Ryan @bostonblythe and Amber @amberblythelife are hosting a 13 Nights of Blytheoween Photo Challenge on Instagram starting October 19!! I'm looking forward to seeing photos from participants so much. Unforch I lack spooky or witchy doll clothes, sooomehow! So I'm still ruminating on how I can fulfil a photo prompt featuring a doll. But in the meantime, it really put me in the mood to set up a witchy shelf with some of my miniatures!
The doll shelves I do have are very modern-looking and plastic or metal, and I wanted something more natural. So I got this miniature shelf kit from Michael's with the intention to give it a super dirty, distressed, disgusting paint job! I had so much fun doing this that even as I sat there at our dining room table daubing on paint recklessly, I said out loud, "Oh, I'm having so much fun!" I did a basic brown coat, then began to layer up a few successively darker washes in the corners of each shelf.
I was thinking, "Okay, this shelf exists in a witch's basement and over the years it has held bottles and baskets of various grotesque spell ingredients and such!" I really pushed for it to even sort of look like it might be growing some black mold, haha.
I really see why YouTubers like to weather and distress stuff. It's easy and the payoff is really satisfying!
Here's a couple more pictures of my paint job in normal daylight. As you can see, I also left out one of the shelves so there would be a large compartment to display some of the slightly bigger miniatures I have.
Also, as you can see thanks to this pic of Zasha next to the shelf, the scale is a little small and odd. It's 1:10, whereas most miniatures are 1:12 or 1:6. That's okay! But I do think the scale is odd next to a Blythe!
Now some notes about what's on these witchy shelves!
tippy-top of the shelf: a couple of hefty cork bottles; a little wicker basket that I also distressed up with some dark dry-brushing which contains a couple of corked potion bottles; a star-shaped potion with star-shaped glitter inside; a little wooden crate full of plant books; a crystal with a star charm wrapped around it; a teeny-tiny tarot card (The Tower, shudder); key-shaped charms on a jump ring that make a little ring of keys to goodness only knows what!
The hefty glass bottles are miniatures from the Dollar Tree! They are actually Halloween miniatures! The labels say things like "wool of bat." I foolishly covered them too well in these pics. The scale is a little large but that's totally okay.
big compartment of shelf: a couple of corked bottles (one with a skull on it, one that says "witch's brew"); a cactus sitting on a couple of plant books; a mortar and pestle; a crystal ball (that's opaque plastic instead of crystal -- I'd prefer a glass or clear plastic one); a tall hourglass that's a charm from the jewelry section of the craft store; a gold moon charm; a fortune-telling board with its planchette; two more teeny-tiny tarot cards (The Star and the Ten of Swords).
third shelf: a wooden bowl (for lack of a cauldron, really); two witchy books (a book of spells and one called "Night Creatures"); a clay mushroom I made eons ago; a couple of handmade books; a spade and trowel from a gardening set. I think a witchy girl's gotta dig up mushrooms and herbs sometimes!
fourth shelf: lots of "potion" bottles (they're from gardening-themed miniature sets, mostly, so the front label often says "seeds" or "lilacs" or whatever; I just turned them around); a couple of kitchen canisters for depth; another clay mushroom I made; a little pair of scissors. So useful.
on the floor: a trick-or-treat jack o'lantern that I also distressed with a dark wash of paint; two more of those chonky jars from the Dollar Tree tucked discreetly under the shelf; a charm of some butterflies in a frame (again from the jewelry section); another distressed wicker basket with some virtually hidden things in it (root beer bottles, lettuce, a charm shaped like a saw; a tiny garden gnome mini because why not; a small glass mushroom bead.
I think it's all quite practical, speaking of a witch who gathers from nature and does a lot of divination work!
I really enjoyed this entire project! Distressing the shelf and some of my miniatures was really fun and not just using miniatures, but charms from jewelry-making sets and beads and things I made so long ago. I also had fun tinting these pictures with one of those sunset lamps -- I used the purple setting.
Miniatures I think would really add a lot to my witchy collection: a cauldron; a crystal ball that resembles crystal; some small candles; something that resembles dried herbs!
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