ready to be hung from my bare branch holiday "tree"...

Want one of these tins for your own?  or to give as a special present?  I'm having a Holiday Sale over at my etsy shop...There are 9 tart tins for sale...each tin to be personally gift wrapped by me with vintage paper and ribbon...and delivered to you via free 2-day priority shipping...get all the details HERE

Linking up to the Christmas Junk Party over at Funky Junk Interiors...and Knick of Time Vintage Inspiration Party...
I'm not the only one with metal mania for the holidays...