Magic: the Gathering Inspired Locksport Pinning Tray

As you develop your skills inside the world of locksport, eventually you'll find yourself wanting to gut and reassemble locks. To aid in this endeavor, a pinning tray provides an excellent way to keep things organized. Reflecting on my diy ethic and desire to add flare, I settled on making myself one using another hobby of mine, Magic: The Gathering.

Supplies

Chosen cards (2)

Foamboard

Coffee cup sleeve (1)

Superglue (liquid, not gel)

Hobby knife

Craft paint

Choose Your Look

Select cards you want for the tray. You will need at least 2 individual cards, whether they are 2 copies of the same card or two different cards. I choose 2 copies of "Goblin Locksmith" as I liked the card title and the art work. Feel free to mix and match. Perhaps you want art from one card and the boarders of another. Maybe instead of Magic, you want Pokemon or some other TCG product- go nuts!

Create the Boarder

Using your hobby knife, carefully remove the art and text boxes from the boarder of one card. The boarder of this will be used for our tray.

Create the Pinning Insert

Open the coffee sleeve up and, using the removed text box from step 2, trace out what will be cut for our pinning insert. To add strength to the cardboard, spread liquid superglue over the area and allow it to dry before cutting. This extra rigidity isn't a complete necessity, but it will be very helpful in extending the longevity of your tray. Carefully cut and remove the insert.

Create the Tray Spacer

Using the boarder you created in step 2, trace and cut out the tray spacer from foamboard. This spacer will give the tray the depth needed to hold your pinning insert and help create a bin over the artwork later. Once the foamboard is cut, carefully remove the paper layers from the top and bottom leaving just the foam. Otherwise this will detach after finally assembly and undue your hard work.

Helpful Hint: use a new, sharp blade for this or else the foam will tear instead of cutting.

Painting

Paint your pinning insert and tray spacer. This is purely for aesthetics but does help tie everything together.

Final Assembly

Once the paint has dried, you're free to assemble your tray. Start by laying down your remaining uncut card, add glue to one side of your spacer and attach it to the card. Glue the pinning insert inside the foam spacer. And finally, glue your cut boarder to the top of the spacer. After the glue dries, you're ready to start gutting locks!