Witch Cabinet (2012)

It was my friend her birthday again. Remember the miniature torture devices I made? It was for the same person. This time I wanted to make another piece for her dollhouse: A witches cabinet. But not an ordinary one: pull the book and it's actually a door that opens.

A pen next to it to show the actual size

Unfortunately my camera crashed with Halloween and I didn't transfer all my pictures to my computer, only 3 of them which I used in my PDF portfolio survived.

It's a random cabinet. All 3 drawers can be taken out. The desk lid can be pulled down revealing the inside.

Here are 2 more drawers which can also be taken out.

I filled the cabinet mostly with books, since that's what most witches need.

Most books are made from 1 block of MDF, I've sawn some pieces out making it look like a stack of single books.
A few books are inspired with the things my friend likes like: WWE, Xena: Warrior Princess, Dark Willow, and Repo! The Genetic Opera (the actual lever book, because it's a DVD, not a book). 

All are hand painted by myself.

A miniature candle on the Book of Shadow (Charmed). 

The original book with my painted miniature.
The cast shadow is so big because it's the whole stack of books
instead of just that one book.

I also put a little book stand in it, who is Hoggle from labyrinth.
There's also a little candle, made from real candle wax on a wire of sewing thread, a skull made of clay, a glass marble, a little athame (ceremonial dagger) an ink pot (clay) with a quill; which was made from the tip of a normal bird feather and to complete the witches collection a few spells from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a Rune card and the Wicca calendar.

Below there's a nice close up to show a bunch of the named items.

The writing desk useful for every incarnation you wish to write about.

The handles you see on the drawers are also hand made. They are made from fine iron wire, which was twisted with the use of a drill. Then they were D shaped. The plate of the handles are from thin carton with 4 droplets of wood glue at each corner.

To explain the working of the "book pull" I made this diagram of the backside (that picture got lost)

• You drill a hole where the book is placed 
• Put some fishing wire through (tie the wire to the top of the book; otherwise there's no leverage)
• The wire goes around a wooden pin which guides the wire in a straight line towards an L shaped piece of wood (the leg of the L is faced up). 
• Another pin is drilled into the cabinet. I made some sort of peg, keeping the safety pin in place when it was glued.
• On this there will be a safety pin. This pin is prepped; meaning you cut most of the leg which holds the metal piece and you also cut off the sharp tip from the other leg. Then you bent this tip (about halve a centimeter) in a 90 degree angle sideways.
  Notice: When you place this on your cabinet make sure the L shaped piece and the safety pin leg don't make a 90 degree angle. A smaller angle is better since it delivers more force (place the pin more to the left)
• Add a "locking piece" which prevents the safety pin from turning. It mainly is a piece where you have a small saw cut in where the small leg of the safety pin fits into.
• Glue a U shaped piece of wood where you want the L shaped piece to be (the middle). The other U shaped piece goes onto the wall of your dollhouse, locking the door.
• Drill a hole through the L shaped piece to tie the fishing wire to.
• Place the L shaped piece underneath the U shaped piece and place the bend leg behind it.

Now you should have a working mechanism that pulls the L shaped piece far enough from its lock.

A picture that was still on my phone. Not the best quality but it's clear what it is.