How to Make a Survival Kit from an Altoids Tin

Artist and blog editor Kate Pruitt was destined to become a tinnovator -- someone who finds new and creative uses for old Altoids tins. After spending her undergraduate years at Stanford University studying studio art and art history, she moved on to a career in store design. All the while, she maintained an interest in coming up with projects that use stuff that others no longer want. Her first crowning achievement in found object art and design turned out to be a decorative paper-covered fireplace. The project was published in ReadyMade magazine, and the article caught the attention of Grace Bonney, creator of the Design*Sponge art and design blog.

Bonney took Pruitt on as a do-it-yourself art and design editor at the blog. As such, she had only one mandate: Create four projects from a single source material each month. Her mission in hand, Pruitt has spent the last few years in search of new uses for old things. It was simply a matter of time before she ran into a pile of old Altoids tins in a secondhand store early in 2009 and realized that the tins had countless uses just waiting to be realized.

Pruitt is a practical artist; her design projects accentuate both the homes and lives of her readers. So, it makes sense that one of her Altoids tins design projects would be a series of survival kits. Who among us hasn't found ourselves in desperate need of a needle and some thread when a button pops loose? Who hasn't needed some dental floss and a bit of toothpaste right after the plates are cleared away during a lunch meeting? Have you ever had a nasty little cut that required some antibiotic ointment, a bandage and a couple of analgesics?

Sure, you could carry all of this stuff around with you in your pocket, purse or backpack, but those aren't always the most convenient options. Instead, you can use the easy instructions on the next page to make one of Kate Pruitt's Altoids tin survival kits.