Coffin Vampire Hunter Kit

Last year I saw an article about vampire hunter kits in museums and thought they were super cool. Then I read other articles about how they're fake (like this one).

Fake or not, they're still cool, so when I was perusing the dollar store just after Halloween and came across a small wooden coffin, I thought I'd make my own.

I found one again today, so it's still a craft you can put together before Halloween depending on the pieces you use (mine took a while as I bought some items from China to flesh it out).

Now, to save time I decided not to remove the metal clasp and hinges. If I did this again I would definitely remove them as they cause complications when painting, but you can do this the 'lazy' way too.

 Step one is to paint your coffin. I primed mine first with gesso (it's a base for paintings that makes the wood/canvas not soak up as much paint). I then painted the outside and the inner walls with black acrylic paint. Once it was dry, I used a spray on varnish (this protects the paint so it doesn't chip off easily). Make sure not to close the coffin until the varnish is completely dry. I ended up chipping my paint by closing it early and had to do some touch ups.

To line the inside bottom and top of the coffin I cut out red velvet paper and glued it down. Felt or craft foam would work just as well for this.

I wanted a vial of 'holy water' and so took a small glass craft jar and filled it with water. I used regular wax to seal the cork and - because I wanted to be fancy - I tied a piece of cord around the jar and used red sealing wax to hold it in place. I carved a small seal out of stamping material and pressed it into the wax, but that's not really necessary (though it does look cool). If you want to do something similar potatoes make good temporary stamps. I'm sorry about the poor photo quality. The seal has a cross with some letters next to it (it's an old Medieval design I found online). Remember that if you carve something similar, any letters need to be backwards so they'll emboss the right way around.

 For the stake, I took a stick and whittled one end into a point. I sanded it smooth and then blended some black, red, and brown paint (to look like dried blood) and smeared it on the tip.











When my pieces from China arrived, I added a mini Bible and a silver cross to the case.

And here it is, my finished Vampire Hunter Kit, ready for this Halloween.