Real Projects
Every special shaped tin case in the library — 208 production runs in total, 24 to a page, each one carrying the mould it was made from. The silhouette is the product here, so the use case on each card is a faster way in than scrolling by capacity.
The Outline Is the Product
As special shaped tin manufacturers, a shaped build is specified against the die outline before it is specified against the artwork — on a shaped body the silhouette already carries the idea, so the print has to support it rather than compete. Four things get settled before one goes back on the line.
A shaped body works when the outline is obvious at a glance, which usually means a two or three colour print and a clean edge. Heavy photographic artwork flattens the silhouette instead of reinforcing it, so on these special shaped tin moulds the print is designed to sit behind the shape.
A special shaped tin with lid has no rectangular panel, so every element is placed against the actual cutting path. We supply the die outline as a guide and proof on the formed shape, because a flat proof hides how much the curve removes.
A heart tin or a star tin loses usable area at every point, and the loss is not obvious until something has to go inside. The cavity is drawn from the product outwards, which is why a shaped mould is cut after the contents are known rather than before.
A bespoke silhouette adds 20–25 days and a tooling charge a stock body does not carry. hexagonal tin and octagonal tin bodies already exist in the register above, so the first question we ask is whether one of those gets you there for free.
Bespoke-Die by Construction
A custom shaped tin is a die cut for one silhouette — oval, hexagonal, heart, or a figure drawn for a brand. That is a different decision from picking a stock body. Three things decide whether it is worth it, and on every case above all three were fixed before printing started.
Christmas, Lunar New Year and Easter builds where a shaped gift tin — a tree, a star, an egg — is bought because of what it looks like on the shelf.
Low-volume, high-finish custom shaped tin runs with embossing or a gilded edge, where the tin is the gift and the silhouette carries the brand.
Character and mascot figure shaped tin builds for confectionery and children’s ranges, where the shape is the licence rather than the packaging.
Limited runs and collectible shaped tin series, where a new silhouette each season is the reason customers buy the next one.
Mould Register
Every size below comes from a live mould record rather than a typical figure. Any of them can be sampled before you commit to a bespoke die.
| Mould Ref. | Shape | Capacity | Cases | View case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TIN-DGXYC-00193 | Oval Tin | — | 1 | View case |
| TIN-DGXY-00144 | Special Tin | — | 1 | View case |
| TIN-DGYA-00012 | Special Tin | — | 1 | View case |
| TIN-DGXYC-00022 | Oval Tin | — | 1 | View case |
| TIN-DGXYC-00026 | Oval Tin | — | 1 | View case |
| TIN-DGXYC-00202 | Special Tin | — | 1 | View case |
| TIN-DGXYC-00168 | Special Tin | — | 1 | View case |
| TIN-DGXYC-00019 | Oval Tin | — | 1 | View case |
Material: food-grade tinplate, internal lacquer where the fill needs one. special shaped tin MOQ 1,000 pcs per design, pre-production sample 7 days, new mould tooling adds 20–25 days. FOB Ningbo / Shanghai / Shenzhen.
Design Reference
On a shaped body the silhouette already carries the idea, so the artwork should support it rather than compete with it.
A custom shaped tin has no rectangular panel, so every element is positioned against the real die outline. We supply the cutting path as a guide and proof on the formed shape, because a flat proof hides how much of the design the curve removes.
A special shaped tin container works when the shape is obvious from a metre away, which usually means a two or three colour print and a clean edge. Heavy photographic artwork tends to flatten the outline instead of reinforcing it.
Buying Guide
Four decisions turn one of the cases on this page into your order. On a shaped body, the first one is whether the silhouette is the reason people buy.
If it is, a new die pays for itself. If it is not, a stock shaped tin box gets you there faster and cheaper — and we will say which, because the tooling charge is real either way.
heart tins, star shaped tin bodies and hexagonal tin profiles are already cut. Starting from one of those removes 20–25 days from the schedule and the tooling charge from the quote.
A custom shaped tin reads best with two or three colours and a clean edge. Give us artwork built for the die outline rather than for a rectangle — otherwise the curve eats the part of the design that matters.
A small heart shaped box and a oval container with lid lose very different amounts of usable space. Send the product dimensions and the cavity is drawn from them, which is the step that stops a beautiful sample arriving unusable.
Related Ranges
Special Shaped Tins share a production line with the rest of the tinplate range. The categories below all have live case galleries, so the same construction and the same mould register carry across.
FAQs
The questions that come up most often when buyers spec a special shaped tin.
Send your artwork or just a rough sketch and we will come back with shape options, an indicative price and a lead time — usually within one working day. WhatsApp and email both work.
