Dungeons & Dragons Faux Book Box

Dungeons & Dragons Faux Book Box

Jess here today with a geeky installment for GSLC. I've created something specifically for use in roleplaying games (Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Savage World, etc.). I'm using the Faux Book Box from GSLC.

As this book box will be opened and closed frequently, I used black duct tape for the hinge on the box. Black is easier to hide than other colours would be.

On the inner side, I cut it in half and tucked it down here to hold better.

I printed off a symbol I wanted to use on the front of the box - in this case I've used the dragon ampersand symbol from Dungeons & Dragons. I thought it was fitting.

I took my small glue gun and filled in all the areas with hot glue - this was time intensive. Don't expect it to look as flat and "pretty" as it would if you were using clay or something akin to it. The hot glue dries really quickly, and you can only go so fast as you're filling in. What I ended up doing was adding texture on top of the base glue, to purposefully give it a more "worn" look.

I tore away the paper underneath, using water when needed (it won't affect the glue, just the paper). 

Then I covered the hot glue symbol in a layer of gesso and let it dry before painting it with two coats of red paint.

Then I made a mixture of white glue and water (about 1:1 ratio) to start on the textures for the book box.

Using some old Halloween tissue paper, I crumbled it up and then pressed my glue mixture underneath and on top of it to make sure it's held down well.

I also cut 4 triangles out of a cereal box to put in the four corners of the top of the box. 

I applied the tissue over every part of the outside of the box.

For anything sticking out over the sides, I used a simple nail file from the dollar store to sand down the paper on the edges, making it neat and tidy. I painted the entire box black and then once that was dry, finished it of with green and red paint.

I added some texture paste to make this part look more like pages and then drew rough lines with the end of my paint brush in the paste to imitate the pages. 

The finished book!

I put some cardstock (scrapbooking paper) inside to make it pretty.

Once finished, there's enough room for my book, pen and dice bag. You can also roll your dice right in the box itself to keep them contained.

Materials:

Faux Book Box Large

Halloween Angel of Death

Hello crafters and lovers of laser cuts, it's Jess here (yes, I'm back!) with a Halloween inspired project for you - a tall shrine for a skeletal (spooooky) Angel of Death! 

I put together the Shrine Grotto with white glue and then attached Gothic Border to the top with hot glue.

I used the Wrought Iron pieces on the front, back and sides of the Grotto to add texture.

I then put down a layer of white glue and sprinkled blue glitter all over the top, and sides inside the grotto. I painted the rest of the Grotto black, and dry brushed with silver paint.

I added moss to the top and bottom of the Grotto.

I bought a small skeleton from Michaels and added some wings from Wings Assortment (I painted them black and dry brushed an antique white over top)

Some pumpkins from Alpha Stamps complete the top of scene.

And a tiny skull face for extra detail.

On the back and sides I took a paint pen and drew some lines to go along with the shape.

Happy Halloween, all!

Materials Used:

Shrine Grotto

Gothic Border 6 Inch

Wrought Iron Miniatures

wings assortment

The Throne Room

Goodmorrow fellow crafters, Jess here today with a throne room project for you!

To begin with, we need to build the display, and as usual I`m using both 1/2 inch and 1 inch thick insulation foam. The 1 inch thick for the base and the 1/2 inch for the back. I'm not really measuring here, just sort of eyeballing based on what I want to include on the display. Make sure you're using a sharp box cutter/utility knife or you'll get pilling when you cut.

Here's the two on top of each other so you can see the difference. Mine didn't cut perfectly, which is fine, because I'll be covering it in balsa wood - no worries!

I use very thin balsa wood that's 1 inch so I can cut it with scissors easily and then just hot glue it down with a low-temp glue gun (always low temp when working with foam) Then just sand the edges to make it soft and pretty.

Then I used a burnt umber paint to paint the balsa wood, covered sparingly to mimic a stain.

I cut some small-print scrapbook paper  for the wallpaper and used a glue stick to fix it to the foam.

Then I base coated my GSLC products in black - shown here is my Cathedral Frame, but I also base coated my throne.

I'm in the habit of saving clear product packaging for crafting projects, so I cut off a piece (really hard to take a picture of, so I hope you can see it here)

And then I cut some jagged pieces to stick into the Cathedral Frame.

I line them up to make sure I've got enough pieces.

I sort of messy painted/dry brushed the outer piece in a blue-green colour (and copied the same effect on the throne)

I painted the product packaging pieces in a layer of silver paint.

And then they fit nicely in here! I glued them all down, and affixed everything to the display. Check out below for the finished display!

Materials

Cathedral Frame

Fancy Throne (coming soon!)

The Dark Parlour

Goodmorrow fellow crafters! Jess here today with a miniature tutorial on how I created The Dark Parlour. I've combined GSLC's Gothic Dresser and the Fancy Chair to create this scene.

I apply white PVA glue to the back of the mirror piece of the dresser to stick the aluminum foil to. I tried to get the foil to stay as flat as possible, but you can go for a more crinkle effect - it's not going to give you much of a reflection either way, so it's really up to your own ideals.

Instead of cutting the foil with scissors, just use your fingers - it pushes off around the edges so much easier.

Then I base coated every other piece in black.

I took some 1/2 inch pink insulation foam for the back and some 1 inch insulation foam for the base to create the display.

I used 1 inch balsa wood to surround and top the base for a wood floor - its wonderful to sand and I used my sanding block for it - go nice and easy as it's easy to over sand.

I used burnt umber paint to paint the balsa wood. I painted sparsely and it looks more like a stained wood that way. 

I used a nice damask scrapbook paper as the wallpaper and affixed it with a gluestick. 

For the chipboard pieces, I covered them with white PVA glue and then immediately covered them with the paint of my choice to create my crackle effect.

I used a really nice bright turquoise blue which I normally absolutely love, but I wasn't feeling it this time, so I hummed and hawed about what to do - and the time of the unsure crafter occurred. 

So I took some cheap gold paint from the dollar store and painted one coat over top and it was miraculously the cure. I don't know why I did it, but it worked and it looked good against the damask wallpaper and the blue still showed through and I was happy.

Then I took a baby wipe and cut a strip to go on the dresser as a decoration.

Added pointed ends, I painted it and glued it to the top of the dresser.

Then I took some dollhouse bricks and painted them green to use as handles for the dresser.

Final pictures below:

Materials
Gothic Dresser
Fancy Chair 1:12 Scale