Categories
Dioramas

Anatomy of a Crime Scene

I tried an experiment, where I left Altoid tins in my garden bed to see if they would rust.

A garden bed littered with altoid tins.

Some of them did rust a little bit, and some faded in the sun! I know you are wondering why you didn’t think to try this yourself – don’t despair! You also can fade your own Altoid tins in the sun! Here’s how:

  1. Place Altoid tins in a garden bed, your yard, a patio, or on the dashboard of a automobile
  2. Wait

My initial experiment involved two regular “red” Altoid boxes, and one Cinnamon box. I started at the end of the summer in 2019, and let them sit outside all winter. It wasn’t until later spring that I noticed the finish was fading. The second batch, shown above, started in July, and some of the boxes began fading within 3 weeks.

This diorama is in a box from the first batch. It shows, as you might guess, the Anatomy. of a Crime Scene.

Faded Altoid box, top edge view
Faded Altoid box
Cut paper diorama in Altoid tin showing a sitting room
Detail from a diorama showing a knife and wellington boot