Darth Vader Painted Purse

I am a self-proclaimed Star Wars fanatic. As part of my fanaticism, I have been collecting and drawing Star Wars characters on upcycled purses I have found at either the flea market or second-hand stores.

Once again, I purchased a black purse at a flea market that appeared to be the *perfect thing* to draw an outlined-style Darth Vader on the purse.

I've colored a purse before using Sharpie Permanent Markers and I posted that on Instructables, titled Yoda Purse - Upcycled It Is.

What's different about this project is that I used Sharpie Oil-Based Medium Point Paint Markers that I picked up at a local hardware store. I was looking for a "white" marker and found these useful paint markers that I know I will be using for years to come.

The project took me less than two hours to do, and if I were to do it over again, I would use a silver paint marker rather than the white. Oh well. I like it and I really hope someone starts making these unique purses to sell to others!

I purchased the purse at the flea market for three dollars ($3.00.)

It does not appear to be real leather, and I recognized the label in the bag when I bought it. The purse had a couple marks on the outside and a few marks on the inside, but other than that, it was in very good condition and appeared that it hadn't been used in a while (deduced from the stiff creases in the outside of the purse material.)

As stated in the Intro, I used Sharpie Oil-Based Medium Point Paint Markers to paint the Darth Vader picture on the purse.

There were a couple marks on the bottom of the purse, that appeared to be some sort of paint.

As I stated in the first step, it did not appear that the purse was 'real' leather, although this purse really looked like it could have been. With one wipe of a cleaner wipe (the kind used for kitchen messes) I knew the material would be able to stand the wetness from a water-based cleaning.

I cleaned both the inside and the outside using chemical cleaners and paper towels, and waited a day to actually work on the purse (but I don't think that was necessary.)

I'm a Pinterest junky so I looked to Pinterest first to find a 'Darth Vader coloring page' to use as my outline.

If you're on Pinterest and love Jedi-things, I have a board called "All Things Jedi" if you're into that kind of thing.

I chose the particular picture because it was simple. In order to re-draw the picture on the purse, I wanted as few lines as possible, and still make the Darth Vader look like Darth Vader on the purse. I also considered using a pumpkin stencil, but liked the look of the mouth piece on the picture I chose.

I printed out a page from AZColoring. I ended up printing the size of the page in the link but didn't use it. I increased the size by pasting it into a Word document and increasing the size of the picture on the page to get it to fit onto the purse.

I also chose to cut around the outside of the Darth Vader picture, so that I could trace it to get the details put inside the outline.

I had an 6-inch by 8-inch notepad on my desk that I used to put inside the purse to stiffen it up. I was having a hard time keeping the purse from folding onto itself so I used what I had available to ensure the marks would be placed where I wanted them.

Although I'm sure I would have fumbled my way through the painting process without this step, it certainly helped that the cardboard backed notepad fit inside the purse.

As I stated in the intro, if I were to do this over again, I would have used the silver paint marker. I used the white paint marker to draw the majority of the picture.

I cut out the picture and traced around it to get the outside shape of the Darth Vader silhouette.

So for this step, I hand drew the details of the picture onto the purse.

Just using common sense, I started from the top and worked my way down the mask, trying to get the size of the various attributes of the simple picture I chose.

I matched up the lines on the side of the helmet with the edges of the original outline.

The eye-holes were the most important part to me, and I didn't get them lined up the way I wanted to. I realize they don't match on each side, but I know that I drew it free-hand and that's the risk I took. I know I could always try to cover it up with a leather paint or even a black sharpie to make it look more even, but the look of it is growing on me and my purse is original.

The last photo in this step shows the original picture and the one I drew on the purse.

I have a model Darth Vader helmet that I got from Disneyland that I used to look at to determine where I could put shading using the silver marker.

I saw a few pictures on Pinterest that also have the grill for the mouth piece colored in, but I left that open with the black showing through, for now.

I chose to color in the nose area and the circular pieces that fall on the side of the mouthpiece.

I like the simplicity of the drawing. The tubes leading up to the mouthpiece are my favorite part and the eye-hole looks like the mask on the purse is showing personality.

This is what I've done. I really hope it inspires you to re-use or upcycle a purse to give as a gift or for yourself with your own masterpiece.

Thanks for reading!