I thought I would upload a few pictures and a brief "how I did it," as I unfortunately did not have time for a full build thread. Hopefully, it will serve as inspiration to anyone who has wanted to build one of these guaranteed conversation-starters!
I leaned heavily on the VKK section of How to Haunt Your House, book 3:
http://www.howtohauntyourhouse.com/
and this very complete reference site on VKK's
http://spookylandcrypt.webs.com/kits.html
as well as threads on the rpf.
I started with a vintage lap desk from ebay. It had a terribly torn up leatherette cover but a very nicely preserved silk and leatherette and shellac interior and a broken lock but very nice hinges and handle with a genuine patina. I removed all the covering and hardware, sanded the box inside and out, finished it with black cherry stain and a crackle finish over that and a final coat or two of paste wax to make it feel old. I began to plan how the items would fit and how to best maximize the space in the box. The top layer had been hinged with leatherette but that was too torn to salvage. I replaced it with solid brass hinges which matched the originals pretty well and replaced the broken lock which dropped in perfectly. These were aged with Brass Black:
http://www.amazon.com/Birchwood-Cas...dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
to match the original hardware as much as possible by taking down the black with steel wool substitute (SSS). Likewise the corner braces and feet I added. As I added items, I found the lower layer was a little too shallow and so I added a 1/4" strip of wood around the underside of the upper layer to give the lower layer a little more headroom. Next, I added the partitions for all the items using 1/8" and 1/4" plywood and, occasionally iron-on veneer to fine-tune the fit. All these partitions were assembled using wood glue but not glued into the box until all the items were finalized and the individual partions had had their velvet applied.
I applied the velvet using Fabri-Tac glue:
http://www.amazon.com/Beacon-Fabri-...UTF8&qid=1356893192&sr=1-1&keywords=fabri-tac
thinned slightly with acetone. The fabric was cut to paper patterns I made for each piece, the thinned glue was spread on the wood and the fabric stuck down, turning the edge under along the rim of the box. I went this route rather than adhesive-backed velvet as it was no harder, much cheaper and allowed me much wider color choice. I used the original silk-lined tray by moving it into the lid of the box and then used the left over silk pieces to make pouches for the bible and magnifying glass and the retaining strap for the map. The retainers for the crucifix were made out of brass strip and aged with Brass Black.
The pistol is an Italian replica of a black powder / percussion cap pocket pistol which I defarbed (ground off all the markings) and refinished by removing the bluing with Naval Jelly and then applying a new Plum Brown:
http://www.amazon.com/Birchwood-Cas...TF8&qid=1356893686&sr=8-1&keywords=plum+brown
finish to the steel parts and using Brass Black on the brass parts. The wood grips were dinged up and the gloss taken down with SSS. The gun was re-oiled and reassembled and the black taken off the brass on the high spots with SSS. The silver bullets were made from the same lead balls purchased with the pistol colored with a silver leafing pen.
The little bottles were sourced from local antique stores and the scrapbooking aisles of AC Moore and Michael's which also gave up cross charms to add to the mallet and stakes (whittled from table legs on clearance at Lowe's) and holy water and sanctified earth flasks. This is also where I got weathering inks for the labels and map. The bottles were aged by coating the insides with thin Zap CA glue quick-set with Zip-Kicker. This gave the dried up, crystallized look I was going for and this could easily be colored with ink and powdered chalk before and after setting the glue. The labels were printed on pre-aged paper and then further aged on the bottles with sand paper, ink and powdered chalk.
The map was downloaded from
http://www.howtohauntyourhouse.com/downloads/vampire_maps.zip
and printed on 11 x 17 paper at Kiinko's. This was aged using edge-tearing, overfolding and inks and powdered chalk.
Finally, the inside was weathered by applying Cordovan paste shoe polish and paste wax to mat down the velvet fibers and dirty up the corners and places where spills and gun oil would darken the velvet.
Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out. If you would like to build one, I am happy to answer questions.
Have fun!
Steve
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
I leaned heavily on the VKK section of How to Haunt Your House, book 3:
http://www.howtohauntyourhouse.com/
and this very complete reference site on VKK's
http://spookylandcrypt.webs.com/kits.html
as well as threads on the rpf.
I started with a vintage lap desk from ebay. It had a terribly torn up leatherette cover but a very nicely preserved silk and leatherette and shellac interior and a broken lock but very nice hinges and handle with a genuine patina. I removed all the covering and hardware, sanded the box inside and out, finished it with black cherry stain and a crackle finish over that and a final coat or two of paste wax to make it feel old. I began to plan how the items would fit and how to best maximize the space in the box. The top layer had been hinged with leatherette but that was too torn to salvage. I replaced it with solid brass hinges which matched the originals pretty well and replaced the broken lock which dropped in perfectly. These were aged with Brass Black:
http://www.amazon.com/Birchwood-Cas...dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
to match the original hardware as much as possible by taking down the black with steel wool substitute (SSS). Likewise the corner braces and feet I added. As I added items, I found the lower layer was a little too shallow and so I added a 1/4" strip of wood around the underside of the upper layer to give the lower layer a little more headroom. Next, I added the partitions for all the items using 1/8" and 1/4" plywood and, occasionally iron-on veneer to fine-tune the fit. All these partitions were assembled using wood glue but not glued into the box until all the items were finalized and the individual partions had had their velvet applied.
I applied the velvet using Fabri-Tac glue:
http://www.amazon.com/Beacon-Fabri-...UTF8&qid=1356893192&sr=1-1&keywords=fabri-tac
thinned slightly with acetone. The fabric was cut to paper patterns I made for each piece, the thinned glue was spread on the wood and the fabric stuck down, turning the edge under along the rim of the box. I went this route rather than adhesive-backed velvet as it was no harder, much cheaper and allowed me much wider color choice. I used the original silk-lined tray by moving it into the lid of the box and then used the left over silk pieces to make pouches for the bible and magnifying glass and the retaining strap for the map. The retainers for the crucifix were made out of brass strip and aged with Brass Black.
The pistol is an Italian replica of a black powder / percussion cap pocket pistol which I defarbed (ground off all the markings) and refinished by removing the bluing with Naval Jelly and then applying a new Plum Brown:
http://www.amazon.com/Birchwood-Cas...TF8&qid=1356893686&sr=8-1&keywords=plum+brown
finish to the steel parts and using Brass Black on the brass parts. The wood grips were dinged up and the gloss taken down with SSS. The gun was re-oiled and reassembled and the black taken off the brass on the high spots with SSS. The silver bullets were made from the same lead balls purchased with the pistol colored with a silver leafing pen.
The little bottles were sourced from local antique stores and the scrapbooking aisles of AC Moore and Michael's which also gave up cross charms to add to the mallet and stakes (whittled from table legs on clearance at Lowe's) and holy water and sanctified earth flasks. This is also where I got weathering inks for the labels and map. The bottles were aged by coating the insides with thin Zap CA glue quick-set with Zip-Kicker. This gave the dried up, crystallized look I was going for and this could easily be colored with ink and powdered chalk before and after setting the glue. The labels were printed on pre-aged paper and then further aged on the bottles with sand paper, ink and powdered chalk.
The map was downloaded from
http://www.howtohauntyourhouse.com/downloads/vampire_maps.zip
and printed on 11 x 17 paper at Kiinko's. This was aged using edge-tearing, overfolding and inks and powdered chalk.
Finally, the inside was weathered by applying Cordovan paste shoe polish and paste wax to mat down the velvet fibers and dirty up the corners and places where spills and gun oil would darken the velvet.
Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out. If you would like to build one, I am happy to answer questions.
Have fun!
Steve
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
