Cigar Box Purses

For some time, these boxes were not all that easy to come by, but now that cigar smoking is enjoying a revival, so are the empty boxes that can often be acquired just for the asking. For non-cigar smokers, the most difficult part might be finding cigar stores and/or stands. The place to start is the Yellow Pages, as stores will frequently be listed. Beyond that, check with liquor stores, smoking bars or with your cigar-smoking friends. Sometimes you can find the boxes in unexpected places. For instance, one candle store in Manistee, Mich., sells cigars, and a jewelry store in Los Angeles sells cigars. Sometimes you just have to "smoke them out."

Once you have located a source, the next step is to ask. The owner or manager will frequently give away any empty boxes. Other times you will be charged a small fee . Some of the boxes I used cost around $8. Others were free.

The exact directions for making each purse will depend on what you want and what you have to work with, but in most cases a trip to the hardware or home-improvement store will be necessary to purchase handles (kitchen drawer handles), small hinges, small link chain, etc. A stop at the art-supply store and/or scrapbooking store might also help if you would like to add rub-on letters, pictures, die-cuts, etc. The purses that seen here vary in size as well as style.

This was a small cigar box with letters burned in on the front of the box. The only thing added to make it a purse was a brass drawer pull.

A straight-sided rectangular-shaped box was made to look like a miniature trunk with the addition of brass corner pieces. Pictures and rub-on letters were added to both the front and back of the "trunk" One was a postcard from which a circle was cut and a photograph inserted. The letters spelled out destinations. A brass handle was also added.

This was also a rectangular box in shape, but it had curved sides. On this box, torn pieces of tissue paper in three colors--light blue, darker blue and white--were glued to one side to give it a watery look (figure A). On the front of the purse more torn tissue was used. On top of this, a mermaid decal was adhered, along with some dimensional flat-backed "bubbles" that had been leftover from a past project. A strand of craft-store pearls served as the over-the-shoulder strap. These were attached by screwing two tiny eyehooks into the side of the purse (figure B), slipping the pearl strand through, then closing up the opening in the screw eye with pliers.

Tip: Usually if you have the clasp facing up, the design on the front of the box will be upside down. In some cases this will make little difference. If it does, simply remove the hinges on the box and put them on the other side. This will frequently mean a bit more work because the marks where the hinges were originally placed will be obvious. This will mean some work with the sander and possibly stain and varnish. This is something to take note of before starting the project.