Painted Cases

When I was 17, just before I left home for Wellington, my mother presented me with two of the ugliest suitcases I had ever seen with which I was to start my journey.

One was poo-brown, the other was mustard-yellow.

Mum suggested I paint them if I hated them so much. I've always been arty so the idea appealed to me. I set to work and the mustard-yellow case became bright yellow with purple and red flowers - and in the process one of my favourite things in the whole entire world. The poo-brown one got treated to a Jackson Pollack with a big giant love-heart. I liked them both, but infinitely loved the yellow one more.

I don't think it's much of an assumption that no one else has travelled with a bright yellow suitcase covered in big purple and red flowers, but it definitely gets attention. I'd get comments from Taxi drivers, movers, friends, family, airline staff, random people who saw me with it, and I could always see it a mile off on the luggage carousel.

My bright yellow suitcase was awesome - right up until the locks started playing up, which is the only reason I eventually abandoned it.

(Click for a better look)

One friend of mine in particular always loved my suitcases. She'd ask to borrow them for trips away and I always thought that it'd be the kind of gift I'd love to give her one day - a painted case of her very own.

The problem is finding cases suitable for conversion. They're not easy to find - and after my problems with the locks on the yellow one, that is the piece that is most important (because that is the piece you can't really replace). Once you find them, the price is almost always an issue. It is rare you'll find one at a good price, in good nick.

As luck would have it however, I did find one in excellent nick, at an excellent price - in Dargaville no less (in fact this one find has placed Dargaville in a warm place in my heart for all eternity). I found the case 6 months before my friend's 21st birthday, the timing couldn't be better.

I'd learned a lot from my first outing with painting suitcases. I first of all cleaned it off so the paint would stick properly, then I added a base coat, and then I got to the hard bit - what do I actually want to DO with it?

The main colour was easy - it was always going to be purple. I got some purple acrylic paint and started experimenting with texture and after a while I finally landed on an awesome effect made with white streaks. Finally the background was complete.

Next was what to put on as the detail? This I think is the hardest part. Big-ass flowers were cool, but I was bored with them, and the giant loveheart was pretty much the reason I rarely used the poo-brown case. My friend would be happy to lug around something with big-ass flowers, but I wanted something she'd still love when she was a mother and a little more responsible. I needed something a little more classic and elegant.

I settled on a border of flowers - an intricate border of flowers. This would be my hardest project as the flowers were intricate, on all sides and every flower needed at least two coats. It took me 2 nights to draw out in pencil and a few months to get the border design complete.

Finally I added her name in gold lettering, added 2 coats of varnish and there it was - a newly painted suitcase and my best creation yet.

(Click for a better look)

A few months ago while browsing a Salvation Army store I came across an old bowls bag. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it looked cool and I knew immediately I had to paint it. I bought it and took it home, where my flatmate enlightened me as to what it is.

At that point I knew it was for my mother.

This case was leather which was a medium I hadn't worked with before so I got my Google on and found out what the best way to approach this was. The first step was to clean the entire surface with sugar soap. After this, I cleaned up the latches and taped them up to ensure they didn't get covered in paint as the rest of the process evolved.

I discovered that the best way to make paint stick to the surface was to water down your paint and just layer it on. It took about a week and numerous coats to get the (white) undercoat done. I then started with what I originally thought the base coat was going to be. It was going to be forest green. A couple of weeks later I had a solid green case, ready for whatever detail I decided to add.

I experimented with a few different ideas, but nothing seemed right. Then one day I somehow stumbled across mixing purple with lime green to create this amazing aubergine colour. The forest green went out the window, finally I was onto a winner.

The aubergine got me a little excited. The bag had originally had two leather belts running around it (which unfortunately were in such bad condition I had to throw them out), but the loops they threaded through were still part of the bag. I thought it would be awesome to add deep red painted lines to look like straps.

I taped up the case to achieve this effect and added a quick white base-coat, followed by red. Unfortunately it turned out my 'red' could more accurately be described as 'bright pink'. It was horrific. I considered my problem and decided that what worked to create the aubergine colour could probably be repeated to create an acceptable colour for the straps. I added blue to the mix and suddenly it was a deep maroon and starting to look amazing again.

There was a few touch-ups to do to sharpen the detail after this, but ultimately I was beginning to look at my finished product, there was just two minor problems.

Firstly, the latches were rusted and looked like crap. I tried experimenting with remedies I found online but nothing actually worked. Secondly the 'straps' were there, but they didn't 'pop'.

The remedy to both problems turned out to be the same thing. I'd gone to buy some materials and while there I'd ended up buying a four-pack of metallic acrylic paint (because when I go shopping for art materials I always come home with a pile of cool stuff that I don't need). There was some metal detail on the case that had responded well to paint already so I figured I'd give it a try. I experimented with silver but settled on copper. I added the same colour to the other metal detail on the case and used it to border the 'straps'.

Suddenly I was looking at something sophisticated and beautiful that I am proud to put my name on and looking forward to giving to my mother. I think it's gorgeous, and in the process of this project I've found a wee hobby that I actually really enjoy. So now I'm on the hunt for the next bag or suitcase looking for a makeover.

(Click for a better look)