TOBACCIANNA

I love old cigar boxes, the graphics on them are amazing. But I don't stop there......I love cigar bands, cigar tins, labels.......and don't even get me started on early tramp art created out of cigar boxes.....Love it....Want it.....Can't afford it!!

two  tramp art pieces  made out of cigar boxes

When I needed to come up with a way to stack, display, (control??) my growing collection of Chinese sewing baskets, I decided to decoupage a little bench I have with cigar bands and art.  (I know decoupage is passe'.....but I like it!) I used pictures from a used book I found, "Smoker's  Art" by Joe and Sue Davidson. The cigar bands I have collected (begged and borrowed) over the years. If you don't have a source , you can find cigar bands on Ebay, I have bought vintage ones there before.



finished top

                                    
After giving the bench a good scrub, I painted it with a satin black paint I had left over from another project. I like to use a satin paint  to decoupage over because the decoupage "goop" is shiny too so a satin paint helps hide any mistakes.

end view

 So then I just do it! I do try to keep all "the goop" off the front of  whatever I am pasting on because next I take a rag and stain the artwork with  Minwax wood finish (puritans pride) just to tone it down a bit and  make it a bit more cohesive.  Let it dry and then decoupage over the whole thing to protect the paper!



bench at work, I like it!!

                   Here are a couple of projects I have done in past years:

and another......................

Like I said, I am always on the look out for cigar boxes and tins when I am out junking, so you can just imagine the happy dance going on in my head when I found this  a couple of years ago at an estate sale.

A wonderful little cabinet of drawers made out of ..... you guessed it... cigar boxes! Each drawer has a red celluloid pull, and a little tin "holder" so the maker would know what was in each drawer. A couple of them still have a nail in them . There are black glass drawer  pulls on each side to carry the chest with , and it is all edged with galvanized tin held in place with lots and lots of tacks.

I think this is my best find ever........what's yours? What made your heart sing?