Macbeth Witches Cauldron

Hello everyone!   I am so excited to share this Macbeth inspired witches cauldron with you today!!  I have worked on this for the past 3 weeks now and have FINALLY finished it!!  The original inspiration for this project came from Grungy Monday as the challenge was to use Tim Holtz fragments.  This was another first for me, and once again I’ve found a new Tim technique and product to LOVE!!  Thanks again to Linda Ledbetter for another fabulous challenge and yet another Tim technique to put under my belt   Check out Tim’s Blog to see even more fun ways to use fragments.  I

was inspired to go make  Halloween themed fragment charms in the hopes of participating in a Halloween charm swap.  Unfortunately, this project took on a life of its own and the custom charms became like a litter of black cats, too young to leave their “Mummy”…get it?  Ok, Ok enough silly Halloween humor…let the be-witching begin!

Toil is right I have “toiled” with this project for the past three weeks now, but as always, when I put extra effort into a project I’m thrilled with the end result.  How cute is that cauldron?  As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to fill it with the 3 Witches inspired charms….I rationalized myself into thinking that the custom charms would not have made sense without the complete set.  So they are mine ALL MINE *insert creepy cackle*  Mwaaa ha ha! (Some ingredients are missing from the original Shakespeare poem…I ommitted the morbid ones to keep it PG)

The wire sculptures were created to look like steam coming up from the witches cauldron with the “Charming ingredients” dangling from them.  The charms were backed with metal colored with Alcohol inks and embossed with a Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folder…”Patchwork”.

The metal backing was inspired by Christie Hund’s fabulous Charm Making tutorial.  Thanks Christie!  Definitely stop by Christie’s blog to see her lovely creations.  Wow color me metallic I got Heavy with the metal for this project!  I guess that means it’s perfect for the show some metal challenge at Inspiration Emporium.

Don’t you just love the look of Alcohol ink on metal?  I’m so glad I snapped this shot before I had to cut it up…I’m also glad I finally purchased a pair of Tonic scissors to cut with…those bad boys will cut through ANYTHING!

Here are some close-ups of the individual charms….I’m about to get photo heavy on you but I just have to show all the details…enjoy!

I didn’t have glossy accents only crackle accents on hand.  Although it took longer to dry I am quite pleased with the aged look the crackle accents gave….almost like a tumbled glass effect.

There is a vintage dictionary cut out that reads “cauldron” here which is not really visible in the photo but doesn’t this one look like a piece of altered sea glass?

Putting my Sandy Lion stickers that I’ve saved since the fourth grade to good use.

 

 

I put real wool on this bat…just to make it official.

 

Tattoo magazines were used to make several layers of snake transparencies and of course a courtly check “fork” from the Mackenzie Child’s catalog.

 

Finally found a use for that outdated almanac I bought the other day…I just knew it would come in handy!

Here it is again.

This one’s my fave!

See the wolf skull transparency over the teeth?

I know it’s hard to see but the background is a snippet from Tim Holtz seasonal Paper Stash with and image of a witch and mummy.  The transparent overlay is a diagram of the internal organs.  I had to google “Maw & Gulf” and discovered that Maw is the throat and Gulf the stomach…thought this image was just perfect for that!!  Oh yeah and witches mummy was an ancient remedy of the time period.

Don’t you just love making something and learning to boot?  I learned a lot on this project and I couldn’t be happier with it!  Not that I needed another Halloween decoration but since when has that mattered?   Nothing comes between me and my favorite holiday!!  The witch is definitely in this season and she’s  brewing up a hell broth!!  So riddle me this my Halloween loving friends, what’s your favorite ingredient?

Have a bewitching weekend!  Hope you have a chance to make something spooky too!

Amy*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tagged as: Alcohol Ink, Charms, Holiday Crafts, Tim Holtz technique