Pick your #Cre8time POISON... or PASSION by Isabel Villarreal

Hello Amazing Crafters. Welcome to Mold Rubber Monday! Isabel here today to share a tutorial with you on how I created my new Gothic Poison Case using Amazing Mold Rubber.

   

A couple years ago I found this great hollow book safe made from wood and since then it's been sitting on my bookshelf blending so well that I sort of forgot about it until I decided to do some cleaning. Once I rediscovered this book I didn't want to let it go so I figured I would turn it into something I've wanted for a very long time. I came across an illustration of a Victorian poison case while doing an internet search and the image stuck in my memory, so it's time to get it out of my head and make it a reality, using this hollow book safe to keep some not so savory things inside.

    

    

I started with hand sculpted skulls and cast resin skeleton pieces I made in a previous post and some branch and twig impressions, also from a previous post. I'll be using these in a whole new way for this project. These will be used to help me make some more complex parts for the box interior and also to decorate the inside cover. Larger pieces were molded using Amazing Mold Putty and the smaller, more detailed pieces were molded with Amazing Mold Rubber. I used Amazing Casting Resin for the skeleton parts and the shrubbery since I'll be painting these.

I used recycled advertising flyers to build 3 sides and a front for some small drawers I would be using inside the poison case. A coat of Mod Podge® was added all around each piece so I would have an easier time removing them from the molds once they were cast. The small skulls were then glued onto the drawer fronts to be used as drawer pulls. Next was mixing some Amazing Mold Rubber to create my flexible molds so I could easily cast as many of these parts as I would need {CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}. You can see here that my molds cured nicely and now it's time to start having fun with casting them in resin.

To create the drawers that would go inside my poison case I mixed up Amazing Clear Cast Resin and added some Alumilite Yellow, Brown and Red Dyes to create a tortoise shell look for the pieces. I made the drawer fronts a slightly darker shade by adding a little more Red dye.

You can see the two shades of tortoise shell I mixed for the drawers and the fronts. At the same time, I cast a couple of extra details that would go into decorating my poison case.

Here are the results. The drawer fronts will now have to be glued to the boxes in order to make a complete drawer. Since my rubber molds could only hold the works for 2 drawers I would have to cast a few sets of each. I made a few of these and had pretty good luck mixing up the colors so they all looked about the same. I'm not sure if you can see the finer details, but the finished pieces have a realistic swirling pattern that actually looks like real tortoise shell coloring. Because of the Mod Podge®, the drawer fronts also have a bit of fine surface texture giving each piece a hand cut feel instead of looking like a modern casting. To assemble the drawers I used a thin line of E6000® around the sides and bottom edge of the drawer front then pressed it onto the three sided box.

I did a little more molding with Amazing Mold Rubber and resin casting to create some handy poison vials and a cylinder for mixing deadly concoctions. The original vial is glass and used to hold body glitter. Each vial was cast using a different color Alumilite Dye with Amazing Clear Cast Resin for the body. I added a touch of Alumilite Gunmetal Metallic Powder to the top of each lid in order to give them an aged look.

    

While I was waiting for all my poured resin to cure I got to work on the inside and outside cover of the newly re-purposed hollow book. I used burlap and silk to line the inside spaces and a nice leather weave for the outside cover. Several measurements and tracings later I had the fabric pieces ready to line my poison case. Since the inside already had a layer of velveteen I just used a brush to lay an even layer of fabric glue on the entire inside surface area and pressed the pre-cut fabric into place. The leather cover is held in place with E6000® around all edges.

This design called for some sort of framework for the drawers and vials I was casting. This is where my multi-talented boyfriend stepped in and rocked my world by saving me time and making a frame from balsa wood. It's my firm belief that it's okay to have your handy significant other help you craft whenever possible. And it guarantees I won't be using the contents of this case on him ;)

I used the various cast skeleton and shrubbery pieces to create an eerie scene for the inside cover as a dark introduction to the deadly contents. 

The wood frame fit amazingly well and all details are now put together to create my very own Gothic Poison Case – complete with poison vials and working drawers to store dark secrets. Amazing Mold Rubber and Amazing Crafting Products have helped me create my very own custom handmade poison case. I'll be displaying it year round, but I love that it's done just in time to use it as decor for Halloween.

What custom Halloween decor

will you be making

with Amazing Mold Rubber?

I'd love to see what you create! Please upload and share your creations to the

User GALLERY on the Amazing Mold Putty Website for all the world to see.

~ Isabel Villarreal

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