From Artichokes to Aristocracy: A Tiny Tin Gets a Very Grand Makeover

By Watson | Better Trailers & Double Wides

Sometimes the difference between trash and treasure is a little imagination, a spare drawer knob, and the conviction that everything looks better with glitter.

There are people who look at an empty tin of artichoke hearts and see something to throw away.

And then there's Bruce Coffman.

Bruce looked at one of the small tins of artichoke hearts his friend Jenny had sent him and saw something entirely different: a miniature jewelry box, lavishly decorated, topped with an enormous faux-crystal knob, and looking considerably more expensive than its humble origins might suggest.

The remarkable thing isn't merely that he made it. It's that he could already see the finished piece in his imagination while the container was still an ordinary little grocery-store tin.

And then he made the damn thing.

A Little Tin with Grand Ambitions

The original container was nothing extraordinary: a small, round food tin with a removable lid and a gold-colored rim.

But its proportions were charming, its shape was useful, and throwing it away seemed a terrible waste.

Bruce already had everything he needed for its transformation.

There were bottles of inexpensive nail polish from Dollar Tree, originally purchased for jewelry making. There was a large faux-crystal drawer knob that had been waiting patiently for the right project. And there was an empty tin practically begging for a second career.

He attached the knob to the lid with its screw and painted the container in a shimmering peacock-blue finish, preserving the gold-colored rim as a decorative accent.

The result was already attractive.

Unfortunately, it was also becoming a little too restrained.

Bruce announced on Bluesky that his project was looking too understated and elegant, so he needed to tacky it up with glitter.

Naturally.

And that additional sparkle was precisely what the piece needed.

The finished container glitters with iridescent flecks of blue, green, and other colors, while the oversized crystal knob catches the light above its gold-rimmed lid.

It looks less like a recycled food container and more like something discovered on the dressing table of an eccentric Victorian heiress who may or may not have been practicing witchcraft.

We consider this an excellent outcome.

The Cost of a Little Extravagance

Here's the particularly satisfying part:

Bruce bought absolutely nothing new for this project.

Not the paint. Not the knob. Not the container.

Everything was already there, waiting to become useful in a different way.

That's worth remembering in an age when even supposedly inexpensive do-it-yourself projects can begin with a shopping list long enough to make the finished product more expensive than simply buying one.

There's nothing wrong with purchasing craft supplies, of course. But there's a special pleasure in discovering that the materials for something beautiful have been sitting in your home all along.

The little tin has a practical future, too. Bruce plans to use it to hold some of his stainless steel rings, inexpensive jewelry that will now have a rather extravagant place to live.

A collection of affordable rings in a jewel box made from an artichoke tin.

It's difficult to imagine a more delightful arrangement.

A Word in Defense of Glitter

There's a persistent idea that good taste must be restrained.

Colors should coordinate. Decorations should be subtle. Embellishments should know when to stop.

And sometimes, certainly, restraint produces beautiful results.

But sometimes the whole point of making something yourself is that you don't have to answer to anybody else's definition of tasteful.

If you want a crystal knob that looks outrageously large on a tiny container, use it.

If you want peacock-blue metallic polish, use it.

And if the finished piece looks a little too elegant for your liking, add the goddamn glitter.

The object doesn't need to impress an imaginary panel of design judges.

It needs to delight the person who lives with it.

The Beauty of Seeing What Isn't There Yet

Perhaps the loveliest part of this little transformation is what happened before Bruce ever picked up a paintbrush.

He looked at something ordinary and imagined what it might become.

That's a creative act in its own right.

And when imagination is followed by the willingness to try, even a discarded food container can become something personal, beautiful, and useful.

Not every project will work. Not every experiment will produce a masterpiece. But that hardly seems a compelling reason not to try.

After all, this particular experiment began with artichoke hearts and ended with aristocratic jewelry storage.

And it didn't cost a penny beyond materials already on hand.

So before you throw away that interesting little container, consider giving it another look.

Perhaps it's a trinket box. Perhaps it's a place for buttons, keepsakes, or some other small treasure. Perhaps it's something entirely different that only you can imagine.

You needn't know until you try.

And should your finished creation turn out a little too tasteful?

There's always glitter.

Photographs: The original artichoke tin and its transformation into a decorative trinket box, created by Bruce Coffman using materials already on hand.