A new chest finished

Remember when I made that vampire hunting chest kit?  Well, one was not enough, so I had to make another.  Bigger and better!

I bought a Dragonfly trunk kit a long time ago.  It was supposed to be something like this:

Stock photo

 

But it turned out to be very small for what I wanted to do with it; after all, it was supposed to be a doll trunk, so I turned it into another vampire hunting chest:

It was a project that I had postponed for a very long time.  I am happy to have finally finished it.  Here are some pics of the making process.

This is the new, opened kit:

 

I started by assembling the two boxes that would make the main body of the trunk, and then staining them with brown ink:

After that, I covered the inside with red velvet paper:

Then I assembled the drawers, stained them, covered the inside and put them in place:

Then I started getting together what was going to be put inside.  I chose a cross and a couple of candles for one of the trunk sides, and a hand mirror, a bible and wooden stakes for the other:

 

Next, to cover the outside with a faux leather finish.  A black faux leather was included with the set, but it was 1 mm too short to use (a pity, I really liked it!), so I used the same faux snake skin I used in the folders for the maps cabinet:

And then I put the gold embelishments: hinges, corners, locks, handle and the keyhole.  Everything is from Bindels Ornaments, except the locks:

 

 I absolutely love the locks!  They even have a mobile part that latches into the other piece.  I got them in one of Tom Bishop's shows.  And then I put some extra stuff in the drawers.  A necklace with a cross, and a bottle of holy water.  The mallet I made from polymer clay a long time ago for the other chest, but it looks way better in this one:

And voilà!

 I hope you like it as much as I do :)

Vampire hunting kit for my dollhouse

Remember that project that I wanted to start with a chest box that I bought?  Well, it is almost finished, but I could not wait to share some pictures of it and to talk about what the project entailed.

I wanted to do a vampire hunter kit to display in Kassandra's shop.  I had seen some of these kits for sale, but the ones that I liked were really out of my budget.  So, I decided to try and make my own.

So I bought this box:

I had seen some kits that were made into a suitcase or a trunk, and they were absolutely gorgeous.  But I though "If someone is running or galloping after a vampire he or she needs something portable that could be carried without too much effort, like a small box".  So I chose this box that was, maybe, the size of a jewelry box or small chest.

The first thing I did was strip the box of everything it had inside:

Then, I took red "suede" paper like the one it had, took measurements and cut some pieces to redo the inside:

And then, I started making everything a vampire hunter may need.  First, a bible.  I made it by cutting small pieces of wood for the pages, and covering them with a nice vintage-looking paper cover.  I also painted the wood with golden paint, to imitate gilded pages:

Then I purchased some crosses and a silver dagger, and attached everything to the lid of the box with suede paper strips:

I knew I needed a very small glass bottle for the "Holy Water" - my usual apothecary glass bottles would not do. I had the opportunity of buying a very cute bottle at one of Tom Bishop's shows:

After that came a long hiatus of work and the move to the new home, so I was too busy with life things.  Today I retook the vampire hunter project after finally knowing how I wanted to continue. I cut a couple of pieces of plywood to redo the box compartments:

Then I covered the pieces with the red suede paper:

Next, stakes!  I took decorated toothpics, cut them to fit the box and filed the end to a point with the help of a blade. Then I used regular acrylic ink to paint them:

Next step, parchments rolls.  I simply took my parchment paper, cut a couple of strips, rolled them and tied them with black cord:

And finally!  My cute glass bottle!  I made a label saying "Holy Water", printed it on the parchment paper and attached it to the bottle.  And this is how the box looks now:

I still need to do a mallet and a garlic from polymer clay.  But I probably need to buy some new blocks for that - mine were rather unworkable.  I am so happy how well turned out!

I will post more pics when I do the mallet and the garlic.  I hope you enjoy this post.  I certainly did, both doing the project and writing about it!

UPDATE: This is awesome!  You want your own life-sized, portable vampire hunting kit?  Check these out!  Oh, one day one of these will be mine...