Francis J. Degnan
OBJECTIVE
Students will produce an original design punched in tin and relate their use of the material to that of the whitesmith.
ACTIVITY
The whitesmith or tinsmith used his materials to make boxes, cylinders and cone shapes. The most commonly reproduced tin work involves candle holders in which designs were punched on all sides. This allowed enough light to shine out but prevented the outside breezes from extinguishing the flame. There were also pie cooling cabinets with sides and fronts of punched patterned tin attached to wooden frames that allowed fresh out of the oven confections to cool without being surrounded by flying insects or for that matter young eager hands. Students can design a panel, or what might have been a side of one of these containers.
PROCEDURE
Tin sheathing is available in most hardware stores, it is to be cut up into 5x7 pieces. The students can tack it down to a slightly larger piece of wood. Then using a hammer and nail or a punch can create their own design in the soft metal.