On Creative Carte Blanch this month, Annette Green has challenged us to think outside the box --- the cigar box. We are to alter a cigar box! Oh my!
A little background here. Not only is altering an item outside the box for me, cigar boxes (and cigars) are WAY outside my "box" After spending a year in an open bullpen with three mining engineers who smoked the most vile stogies day after day after day (this was roughly 30 years ago, before the company went totally non-smoking, so these men could get away with saying they were smoking in their own cubicles, despite the fact that the ventilation system carried the smoke/fumes/odor ALL over the floor), I have been unable to tolerate cigars in any shape or form. So the odds of me having a cigar box in my possession is highly unlikely...
That is, until a crafting friend gifted me with a cigar box. A beautiful cigar box. It stores my washi tape stash (although I have issues with remembering that this is where the washi tape is stored...).
A little background here. Not only is altering an item outside the box for me, cigar boxes (and cigars) are WAY outside my "box" After spending a year in an open bullpen with three mining engineers who smoked the most vile stogies day after day after day (this was roughly 30 years ago, before the company went totally non-smoking, so these men could get away with saying they were smoking in their own cubicles, despite the fact that the ventilation system carried the smoke/fumes/odor ALL over the floor), I have been unable to tolerate cigars in any shape or form. So the odds of me having a cigar box in my possession is highly unlikely...
That is, until a crafting friend gifted me with a cigar box. A beautiful cigar box. It stores my washi tape stash (although I have issues with remembering that this is where the washi tape is stored...).
It's way too pretty to alter...
So I needed to find an alternative and I'm not very good at making boxes. On the other hand, there are no tobacconists in our town, and our local Good Will Store leans more toward clothing and small pieces of furniture, not cigar boxes. So I went googling to find a source from which I could acquire a suitable box in a timely manner. It seems that Darivce makes a line of unfinished "cigar" boxes and Walmart Online stocks them. Delivery cost as much as the box but it arrived in less than a week so... I have my box.
Now, what to do with it. As I said altering items is not in my comfort zone (I know, that's the purpose of this challenge!). And I want a 3-D object to have some use other than just for display (I have limited space for display and it is mostly occupied right now). I figured that if it is going to get some use, it needs to be relatively clean and simple --- no large embellishments to add depth or texture as those will get in the way of using the box. On the other hand, I want it to LOOK like it has depth and texture. Layers are my only solution. I decided to play and see what happened.
First step, gesso the box so it will take any adhesives or pinks or inks I might apply.
So I needed to find an alternative and I'm not very good at making boxes. On the other hand, there are no tobacconists in our town, and our local Good Will Store leans more toward clothing and small pieces of furniture, not cigar boxes. So I went googling to find a source from which I could acquire a suitable box in a timely manner. It seems that Darivce makes a line of unfinished "cigar" boxes and Walmart Online stocks them. Delivery cost as much as the box but it arrived in less than a week so... I have my box.
Now, what to do with it. As I said altering items is not in my comfort zone (I know, that's the purpose of this challenge!). And I want a 3-D object to have some use other than just for display (I have limited space for display and it is mostly occupied right now). I figured that if it is going to get some use, it needs to be relatively clean and simple --- no large embellishments to add depth or texture as those will get in the way of using the box. On the other hand, I want it to LOOK like it has depth and texture. Layers are my only solution. I decided to play and see what happened.
First step, gesso the box so it will take any adhesives or pinks or inks I might apply.
Note to self --- next time, if there is a next time, gesso the sides while the box is open (I had to use a craft knife to cut along the opening so it would open! Oops!)
Once dried (roughly 24 hours) it was time to alter the top, using some card stock, some tissue wrap and a single layer of a paper napkin and lots of multi medium matte (confession --- I stole this step from Candy Collwell's tutorial of her own box for this Challenge):
Once dried (roughly 24 hours) it was time to alter the top, using some card stock, some tissue wrap and a single layer of a paper napkin and lots of multi medium matte (confession --- I stole this step from Candy Collwell's tutorial of her own box for this Challenge):
Still wet. The shine went away when it dried, which took roughly a day.
Once dry, I thought some stenciled words would be in order:
They can be seen, but they aren't a real show-stopper. Just as well they will mostly be covered by the time I am finished!
I sorted through a series of travel-themed papers and paper stacks (is remarkable how many such supplies of papers I have in my stash) andd found a sheet of mini-travel posters in a Authentique Collection that I cut out and reassembled:
I sorted through a series of travel-themed papers and paper stacks (is remarkable how many such supplies of papers I have in my stash) andd found a sheet of mini-travel posters in a Authentique Collection that I cut out and reassembled:
From the same collection, there was a die-cut banner that I matted with black card stock:
Time to assemble. I placed the travel poster assemblage, the banner (using foam dots), a die-cut word in black, and some fabric travel-themed stickers on the box top. I used a Distress Marker to create drop shadows around the travel posters and some of the stickers to add more texture.
I distributed the stickers to more evenly distribute the blue in the Antibes poster around the box top.
Finally, I added some velum stickers to the top and bottom margins of the box top,
The color is WAY off (too pink) in this photo --- the color in the photo above is more realistic, but the only way the velum stickers would show up was to use this angle...
I didn't finish the sides but left them in the gessoed white. I may decide to paint it someday, but, right now, white made much more aesthetic sense to me.
Now the box contains all the little packets of ephemera that have been drifting around my work space for the past year.
Now the box contains all the little packets of ephemera that have been drifting around my work space for the past year.
Products used in creating this box top were:
- Box: Darice 8.375" x 8.125" x 1.75" unfinished cigar box (9180-06)
- Papers: Idea-ology 8" x 8" Paper Stash "Menagerie" (TH93111) and Tissue Wrap "Composer" (TH92962); Authentique Collection "Abroad" (ABR012); Sensations Cafe Collection Dinner/Guest Towel Napkins "Vintage" (41052); scrap black card
- Inks: Archival "Jet Black"; Distress Marker "Black Soot"
- Stencils: Layering Stencil "Traveler" (THS043)
- Dies: Sizzix Thinlits "adventure" (660224)
- Embellishments: Hot Off The Press "Vacation & Travel" fabric stickers: Me and My Big Ideas "Travel Sayings" (STR-36)
- Adhesives: Multi Medium Matte; Ranger Collage Glue Stick; EK Tools 3-D Dots
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