I've seen someone use wallpaper that looks like the tin and rag it with metallic paint... looked great and toons cheaper

What does rag it mean?

Forget about making pressed metal ceiling panels. Great enthusiasm, though.
Ron

I'm not sure if offset newspapers still sell old metal plates, but if they do they would be great to use as a ceiling "square". Depending on the printing press, the size varies. I can picture it working.

Make a jig for what you want the impression to look like out of molding. lay the plate down with the ink side towards the molding and whack with a rubber mallet to shape it around the form of the moldings.

The plates are rugged aluminum but would take an impression I'm sure!

The plates are held onto the press with a bend that runs the longest length about a quarter of an inch. You could maybe overlap these and fasten to strapping with a fancy tack of something.

I saw a show on HGTV where a guy in FL used them as siding on his castle!

Hey, it is worth at least a trip to the newspaper to ask about them. Several years ago when I worked in the printing industry they went for $3.00 a dozen which would cover a heck of a lot of footage.

Leasa

Thanks for the great ideas, Leasa.

Rag... it's a painting technique using a rag and usually 2 colors or shades of color. I believe the first coat is just painted on the wallpaper and then the second coat is ragged on so that the base color stays in the grooves. I haven't done anything that fancy...lol, but my sister does.

I found the prices pretty reasonable but I wasn't buying anything especially exotic. I lucked out that the tin ceiling place that still made my tin ceiling (probably a 1900 improvement to my 1880 house) was local so I could pick it up. I bought a 4x6 I think panel to patch where I moved a light fixture (about $20) and 12' of deep cornice (also about $20)to replace a section that I had carefully salvaged and my contractor had carelessly mis-cut. Few dollars for cone head nails. Considering there's no taping and little mess it's a pretty good deal. My patterns were very simple (AA Abbingdon). If you get very elaborate designs (WF Norman)then it can get really pricey.

I did a huge restaurant ceiling (1600 sq ft) from WF Norman back in the day (1985) and at the time the panels were only $.75 sq ft. I can't recall how much the palmette/lion's head cove (12" cove!) cost, or the 12" scroll frieze below it. I thought the real expense was in the labor for prep/install. I was making $5.00/hr!! I'll have to scan a photo of those rooms some time.
Casey

A neighbor of mine had a friend that worked with tin panels. Mostly making mirrors and such. I approached him about doing our drop ceiling in our kitchen redo. He quoted me a resonable price and we went for it. I think he underestimated his time though. Took 9 hours since each panel had to be glued then hand nailed.

Here is his website.

www.tinolgy.com

He does great work and is in So Cal.

good Luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: my ceiling