How to Make a Cigar Box Purse

Cigar Box

Book or print of your choice

Acrylic paint

Fiber - crochet thread

Mod Podge

Xyron machine with permanent adhesive

Versa Mark pen

Embossing powder

Heat tool

Clear acrylic

Hardware

Lets begin with the cigar box. I get mine at a local cigar store. For this particular project I chose a wood Davidoff unfinished cigar box. This means the wood is rough to the touch. It also had brass hinges and a snap closure already on it.

A local close out store had an illustrated book on the clearance rack that I thought would make interesting accessories. The book was hard cover. I separated the pages from the spine and carefully took the binding apart so I would have loose pages. I then choose the pages that would fit on the front and back of the box.

I took some red acrylic paint, thinned it out with a little water and washed the whole box with it inside and out. This raised the grain of the wood slightly, light sanding with a fine grit sandpaper will even it out as well as giving a bit of an aged look. I leave any labels on the box and paint right over them. I found it was useful to employ a hanger to hold the box while the outside dried. With the box open I hinged it over the hanger, it might be a little of a balancing act at first, and then hung it in an open space to dry.

Since I was not covering the entire back side of the box with pages from the book I laid it out and marked where the one page I had chosen would go. I then took some golden crochet thread and dunked it in Mod Podge. Using my fingers to smooth it out and coat every fiber I embellish the open areas with a free form spider web. I let it dry overnight.

Using a Versamark pen I carefully filled in the copy and graphics. I used silver embossing powder and the heat tool to create texture and depth. I ran the pages through the Xyron machine to cover the backsides with permanent adhesive. Usually Mod Podge is used for adhering to the box but I've discovered that it sometimes reacts with the finish or the resin in the wood and for larger pieces like these pages I was able to have more control and better adhesion with the Xyron. I burnished them to be sure the adhesive was making full contact. I burnished them to the box as well to be sure there were no bubbles or loose edges.

I dropped some red paint on the front side to add a little of a wave look. And added some chipboard letters in a gold metallic finish. The beauty of having all of these self-sticking items is that you don't have to wait days for layers and layers of Mod Podge to dry. Now that everything was down I sealed it together with water based clear acrylic. Using a foam brush I was careful to do the pages first and then the painted areas because the tint of the red paint is sometimes picked up in the acrylic. I use the hanger method to let it dry for a few hours between a second and third coat

Finally I added the hardware, which for this box was only a handle. I chose a very industrial brass 4" handle from the local department store. Because the screws for the handle were longer than the box was thick I added small blocks inside for the screws to hold into. Even though the box is thin it is important to drill pilot holes before screwing the handle on to avoid splitting.