How To Make A Halloween Spellbook
"Thanks in part to Harry Potter and now Halloween spellbooks have become very popular. Who would not love this creepy spellbook as part of there Halloween decorations? I gave this recycled book a mixed media makeover, but there are many ways to decorate your book. I will show you how to make the book and how I decorated this one. I used polymer clay to make the embellishments. This tutorial will break it down to show you how easy it was to make."
Primary TechniqueMixed Media
Instructions
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For this project, any book will do because we are only using the pages. The way I made this book does not allow the book to close. So you don't need to decorate the covers. If you are going to have to book standing up at an angle, it would look better with the cover painted black.
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To glue the pages into shape you will need some mod podge and some bobby pins.
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Divide the book into sections and add a bobby pin to keep the pages together. Books are bound in sections so this will help you dived the book equally. Leave a couple of pages loose on the top of each side to add some detail.
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Add a layer of mod podge to the ends of the book. Move each layer into the centre of the book slightly, so the ends are staggered. Mine would not stay in place, so I used some saran warp to hold them in place while the mod podge dried a little. Once the pages start to hold on their own, you can remove the plastic so the mod podge can dry properly. Next, add some mod podge to the sides of the book to hold them in place.
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The pages that you left loose in the beginning can now be curled. You can do this in any way that suits. I added some mod podge to the corners and rolled them around a straw, then pulled the straw out .
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This will leave you with curled up corners. When the mod podge is completely dry, you can paint the book black with whatever paint you have at home. I like gesso because it has good coverage.
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To make the creepy eye, I used polymer clay. The clay was rolled into snakes and shapes around a glass bead to form the eye. The circles in the clay were made using a pen with the tip clicked inside.
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My snake left a lot to be desired, but it is close enough.
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Because I wanted this to be a quick project I bought the printable's from Etsy for a few dollars. Which I printed off and glued into my spell book.
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The other elements were made using silicone moulds and a hot glue gun. I would normally use resin, but hot glue dries in minutes so it was no competition
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To make the pages look old and creepy, I used some gold wax paste. You dip your finger in the paste and rub it over the surface of the book and the embellishments.