With Halloween creeping upon us, I wanted to try and make a spell book and decorate it using a mixed media art technique. Thanks in part to Harry Potter spell books have become very popular. And who would not want a cool spell book as part of their Halloween decorations?

The cool thing about this tutorial is that most crafters will already have most of these supplies at home.  So no big expense to make one of these Spell books.

How to make a spell book

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Prepare the book

Because you are not decorating the outside of the spell book any book with a hardcover book will work. The design of this spell book was created to stay open all the time.  You can paint the outside of the book with black gesso or acrylic paint to start.

To create the effect of the open book you can use mod podge and some bobby pins.

Start by dividing the pages into groups.  Books are made up of groups of pages bound together, you can use this as a guide. Place the bobby pins on the book to keep the pages together while the mod podge dries. Start at the bottom and add a thick layer of mod podge to the surface. Slightly lift the next layer and add more mod podge, repeat this until you have added mod podge to all the pages.

I found the pages kept falling flat again instead of standing up as I wanted.  To hold them in place while the glue dried, I used some Suran wrap over the pages.  This worked great.  Once the mod podge was dry, I added more mod podge over all the sides of the book. Once all the glue is dry you will no longer be able to close the book.

To add some more character to the pages on the front you can curl up the corners.  I added some more mod podge to the corners of the pages and wrapped them around a straw to get a curled shape.

Paint the book

Once all the mod podge is dry you paint the whole book black.  I used black gesso but acrylic paint should work just fine.

When you are painting the book, you will notice that the papers will become all wrinkled, this will add to the effect.

Making the spell book eye

To make the eye you can use a clear glass bead and some clay.   To add the detail to the eye I tried sharpie pens first, but this did not work very well.  Next, I tried nail polish and it worked perfectly.

You can have some fun at this stage.  I played around with the clay for a while before I was happy with the shape.  The great thing about polymer clay is you can keep reworking it until you are happy. I rolled the clay out using a rolling pin and cut it into long strips.  The eye was made up of long strips just shaped together around the glass bead. The hole shape around the eye was made using the end of a retractable pen.  So, you don’t need to buy any tools. To add some “stitches” to the eye I used some jewellery wire cut to size.

The snake was also polymer clay just rolled and shaped. It does look a little naff, but it will do.

Once you are happy with the designs you made with the polymer clay you have to bake it.  Mine had to be baked in the oven for 30 minutes. To get the yellow colour on the glass bead you can add some mod podge and yellow alcohol ink.

Resin moulds

To make the skulls and hands to decorate the book you can use silicone moulds.  If you don’t want to buy resin to use in the moulds hot glue works just as good.

Add the spells

I cheated on this step and bought the printables from Etsy for a few dollars. I printed them out and glued them to the pages.

Decorating the spell book

You can be creative here using the products you have available at home.  I used some metallic gold wax paste to highlight the black paint.  Dip your finger into the wax and rub it randomly over some of the surfaces.

When you add the gold wax try not to cover all the black or the effect will be lost.  All the embellishments were glued in place using some hot glue.

To add some extra creepiness to your Halloween decor you can add some of these skeleton characters. I ordered these from China last year but they were a lot bigger than I expected but they go great with the spellbook.

More Halloween Ideas

Halloween party wine glasses

Halloween-themed wine bottles

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