Very cool place to find them: at Nickel Cigar Box Guitars, Lowe Mill ARTS and Entertainment complex in Huntsville, Alabama.

Related post on the Perceptive Travel Blog: perceptivetravel.com/blog/2013/08/08/humble-instrument-be...

This cigar box is a vintage "Meditation Natural" wooden box. I altered it and hand painted the furniture and accessories to make a little dollhouse world :). The painting technique I used required multiple layers of color and crackle to get this shabby look. Gold highlights were brushed on to give a little sparkle.

I installed a wee operable window, wallpaper, and curtains. The curtains are topped with handmade paper roses, tulle, gold ribbon and pearls.

This sitting room comes with dressing table w/mirror, porcelain tea cup and saucer, mail, LED battery-operated working hurricane lamp, rocking chair w/ handmade pillow, rug, clay flowers in pitcher, and teddy bear.

Size of the box is 6 1/2" x 6 3/4" x 2 1/4". All furniture and accessories are 1:12 scale.

Thanks for looking!

Tori

Had lunch at Revolución de Cuba, Reading. This cigar box was placed on our table when we had finished. It contained the bill :-(

cigar box art using vintage household labels, dominoes, a late 1800's cabinet card, a ceramic angel, a small circuit board from a computer mouse and vintage map pages

Next is all of the wires and stuff, of course! This is the start of a project from "Rip, Burn, Solder, Shred," a book by David Erik Nelson that I got for my birthday. The boys and I haven't gotten too much further than this yet, but we're going to finish it yet!

A collection of this and that are everchanging in my cabinet of curiosities. Mary Poppin's is always around to fill life with a little magic! Thank you to my sis who snapped this shot!

40s-50s tampa cigar box

Just finished this weekend! My shabby fairy cigar box dollhouse features a real working window, wood plank floor, tiny clay bricks and plaster walls and a battery operated LED wall lamp.

Process detailed at torisaur.com

Thanks for looking! Tori

An elegant silver handled walking stick, an 1881 Morgan silver dollar, and a vintage Swan Snakeskin fountain pen resting in front of a box of Cuban cigars. A shaft of light highlights the walking stick handle, silver dollar oin, and the pen. Grain added in post-production.

Wine Box Guitar with (lightweight) aluminum hubcap resonator cone

Canjo

My grandfather, ready to sell a cigar, in 1930. This shop was on S. University at Forest in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Village Corner is there now.

Update: Now the old shop has been torn down and the towering Landmark Student Housing building is there.

my creation! for sale, so let me know if you're interested! :-)

Just finished this weekend! My shabby fairy cigar box dollhouse features a real working window, wood plank floor, tiny clay bricks and plaster walls and a battery operated LED wall lamp.

Process detailed at torisaur.com

Thanks for looking! Tori

April 7, 2007, my second pin camera is finished. It took me two days to build, distance - 33mm, pinhole size - .22mm

Wooden cigar box from Ed Weiland Inc.. Peru, Illinois. Many communities had local cigar makers, back during the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Edward Weiland, Sr. was born at sea, November 1, 1854, the son of Christian Weiland (born in Luxemburg in 1825) and his wife Elizabeth Dornbusch (born in Prussia in 1822) He was 25 years old in the 1880 census, listed as a cigar manufacturer. He had been in busines in Peru, Illinois since 1877. He married Mary Eiberger (1858-1937) on May 31, 1881. They became the parents of three children,: Doretta, Edward J., and Anna. Edward Weiland continued in business until his death, December 16, 1925. The record book of the Peru Schuetzen Club lists Ed Weiland among the members during the 1890's and early 1900's.

I'm exploring the idea of creating little fairy houses within a vintage wooden cigar box. I love the idea of a little enclosed world :). Thanks for looking! Tori

Resonator Box Guitar

soundcloud.com/marceau-portron

This is my second pinhole camera. This one is also made from a cigar box, but this time I covered the box with leatherette from Camera Leather. I used brass extensively to make it somewhat ornate. The pinhole is from Lenox Laser and is held in place by a rubber O-Ring. They both sit in a closet pull cup. I used a brass washer to put the pinhole at exactly 90mm from the focal plane. I was able to get the washer laser engraved, to give it a commercial look. I took my first two shots and they are currently being developed. Here is an image with this camera.

It's finished! These are final pics for portfolio :).

From Etsy: mouse fairy and copper pail by jujurodgers, rug pattern by miniaturesbyjoan and little chair and ottoman by BentleyHouseProducts.

Thanks for looking! Tori

Resonator dulcimer

Pinhole image of my "penny car"- 15 second exposure.

This would be the 2-LED part of the switchbox project circuit.

20/365 - MC Chris - "Nrrrd Grrrl"

Nerd girl, I don't deserve you

I don't get the references you refer to

I love your Lipsmackers and your lack of perfume

I hope to get you home by curfew

WORD UP!

There's a special kind of girl that goes to my shows

And I don't mean the groupie hos

All along the front row

She's more like a wallflower

Like the one that Stryker sniped

I'm like elixir when I'm with her

'Cause I think I like her type

She might seem shy in person, it's no lie

She's always nervous

But the verdict is she's worth it

She gets crap but don't deserve it

She look like Emily Strange

Always ravin' 'bout her favs

Wanna conquer her like Kang

When you kiss like Cassie Lang

There's no way I can pronounce Neo Geo Evangelion

I can't refute 'cause she's so cute

And so I suck my belly in

X-23 and Hellion, odd couple, to be kind

She's in my heart and in my mind

And now she's in my rhymes

She's wordy and verbose

Prolific and prone to prose

Always sick and has a cold

Stuffed nose she's got to blow

I've got many cold remedies, many old enemies

I've got a girl that kick their ass like River from Serenity

Nerd girl, I don't deserve you

I don't get the references you refer to

I love your Lipsmackers and your lack of perfume

I hope to get you home by curfew

WORD UP!

Her parents are divorced

And there's often daddy issues

Try not to take advantage

While I hand her all my tissues

She hips me to the bands she likes

I couldn't be more clueless

Every word comes out her mouth

Is now on my to-do list

She's romantic, known to panic

With anxiety attacks

Literary, it's so scary

Reading Brontes back to back

She's playing Ragnarok on her mom's Magnavox

She's underneath my skin like a million nanobots

She's like Annie Potts in 'Busters

Get my freak on like I'm Egon

Say third base right to her face

And she will be like, be gone

If not now know I can wait like Lucas and the locusts

And you know this we'll by glow sticks

Stay up late, perfect the slow kiss

You can't resist Chris 'cause he helps you de-stress

While you play Animal Crossing on your Nintendo DS

Baby, if we can't be a couple

Give up on getting married

I'll remember we connected

And how it happens so rarely

(I'm serious, girl!)

Nerd girl, I don't deserve you

I don't get the references you refer to

I love your Lipsmackers and your lack of perfume

I hope to get you home by curfew

WORD UP!

Nerd girl, I don't deserve you

I don't get the references you refer to

I love your Lipsmackers and your lack of perfume

I hope to get you home by curfew

WORD UP!

Nerd girl, I don't deserve you

I don't get the references you refer to

I love your Lipsmackers and your lack of perfume

I hope to get you home by curfew

WORD UP!

German soldiers during World War I (1914-1918)

Just finished this weekend! My shabby fairy cigar box dollhouse features a real working window, wood plank floor, tiny clay bricks and plaster walls and a battery operated LED wall lamp.

Process detailed at torisaur.com

Rosie's outfit by faerieluna and hat/parasol by Luned - both on Etsy. Furniture is Bespaq Wildflower.

Thanks for looking! Tori

A box of Cigars

20 Senoritas.

Henri Jacob van Abbe (Amsterdam, 1880 - 1940) was een Nederlands ondernemer. In 1900 begon hij een kleine sigarenfabriek in Amsterdam. Deze fabriek werd, vanwege de arbeidsonrust aldaar, in 1908 verplaatst naar Gestel. Zijn succesvolle merkenpolitiek, waarbij slechts het merk Karel I werd geproduceerd, leidde tot groei. In 1915 vertrok hij naar de Bleek in Stratum. In 1920 werkten in Stratum 600 mensen. Het bedrijf werd in 1975 uiteindelijk aan Swedish Match verkocht en hield zelfs in naam op te bestaan.

Henri Van Abbe nam het initiatief tot de stichting van het Van Abbemuseum, dat geopend werd in 1936.

Bron: Wikipedia.

In-process pic. The bricks are glued to the wall but no mortar applied yet.

Process detailed on my blog at torisaur.com.

Thanks for looking! Tori

Shane Speal's main cigar box guitar. Built in 1996, it has been his favorite go-to instrument.

It is covered with autographs by many of the cigar box artists who have shared the stage with him. It's also stained with sweat, grit and Speal's blood (see above the right soundhole).

Simply, a three string, stick-thru-box instrument (played with a spark plug socket slide) and an internal pickup made by Matty Baratto.

Sometimes a cigar box is just a cigar box.

Grand Raggidy Roller Girls posing at Dr. Sketchy night at the Meanwhile Bar in Grand Rapids, MI 9/5/9. Posing: QuarterBoy, Lucy Morals and Lindsay Blowhan.

The 10th Annual Cigar Box Guitar Festival will be held Friday, May 30th and Saturday, May 31st 2014, at:

Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment Center

2211 Seminole Drive

Huntsville, Alabama 35805 (Gmap link)

The event is the longest running CBG festival in the world. This festival celebrates the Cigar Box Guitar folk culture. It is two days filled with an assortment of music, engaging demonstrations and workshops.

Throughout the Lowe Mill grounds there will be an array of cigar box guitars, folk art, folk skills and food vendors.

Performing at the festival will be:

• Microwave Dave

• Justin Johnson

• Patrick and John Nickel

• Matt Crunk (festival founder)

• April Mae and the June Bugs

• Johnny Lowebow

• Earl "Guitar" Williams

• Hymn for Her

• Ben Prestage

A thoroughly British guitar.

(Currently for sale).

Alte geigenkoffer (old fiddle box) meets Weissenborn (lap steel guitar)

Day One: Cedar box, gessoed black and incised with Dremel Stylus to establish overall design.

Day Two: Top covered in Polymer Clay (using old fashioned Terra Cotta school clay) at various thicknesses to establish dimensions of design. I then textured the “cross” motif with a ball tool, and incised the outer “frame”.

Days Three & Four: The sides were covered (two each day) in the same manner as the top.

Day Five: The textured areas were antiqued with straight black acrylic paint, forcing paint into the grooves and divots, then wiped.

Then the center motif was dry brushed with a mixture of metallic gold, copper, green and black. Three very light applications were done to achieve sufficient contrast with the outer area with was simply wiped.

I will be applying polymer clay veneers to the remaining areas. It is also my plan to set genuine stones (most likely turquoise) in the center of each motif.