Sunday 3 November 2013

Ye Olde Curiosity Box

I love making little compartmentalised display boxes with themes and collections of oddments in. I picked up some little bits in Paris with the intention of doing one from there one day.

In the meantime, let's return to a favourite theme of mine and look at a Pirates of the Caribbean curiosity box I made last year.

The box is half of one of those wooden boxes you get cheap pencils in... the box looks great but the pencils are rubbish and break all the time. I took the hinges and the carrying handle off, removed the plastic liner and added shelves using balsa wood (strong enough as nothing on them is very heavy). Then I twisted strips of organza fabric, tied it with thread to stop it unravelling and glued it along all the edges of the box and shelves. When it was dry I painted it gold to look old and dishevelled.


The compartments have various scrapbook papers to back them, then piratey memorabilia. The top one has a model Jack that I made (clutching his jar of dirt) and standing on a plastic turtle from a cracker. The keys and buckles are just bits  I have kept for years for some unknown purpose (this is IT!!!).

 The skull and crossbones and dark spiky chain are bits of costume jewellery, the badges were from the Disney shop when they sold off all their POTC stuff and I swooped in and bought some. They grey fabric bag you can see is leather stamped with a pirate motif and contains old coins, like the purse Jack filches at the start of the first film.

Tomorrow I hope to show you the other side of the box... if the computer doesn't pack up on me like it did over the weekend... fixed by marvellous tech-hubbie!!! Ta muchly!

To see other curiosity boxes I have done, checkout 
and 

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