Hi All,
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here but with TheMistressT’s encouragement I thought I’d come out of hibernation to post the Halloween diorama that I made while she and I worked through that awesome Tim Holtz class (free on YouTube) she links in her Witch’s Apothecary Diorama post. As Tara mentions, we mostly worked from our stash to create these pieces, which was a fun challenge - and I learned some new techniques from the class. It was fun to work together/apart and be able to chat and see what we were each up to in real time.
Without further adieu, here’s what I made.
This started out as a plain, craft-store pine box shelfy thing. I did a quick and dirty dry brush with acrylic paints of grey, brown and black on the sides and back, and a quick dry brush with your garden variety of Halloween colors on the interior of each section, grey, green, purple & orange, but just enough so that you could still see the wood grain. I stained the dividers of the box with a Minwax stain pen.
Mr. Skelly gets the tall spot, he fit perfect. In the rear of his space, I inserted an ink blended moon mask with some stenciled bats and die cut trees (this was a test version of some bookmarks I made for a swap I participated recently, and I didn’t want to waste it). I also gave him a hasty dry brushing with antique medium to make him less plasticky, then added some shrubbery around his feetsies.
In the next column, I added another little shelf and made a few little books per the instructions in the video (at the 2:41:33 mark in the video), and a couple of scrolls aged a tiny bit with Distress Oxide, same as the books. Under that, some wee jars of magical ingredients and an “iron nail” - a witchy essential. The bottom box was an experiment that came out pretty well! I made & distressed some candle diecuts, then made a small candle grouping with birthday candles. Tried to distress these too, but wax and ink don’t take all that well. I used Grit Paste in Crypt to make the candles appear to be sitting on stone.
In the next column, I went with a little Cats Under The Stars homage with a bit of a Blair Witch twist. There are black cat die cuts adhered to the back and sides of that little box, can ya see em? Lastly, a small piece of pyrite from my crystal collection to ground the box.
Then, my little cauldron & bubbles - a generous gift from TheMistressT - I crumpled up some tin foil doused with bright green metallic shimmer spray, then glued the bubbles in with Glossy Accents. I am really pleased how that green foil translated into green bubbles - so fun! In the bottom box, which isn’t very visible I made a headstone out of Fimo (in 2013 - that headstone has been in my stash a looong time!), and decorated it with a circle shaped jewelry finding and a little black skull, which is actually a piece of candy from a cake decorating kit (better picture below). As in some of the other boxes, I added some deer moss for creep factor, and some aged (with paint) plastic bones.
In the last column, a pumpkin, natch. You can’t have a Halloween diorama without at least one pumpkin. I distressed it a bit to make it less styrofoamy, and added a fabric leaf and a twisty little vine. In the box below that is my favorite make of this diorama, a tiny witch hat. I’ve made a fair few witches hats, but this was by far the smallest - it barely fits on my fingertip! I made a hat stand out of an old golf tee that I painted purple and perched it on another little book I made.
I stitched this hat from 100% black wool from my stash and embellished with some bakers twine, teeny diecut felt flowers & leaves, sparkly bits and a paper fern. I gave it it’s shape by inserting some twisted up tinfoil and bending it into submission. I love this darn little hat!
In the last box, I made a crystal ball with the largest of the leftover cauldron bubbles and made a plinth out of an old brass thimble that I dry brushed with a little paint to give it a purplish tone and added another little crystal from my collection, this time a locally found clear quartz point. Also added here are a small golden paper diecut and a glittery purple spider to create a bit more sparkle and light in that corner of the box.
Here’s a better picture of the bottom row including the headstone.
This was a really fun project, I love making things with tiny details, and I loved crafting with my friend!
Wishing you all a spooky Halloween!
Lisa
Oh, looky here! Your great craft is one of this week’s Featured Projects! Congrats! 