Witch Krafting with Kat

© Ashmolean  © Ashmolean This week I was lucky enough to visit a fantastic exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The exhibition called 'Spellbound' explores the history of magic over eight centuries. Included in the display are beautifully illustrated medieval spell books, a glass bottle which may still have a witch still trapped inside! Other artefact's include items found in peoples chimneys, to more macabre items such as a human heart in a lead case! There are illustrations from famous artists depicting witches, demons and spirits and items evoking love spells. The exhibition explores the history of Witchcraft and it's effect it still has on us today. At the end of the exhibition there is a lovely gift shop selling witch related gifts and a 176 page exhibition catalogue. No photography is allowed in the exhibition but there are postcards you can purchase and again the souvenir book has photographs of the exhibits and contains lots of informatio...

A really simple but fun little project to do. Perfect for a rainy afternoon. You don't need much in the way of materials just a shrine kit, some sharpie pens, scissors, pva glue. I bought this little Halloween Shrine kit from  http://www.calicocraftparts.co.uk . They do a great range of Halloween themed wooden shapes perfect for craft projects and card making. The shrine is very easy to put together as it is a straight forward box shape and already cut to slot together. I cut and glued some paper onto the large back panel, the part I wanted inside my shrine. The paper I used was bought at The Range. I glued paper on the underneath of the top for a ceiling, and bottom for a floor. I didn't bother papering the sides as I liked the look of the wood. Plus once the front is added these parts will not really show. I then glued it altogether and left it to dry for an hour. The front of my shrine I decorated using sharpie pens. I drew on bricks and shaded it in wit...

Halloween is my favourite time of the year so I always get very excited, like a witch in a broom shop, when I see Halloween items creeping into both on line and high Street stores. One of the first to get their lines in are 'TK Maxx' and their sister shops 'Homesense' which are already getting in Halloween lines on line and in stores across the country. I do find that TK Maxx and Homesense do a great range of quality Halloween items ranging from ornaments, tableware to fun tea towels. So far I am loving the range of Skull themed ornaments but I am hoping they might do some Witchy items too. Last year they did a beautiful range of Witch dolls.  Below are some of the items already available on TK Maxx online shop. Please note these items were available as I write this posting, I recommend ordering as soon a possible as they sell out quite quickly. Please visit their website for shop locations. TK Maxx do on line ordering which you can collect in store. https://www.tk...

I have seen a lot of wonderful tutorials on You Tube on making little fairy houses out of plastic drinks bottles and air dry clay and I keep meaning to have a go and finally I got round to It! The best online tutorials I have seen are done by a YouTube vlogger called Creative Mom. It was her videos that inspired me to have a go. Please visit her tutorials as they are very informative, easy to follow and fabulous. https://youtu.be/rToLsZ2M1-Y If you have problems with link copy and paste onto Google search or look for Creative Mom on YouTube. This project is so much fun to do I highly recommend giving it a go!  It would a great School holiday project for your children, grandchildren or just a lovely project to do yourself on a rainy day!  Making a bottle house with Kat(me) First of all I gathered some supplies to create the basis of my house, in my case some water bottles which I cut down to a size I preferred and cardboard witches hat which had been l...

Being a Milliner myself, well an inactive one, I never say retired or ex Milliner as I never know when the urge to hat again might strike lol. Well if you are like me and hats are in the blood Warner Bros Studio Tour the making of Harry Potter is a great place to spot a variety of wonderful Hats! Just before the entrance of Diagon Alley there is this amazing display of Witches and Wizard Hats, including materials and hat blocks that was used in production . It is a little dark area of the tour so please excuse my photos, but it gives you an idea. Here are the wonderful hats worn by Fleur Delacour and the young ladies of the French magical school Beauxbatons Academy. Notice the hat blocks used by Philip Traecy. Many Wizard and Witches Hats worn throughout the series of Harry Potter films. All beautiful handcrafted from various fabrics and decorated with a variety of trims including buckles, feathers and ribbons. Notice the rolls of fabric and sketches of Fleur Delaco...

“It is the very error of the moon. She comes more near the earth than she was wont. And makes men mad.” —William Shakespeare,  Othello Please visit BBC news for information on tonight's blood mood. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/science-environment-44945452

He who must not be named! This beautiful costume was made from hand dyed French silk. A beautiful garment, lots of fabric but very light. Because the fabric is so light it has a habit of moving in a slight breeze so looks almost alive. An interesting fact that as the characters become weaker this is reflected in the colours of their clothing. Notice that Dumbledore goes from quite coloured attire to pale greys as Lord Voldemort become more powerful and more of a threat to Dumbledore's life! The opposite also happens when Dolores Umbridge gets more powerful her clothes becomes stronger colours of pink!  Up close and personal.  Harry Potter's Gryffindor school Robe. Interesting fact, Tom Felton who played the part of the lovely Draco Malfoy had to have his inside wand pocket sewn up as he kept bring onto set lots of sticky sweets! Evidently though very generous to cast and crew with his sweets he kept leaving them in his Robe pocket causing the costume d...