Travel Watercolor Set

Traveling can be difficult for an artist. You want to carry so many art making supplies with you, it can often hinder your ability to travel light. This past summer, I went on a backpacking trip and had to stick to one bag. In order to do this, I created a tiny watercolor set for my small art kit. This summer, I wanted a slightly larger one with a palette, so I recreated it in a larger tin. Now make art on the go and still travel light.

plastic trays from Dentyne gum

Altoids tin

InstaMorph

scissors

heat gun

mug of "coffee hot" water - you might use a coffee maker, tea pot, pot on the stove, or microwave

watercolors

rolling pin

tin foil

Empty the Altoids tin and Dentyne gum tray.

Clean out the dust from the Altoids tin.

InstaMorph is a plastic that softens under heat and hardens when it cools. You'll need both hot water and a heat gun for this project.

Note: I have used and reused my InstaMorph moldable plastic many times. It makes it easier to re-melt the pieces if you melt them, thin them out, and cut them into small pieces before storing them for later. I have a pickle jar filled with pieces those pictured, but the InstaMorph actually comes in small pellets that melt easily and quickly.

My coffee maker spits out water at the perfect temperature to melt the InstaMorph, but regardless of how you do it, melt about a 1/2 cup's worth.

Mold the melted plastic into rolls and wrap them around the tray. You can use hot water to soften it if it begins to harden, but working quickly is ideal. DO NOT use the heat gun to reheat the InstaMorph around the tray. It will melt the tray.

Once you've got InstaMorph around the tray, press it into the bottom of the Altoids tin.

Set it aside to cool/harden. You can put it in the freezer for a few minutes to speed up the process.

To keep the freshly used paint from dribbling all over the place when you put the paints away, you'll need a lid. This lid can also be used as a palette.

Roll out a piece of melted InstaMorph on a piece of tin foil so it's about a 1/8" thick. If it's not big enough, you can reheat with the heat gun and add more melted plastic.

Press the Altoids tin onto the flattened plastic to create an impression.

Let the plastic cool and then cut it out slightly inside the impression line.

The cut piece should fit easily inside the tin.

Use the heat gun to melt the end of a scrap piece of InstaMorph and the side of the lid piece.

Press the pieces together and they will fuse easily.

Trim off the excess of the scrap piece and allow to cool.

Apply some form of non-stick coating to the inside of the Altoids tin while making sure the tray is particularly slippery.

Reheat the palette/lid with the heat gun on the tin foil.

Gently pick up the palette/lid and place it on top of the tray.

Press gently around the edges of each slot in the tray to form a tight seal between the tray and the palette/lid.

Allow to cool.

Remove the palette/lid from the tin.

Wash all the pieces thoroughly with soap and water to remove any oily residue and allow to dry completely before reassembling. The tray piece should be challenging to remove from the tin, but can be pried out with a knife and fork if need be.

If you're going to watercolor, you'll need paper towels.

Fold a paper towel as pictured.

Trim off the corners of the folded paper towel so that it fits nicely in the space above the palette/lid.

I noticed that these Instructables stickers fit quite nicely on top of the tin, so I cut one at the mid point for a mirrored effect and applied them to the outside of the tin.

Choose the colors you'd like to have in your tin. I don't paint anything in particular, so I wanted a range of colors. However, if you prefer landscapes, for example, you may want a range of greens or browns instead.

If there appears to be a liquid separation at the tip of the bottle, wipe a small amount of paint onto a paper towel first to avoid getting this in your tray.

Squirt a small amount of each of your paint choices in each tray.

Shake the tin back and forth to get the paint to settle into the tray. You can see that some of my paints were thicker than others, because some didn't settle as much.

Allow to dry, then assemble your kit.

Head out on the town or to a distant land and paint the scenery or whatever tickles your fancy.

I recommend getting a water brush to carry with your kit. It seems like it doesn't hold a lot of water, but I made several small paintings before having to refill it, and it eliminates the need for a cup of water.

Check out my instructable on how to make a travel journal to hold a watercolor postcard book like the one seen in these images.