This month’s newsletter exclusive article is all about creating a cigar box purse, easily and without a lot of stress and anxiety. Cigar box purses are a very hot topic right now and their appeal is not just crafters. Cigar boxes are one of the hottest fashion accessories out their and no woman, can ever have to many purses or pairs of shoes!
So over the next 3 weeks we’ll create a beautiful piece of altered art that is fashionable, fun and functional. These projects are for paper crafters of all levels. This cigar box project designed to take what seems like a complicated project and break it down into easy steps that will help spark your creativity and give you the confidence you may need to undertake this type of project. So let’s get going!
The first step in making a cigar box purse is to find a box. Actual cigar boxes can be a bit hard to find and may actually have residual tobacco smell left in them. Fortunately the craft industry has latched onto this idea and most local retail stores are now carrying both the paper and wooden variety in an assortment of sizes and shapes and there is no tobacco smell to worry about. I found this beautiful ready to finish cigar box at my local retail craft store, complete with the handle for under $5.00.
This unfinished cigar box is the perfect size to get your feet wet on this type of altered art project. So what do you do once you get this box home? The first step is to decide what kind of finish do you want your box to have? You can paint the box, you can decoupage it, you can leave it plain or you can add a finish to it. For my cigar box project I decided that I wanted the natural wood look to be there, but I also wanted a finish. So I decided to shellac the box with a clear finish. Before I began the actual shellacking process, I need to give the box a quick sanding to smooth out some of the rough edges.
When I say quick, I mean less than 2 minutes spent sanding. I prefer not to use actual sandpaper when I need to do a project like this. Instead, I use the sanding blocks that you can find in the cosmetic aisle in the supermarket or drug store. Once I gave the box a quick sanding, I wiped off any dust from the box with an old dish towel. Then I grabbed a foam brush, my small can of shellac, a twig from the yard, some newspaper and set out to the back yard to shellac my box. The drying time needed for shellac is the longest part of this entire process. I applied shellac to both the inside and outside of the boxes and I was quite pleased with the results.
When using shellac or any other kind or finish, it is important to do this outside if possible. If outside isn’t possible, then a well ventilated area is definitely needed. The first coat of shellac takes about an hour to dry. The final coat takes about 4-6 hours before it is completely dry. Once it’s dry you are all set to get started on the actual altering.
Please join us next week when we tackle how to choose a theme for our box and begin the altering process. See you next week!
