Ta daa!

I've finished the tin!
Over all, I'm really pleased with how this has turned out. I think the lid looks effective from a distance and I also like the crayons; how simple they were to make but how authentic & effective they look.

I would be happy for this to be used on stage, however if this was to be used on film I would make the tin differently as much more detail would be needed e.g vacuum forming, casting and moulding?

Making the bullet & book page

Making the bullet

I'm really pleased with how the tin is going, but I thought it would be nice to add an item that shows the war around the child that he could find and add to his tin.

My first thought was bullets, so I researched some images.

I like the idea of adding a bullet to the tin to show the contrast of the innocence of the toys but bloodshed of war.

I found a chunky lid to a pen in my room and covered this in paper. I then made the tip to a point with PVA and tissue and waited for that to dry.
I then filled the bottom of the lid with Plasticine, then coated the whole thing in a layer of the gold acrylic paint.

I painted red and white detailing on the bottom of the bullet then dabbed brown paint over the whole thing. I then scratched into it with sandpaper.

Making the book page

I also want to include something of a soldier's so I started to think about that. I remembered that I bought a World War one replica pack from the Imperial War Museum a few weeks ago. The pack has replicas of medical reports and national registration certificates which I was thinking of making, however these are items the soldiers would have kept on them and wouldn't fall into the hands of a child. 

I was reading a replica of "When to join the ranks" and found some of the rules and language used quite interesting, so I made a page from this to include in the tin, as this is something that probably would have been easily lost in World War one. 

I created this page in Word. The text is size 9 Times New Roman font. This page would have been more effective if I had a typewriter, but Times New Roman was the closest font I could find without one. 

I aged this by tea staining the paper (surprise surprise!). I wanted darker patches too, so I watered down some brown acrylic and dabbed this on with a tissue, which I think looks quite effective. 

Making the marbles and crayons

With my research on children's toys I headed to good old Poundland and bought some marbles and crayons.

I aged the marbles by covering them in black acrylic then scratching into them with sandpaper.

The crayons were made by removing the wrappers to them and measuring them. (7.4cm x 3.7cm)

Then looking back at my research, I went to Photoshop with the aim of creating a replica of the wrapper that was used on the crayons in the 1900s.

The old wrappers were surprisingly easy to make on Photoshop! I created a coloured rectangle (I made 3 versions as I wasn't sure of the right colour) I then selected "Engraving" font and typed "CRAYOLA" in bold capitals size 12. "Studio and school crayon" was size 9 directly under it. "Trade Mark" was arial size 9 font. I then made the wavy line marks with the brush tool and playing with the brush type.

I chose the bottom wrapper as this was the closest colour I  could make to the original. 

I then wrapped these around three crayons and wore the ends down to show that they have been used.

Painting the lid... again

I woke up this morning, looked at the tin lid and decided it wasn't quite right.

I went back to it and added some lighter bits (the criss- cross section at the bottom and the leaves in the centre) to make them stand out more.

I felt like some of the detail was lost so by adding in the faint highlights I was able to see the detail more easily.

I also mixed the brown and gold acrylics and painted on a different shade where dirt etc would be which I think makes it look more realistic.

I am much happier with how it looks now...

Painting the lid

Now that the lid is completely dry I started to paint it.

I gave it two layers of gold acrylic paint.

I then got a flat brush and dipped this in black acrylic. With hardly any paint on the brush I went over the lid (dry brushing) as Andy told me to. I liked the effect this gave but it wasn't obvious enough so I gave it a second coat.

I faintly added detail such as Queen Mary's face and a few shadows such as underneath the sword.
I then scratched over the lid with some sandpaper.

Ageing the tin

I covered the lid completely in a second layer of tissue and PVA glue and left it to dry again.

Whilst I was waiting for that to dry I started to age the tin.

First off I dabbed some scrunched up tissue into black and brown acrylic and dabbed this onto random places on the tin. I built up a few layers of this.

I went over this lightly with sandpaper. I liked the effect this gave but wanted more prominent scratches.

I then worked into the tin more with a pair of scissors, pressing hard to get deep scratches.

I then smudged brown acrylic paint over these with my finger so that the paint would get into the grooves.

I wiped off the excess paint with tissue leaving visible brown scratches in the tin.

I was pleased with how it was looking, but wanted to age the tin more because the tin's time in the trenches would be evident, but also now that it belongs to a child more wear & tear would occur.

I started looking around my room for ways that I could age the tin and resorted to bashing the tin on the edge of my desk.

I also started scraping the edge of the tin on my outside window-ledge. (My flatmates probably think I'm mad!)

The first layer

I traced the shape of Queen Mary's head (from the scaled down sketch of the lid) onto thin card and cut this out.

Looking back at my mock up version of the lid, I realised that making Queen Mary's head stand out more would be more effective. I cut another layer of the card out, which will look much better on my final prop.

I then cut small leaves from this card to put around the centre circle. I chose to use cardboard for the leaves because it is thicker than paper or a doily (which I was considering using) so will give better definition of the leaves when covered in tissue.

I covered the whole lid in a layer of PVA and tissue and left it to dry.

I only realised after I had made this layer that I didn't leave room on the lid for the M's either side of the centre circle. If I was to try and put them in now I think the lid would look overcrowded, so I have decided to leave the lid as it is. I am pleased with how it is looking, also this prop is for theatre therefore not as much detail is needed as if this was a hero prop for film.