Friday, October 28, 2011

Full Sized Witchy Potions Cupboard

About a year or so ago I found a little decorative spice cupboard in a junk shop near my house.  The moment I saw it I knew that I wanted needed to turn it into a witchy potions cupboard for the lovely Knickertwist  Since then it has sat around my house awaiting an excuse to be built and sent to her.  Thankfully that excuse came up in the guise of the Back to Hogwarts Swap organized by pinkleo.  Sadly I can't seem to find the before pictures I took of the cupboard. 

[b]Edit: For size reference, the cabinet is 15" tall, and 12" wide, with the doors closed. (Thanks Knicker!) The shelf in the background is actually my mantle, and it is sitting on a bookshelf.

And a great big THANK YOU! to cackle and rackycoo for all their help and advice while making this project![/b]

Here's the outside of the finished cupboard. 


I used a wood burning tool to burn in the runes onto the front.  They read "It does not do to dwell on dreams, and forget to live."


The top also has a celestial pattern burned into it, and random wonky dots burned up and down the front.  After burning the outside of the cupboard, I re-sanded it, so the insides of the burned areas would be a little dusty.


The bottom also contains a small drawer that I filled with magical bits and bobs.  More about those later...

Here the doors open to reveal the ingredients inside...

Let's get a closer look at the top shelf.


We have a bottle of rose petals from a first love, a silver bell, a "Miracle Elixir of Life" patent medicine bottle from the 1880's (the purple one), a tiny basket containing vials of Scarab Beetle Eyes & Powdered Unicorn Horn...


a tiny Grimoire, and a silver chalice for serving up bubbling potions...


The Grimoire has notes, lists of magical items, and quite a few potion recipes, including this one for a Passion Philtre:

(Incidentally, these are all real recipes, safe for human consumption!  Most of the recipes are for homemade liquers.)

And the lower shelf... In the larger bottles we have Dragon Heartstring (variegated gold metallic yarn and variegated red ribbon crocheted together), dried Aconite, Blessing Seeds, Dried Doxy Eggs (lumpy dull brown potato pearls), and a bottle of Bezoars.


In the tiny bottles we have Pearled Phoenix Tears, Mugwort, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, Beetle Wings, and Sneezewort.



Inside the drawer we have a nearly empty spool of red thread, a tiny bundle of phoenix tail feathers, some rune dice, a golden key, a buckeye from my yard, a Nazar, and an amulet to protect a loved one.  They aren't pictured, but there are also two candles tucked in the drawer, one red and one white, for use in various spells.

So there you have it.  A full sized potions cupboard for my favorite witchy friend, Knickertwist.