My big blue box

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 06 Jan 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Khatruman	06 Jan 2003
I was just out at my local Value City and I found a large box to store my tarot decks in. The box measures approximately 20"L x 11"W x 8" depth. It is a heavy duty shoe box style with a navy blue cloth covering and a satiny light blue interior. It looked plain, but my other choices were a brown leopard pattern or white tiger stripe, both of which looked like a tacky nightmare. I was considering decorating it, but, after a perusal of my local A.C. Moore Craft store, I could find nothing to really decorate it. Seems those stores cater to young girls or women crafters with only stuff for cutesy, homesy, country decorations. I want something mystical... and the closest thing, the different rinestones, seemed kind of tacky also. Does anyone have any ideas? Also, I have used my supply of Crown Royal and Royal Salute bags for the decks I have, but I want to get the rest out of their stiff little packaged boxes... anyone have any ideas where I can get plain drawstring bags that I can decorate myself? Peace!

violinlily	06 Jan 2003
Khatruman, You could try your local fabric store for the bags, Like Jo-ann Fabrics, or a Michaels or something ( never been to Jersey, so I don't know what's there, sry) Maybe you could try glueing glass chips on the box?? like a mosaic? Maybe like those little glass bead-thingies that people put in fish tanks. Might look better than plain. smiles,

Emily	06 Jan 2003
I have a plain wooden box that I keep a couple of tarot decks in but when I bought it the inside of the box was rough. At first I was going to line it with fabric but then I had a brainwave, or was it too much coffee and time on my hands :D, anyway I ended up scanning my favourite tarot cards from various decks and sticking them collage like over the inside of the box. You could maybe do the same to the outside of your box, you'd have to check on the kind of glue to use but once varnished over should last for ages :)

allibee	06 Jan 2003
IMHO: lose the outer blue fabric and GO WILD with papier mache and 'found' items. Paint it up, cover it with a matt varnish or a skim coat of GRP and you have something that is a personalised work of art as well being fairly durable. Good luck allibee

amyel	06 Jan 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Khatruman ... anyone have any ideas where I can get plain drawstring bags that I can decorate myself? Peace! My sister made me a bag out of fleece with a simple fold over top - like an envelope. All she had to do was sew up the sides (easy even if you don't have a sewing machine!!!) and fold over the top, et voila! If you are at all handy with sewing (even grade 7 basics), you can make your own drawsting bags. Easiest thing in the world! let me know if you want some guidence - I will not persume you know or don't know how to sew. P.S. My sister made me the most wonderful box for the holidays and painted it on the outside with her own Aboriginal-inspired design. You could do yor own painterly style on any box you want - you could get fabric paint and paint on the fabric cover, if you wanted!

patter	07 Jan 2003
If the box is plastic roughen with a file and perhaps paint directly onto it with enamel or apply collage and then varnish over the top? Drawstring bags can be fairly simple to make with handsewing, though it is time consuming -- at least you get exactly the size and fabric that you want... Some of the semi transperant metallic thread materials are great for this, hard wearing, easy to stitch, easy to embroider and you can see which pack is inside without opening it. They are also stiff enough to give a bit more protection.

Silverlotus	07 Jan 2003
Last week I made a few little bags for myself. I was planning on making them drawstring, but I misjudged the fabric and I didn't have quite enough. Since I had cross stitched the outsides of the bags, I didn't want to start again with larger pieces. :) Anyway, what I did was just make a simple bag with my cross stitched fabric, then made another bag of plain fabric. I turned the cross stitched bag rightside out, and left the other bag wrong way out. I popped the second bag inside the first, and sewed them together along the top. And I had a simple lined bag. Not quite as nice as the one I got from cjtarot, but I still love it. :) As for your box... I agree with you about craft stores. It's hard to find something that isn't Victorian or country. You could always find mystical clip-art and ummm... decupage (sp?) it on. Or why not leave it plain? You know all the wonderful things it contains.

Teal	12 Jan 2003
This is an old thread, but here's what I'd do with it. I'd get a lot of peacock eye feathers and glue them all over the box, then use polyurethane coating to protect them. I think that would be a beautiful effect on a blue box. But I'd suggest you take one eye feather and test it to see what effect the polyurethane would have on the feather, first, before doing the box. I'd leave the test feather for a week or more, just to see what would happen over time, but I don't think it would have any bad effect.

Khatruman	12 Jan 2003
Thanks all for the wonderfully creative ideas... my sewing skills are minimal as far as the bags go..but, after I move, I will look up this thread again to see what might work best for me. Peace!

Khatruman	08 Feb 2003
After all the wonderful decorating suggestions, I decided to leave the blue cloth box undecorated. Actually, since my collection has gotten so much larger, I decided to buy another blue box... and what I found was that, if I put the two of them together, I have a decent sized reading table while sitting on the floor!!! The surface is soft cloth, deep blue and you can do a decent sized reading, up to a Celtic Cross. I rarely do a reading larger than that anyway. In my new condo, there was already a set of Oriental screens set over the front window, so I set up a small Zen corner, with a coffee table covered in a leaf print table cloth, two oriental vases and set in some silk flowers, a rock garden fountain, and candles. Under the set up I put my two boxes, a peaceful home while they are not being used. Peace!

The My big blue box thread was originally posted on 06 Jan 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.