A Witch's Box

Happy Halloween!
Enjoy the spirit in the season.

For my last Halloween project, I decorated a box. It's a box based on the Shakespeare witches in Macbeth. I assembled a box from Joggles.com and decoupaged the décor around the outside. This was a last minute thrown in project but I rather like it. It will become a storage box for some of my smaller Halloween embellishments. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep them all together after this year so I won't have so much searching to do next year!

For the top of the box, I just put on a 6 X 6 paper that I had in my stash. It actually already had the "double, double..." quote on it! I added some washi tape in a corner and another line from the scene. I added a knob on the top so the box would be easier to open as it isn't hinged. I just painted the wooden knob black.

Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog:  Each side of the box would represent the parts of the potion the witches are brewing. So the first side, the front side ended up like this.

Wool of Bat and Tongue of Dog: The dog's tongue is a colored piece of sticky back canvas that gives it a nice texture. I added black felt to the bat's inside belly to keep with the texture theme of this side.

Adder's Fork and Blind Worm's Sting:  I am not familiar with worms that sting but I thought a looping infinity symbol might work for these two elongated animals. I had to hand write this quote as the Tim Holtz sticker set I was using didn't have this line.

Lizard's Leg and howlet's wing:  I wasn't sure how different a lizard's leg was from the toe of a frog so I just rolled with it. Owls would lunch on lizard's legs so this seemed the only appropriate, accurate pairing of the two.

Thanks for joining me for Halloween 2018!
I hope you got some ideas or inspiration and enjoyed my projects. November will be some catching up on other projects that I've completed and maybe a few stray Halloween things that I simply couldn't resist making during the month of October like cards and such.

Please follow my Facebook page if you're a frequenter there to stay updated on this blog and my Etsy Store.
Please like and follow my Etsy Store if you like to see hand made things that you can buy.
Please follow/subscribe to my blog.
AND I have just dipped my toe into Instagram...please follow me over there, if that's more your bag. You can find me under "chocolatedragonpaper".

Once again, Happy Halloween!
Thanks for sharing my posts and reading the blog!
-Wy

The Wiccapedia

Halloween is about the only time of year I get the urge to do assemblage, or work in 3-D, like making boxes, vignettes, or other décor pieces.

I'm not sure what to do with them after I create them as I have limited display space. So if you haven't been to my Etsy Store, be sure to drop by as many of these artworks will be for sale.

This year I pulled out a Tim Holtz Configuration book. If you are unfamiliar with it, it is a hollow book/box with several compartments within. It is blank and made of a chipboard material. The compartments can be removed and re-configured. It was the number, shape, and size of these compartments that inspired my idea.

The Wiccapedia:   A spell book seemed too common place and I wasn't sure how to interpret that into a 3-D type medium. My idea came about as I was playing with the various configurations of the compartments in the book-box. I realized I generally had 4 "areas": large, medium, small, and 3 squares. I knew I wanted to add my witches into the large compartment with a woodland setting (very traditional). I thought about the many forms of "witches" beyond that traditional stereotype. After all, alchemists were practically witches, trying to turn iron to gold. And alchemists led into the modern day mad scientist who bends physical laws to defy nature. Of course, voodoo is just another language of witches, really, with curses and zombies. So this became the book. The 4 forms of a witch and what better title that the all-encompassing "Wiccapedia". I'll chime in a few details but enjoy the photos. It was challenging to get good ones with the weird reflections I was getting off of glass jars and such.

Since I didn't have enough letters to spell my title, I had to be a bit creative. Who doesn't want an eye staring out from the cover of their book? 

I also added a key and a little dangle pendent of amethyst that I have been holding for the perfect project. I painted the entire book/box black and then added highlights of Inka Gold (gold color). I also used this gold to color the "pages".

This is the configuration I settled on but it can be moved about on a whim. The pumpkin is a little too wide and it prevents the book from closing flat but I don't mind it. I'm not certain if at some point I will add something to the inside cover as I like it as it is. That paper reminds me of the inside of vintage books.
Here are the compartments:

The Witches:  (This one compartment is what I really wanted to make.) A couple of witches casting spells out in the woods late at night. Maybe they're waiting on the rest of their coven, or perhaps a tardy sister. Either way, they already have the cauldron boiling. A stray black cat seems to have taken an interest in their experiments. The pumpkin awaits a carving to light their way out of the woods. They hear the approach of footsteps. Is it their sister or some ambitious Scot?

The Mad Scientist:  In this day and age of fake news and fake science, I was hesitant to add him. Science is fact, truth, proof. But the mad scientist is indeed a sign of our times. He takes scientific fact proven by tested methods and twists them...perverts them to his own imaginative design. He mingles science with magic in hopes of greatness. He is a classic character of Halloween fright.

The Alchemist:  The three small boxes are the shelves of the Alchemist. His precious bottles of potions, ingredients, and various concoctions fill every nook and cranny. His books are old but cherished. He ponders the power of life through the eyes of his skulls and swears the spirits answer him when he questions his methods. Perhaps, he is getting close to his ultimate goal as his familiar frog guards his precious golden potion.

Voodoo Witch:  The only trace that the Voodoo Witch left behind was this doll full of pins. Hand sewn and frayed, who knows who this unfortunate soul is? One can only wonder where the last pin would have gone had the witch not been in a hurry to leave. No doubt she has a zombie or two to raise tonight.

Maybe it's best to shut the Wiccapedia for now. I wouldn't want too much to escape.

Have a great day!
Remember to join me every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday for the month of October to enjoy more Halloween projects!
-Wy
"Ride with the moon in the dead of night."

Treat Boxes

I believe I've mentioned my weakness for tins and boxes. I can't tell you why I originally bought this little set of 4 paper mache boxes or even if I did buy them. They may have been gifted to me. In any case, I decided they had sat in their package long enough.

I had some pumpkins sitting around and they fit just perfect on the lids. The two bright orange ones are plastic buttons and the others are chipboard. The chipboard was embossed with copper embossing powder.

I just used black Dylusions paint on two of them. I didn't bother with the inside. I attached the plastic buttons with multi medium then detailed them with Liquid pearls.

The other two boxes I gessoed first then painted with Dina Wakley acrylic. I added a touch of yellow paper behind the chipboard pumpkins to make the faces stand out a bit more. I just added rubber stamping details to those boxes. I used StazOn ink in purple and green. The circles were just an old Inkadinkado set. The flower was from a set from Rubber Stamp Tapestry. I really love their peg stamps to do backgrounds. These stamps are small enough to look really nice on such small projects.

These are cute little treat boxes. I hadn't thought of it at the time but if I had one more, I'd be able to have a set that matches that little poem/story, "Five Little Pumpkins". I may have to keep that in mind for next year!

Stay tuned for more Halloween projects!
-Wy
"Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate. The first one said, "My, it's getting late."

Coffin Box

I admit that I secretly have a "thing" for boxes, bottles, and tins. I am currently hoarding a few tins, several boxes, and a couple bottles in hopes that I'll alter them into amazing home decor pieces.

HA HA HA HA HA HA!

In October, though, my ambitions can become realities. I am always inspired by Halloween. My interest in assemblage was peaked last year at this time with several 3-D projects and I decided to keep to the tradition.

This project started as a wooden coffin hinged box that I bought at some big box craft store on sale. I intended to make it a non-functional box (as in, the thing would be filled with a scene) but I liked the idea of it being usable as a storage box. Where else would I look for my small Halloween embellishments?

I painted the box black with cheap acrylic paint. I didn't bother to gesso. I just used as much paint as needed to cover the bare wood. Once dry, I applied Inka Gold (black color) to it. This gives the outside a silvery metallic hue without compromising my deep black. (In other words, I wanted it to have a luster but not a sparkly feel to it. I was going for Bram Stoker Dracula not Twilight Vampire.)

My next decision was what to put under the ornate plate I was going to use on the lid. I thought about a name or a word but then I noticed that the space allowed a dimensional item. I remembered these eyes I had and fortunately, I put my hands on a pair of them without too much trouble. I glued a piece of paper to the coffin lid, lining it up so that the plate would fit over it. The eyes were glued to another piece of the same paper but cut smaller. In essence, I made a slider mechanism out of the plate and the eyes freely slide back and forth. As you can see in the above photos, the eyes are on the left then on the right. I tried to glue the plate to the lid but the plate wouldn't lay flat. So I poked a hole in the lid and attached the plate with two brads. The plate, along with the latch and hinges, were colored with black alcohol ink.

I only really finished off the inside with paper because I needed to cover the inside of the lid where the brads could be seen. I found a nice piece of paper with a skeleton that fit in the box. Since I wanted it to be a storage box, I didn't do anything else to the inside.

As a final touch, I added rhinestones and pearls along the outside of the lid. I just wanted to add a bit more detail out there. But honestly, I would have been ok without them. Because it was all about those eyes on the cover. I mean, I LOVE those.

Join me every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday in October for more Halloween projects!
-Wy