Breaking Bad Shrine

Happy Saturday, everyone. I am a huge fan of the show Breaking Bad, which is consistently towards the top of many best-TV-shows-ever lists. One of the most iconic scenes from the series was the kick off of season 3. You know - the one with the cousins...and the crawling? I did a little bit of research on the amazing shrine featured in this scene and learned it's a Santa Muerte shrine. She is a Mexican folk saint associated with healing, protection and safe delivery to the afterlife.   I made my own version using a GSL Frame Front Room Box available at Alpha Stamps.

 

The papers I chose were all neutrals from Tim Holtz Ideaology pads. I chose a mixture of browns, tans and greens for this project. To dress the dollar store skeleton, I used a scrap of black fabric and a small piece of a vintage fabric collar. They were glued onto the skeleton using E6000, along with a small length of chain with a rhinestone medallion attached and a crown for her head. I used a small plastic frame to back the skeleton. Before dressing her, I painted the parts of the skeleton that wouldn't be covered in a light gray acrylic paint.

 

I chose to glue down the interior wall papers before assembly, as well as the frame. The room box assembles very easily as it's just a box with a frame for the front wall. I glued the back, side walls, ceiling and floor together with tacky glue and held it tightly together with rubber bands while it dried. I left the frame front off until the interior was completely decorated. 

 

One of the items I chose to put inside the shrine was a GSL Mini Cigar Box also available at Alpha Stamps. I also wanted a tray and some shelf boxes to hang on the walls, those were made from mini suitcases. I used both the GSL 2 Inch and GSL 1.6 Inch suitcases for this project. The cigar box was decorated with some miniature printables and the suitcase pieces were painted in a raw sienna acrylic paint. 

 

For the walls, I chose two of the GSLGothic Cross Miniatures. One was painted in gold acrylic paint, the other in silver. 

 

Here are the boxes filled with offerings. Miniature money, dice, bread, printed vintage photos and correspondence, as well as a business card from a very shady lawyer and a little resin bottle of Schraderbrau.

 

Here is everything in place. I made the prayer candles from small jars, polymer clay and printed Santa Muerte images. 

 

Here are some of the Breaking Bad items I included in this piece. The teddy bear head was made from pom poms, a googly eye and a small piece of felt. The larger jar holds a plastic spider.  The smaller one has blue tinted plastic bits inside.

 

The exterior of the box was covered in muted green paper. Since I had a battery operated tea light on top, I needed something to cover it and decided to cover a small tin in matching paper. I put the Br & Ba periodic table symbols on one side of the tin. It's easily rotated so that it doesn't show if desired.

 

Here are a few extra views of the piece. 

Thanks for stopping by!

GSL Products Used

Frame Front Room Box

Mini Cigar Box Set

Gothic Cross Miniatures

Suitcase 2 Inch

Suitcase 1.6 Inch

Other Supplies Used

Tacky glue

E6000 glue

Acrylic paint

Printed images

Plastic skeleton

Resin bottles

Tea light

Small tin

Various mini bits and baubles