A place to put the scary things!
Having completed construction of a number of Goblin Mines, it soon felt like the time was ripe to begin another project in my ‘Unseelie Portals’ series – a collection of Fairy Doors designed to house the “less savory” of fairy folk. If you missed my post describing the Goblin Mine and the Unseelie portals in general, you can find it here.
The question of course, was what kind of door to build, and for whom?!
Again, wishing to avoid the typical Fairy Door design, I decided that this time I wanted to do something that looked more like a vault entrance than a door. I would design a circular entrance that would appear to have been build directly into the side of whatever tree or garden feature it was placed against.
However, being weary of it just appearing to be another round Hobbit door, this time I would lean toward a metal and stone edifice. I jumped onto my iPad and started sketching, and what I came up with was something that was 50% Vault Door and 50% Jail Cell. The door itself would be set into simulated stone work which would have mystic symbols carved along five equidistant points of the circle – forming an invisible pentagram – perhaps a hidden warding spell to keep whatever was locked inside magically secure from the outside world, or maybe as a sort of summoning spell, a lure to bring the world of the worst within reach of the door.
But for what sort of creature should such a trap…, I mean home be intended.
After much consideration I decided to go with the Boggart. Frightener of children, torturer of pets and wild animals alike, known for eating other fairy folk alive and leaving their bones littering the forest floor, it doesn’t get much darker than the loathsome Boggart.
And so, the concept fully in mind, the design process begins…,
In my initial sketch, I’d opted to include a semicircular window cut into the top half of the door. This would give the impression that the door opened into a dark interior space, visible just beyond the heavy iron bars.
Sometimes – rarely – I find myself building the perfect mousetrap for a cannibalistic faerie monster – and that’s when I know I’m having a good day!
As usual, it’s all about the little details for me. Like, “wouldn’t it be neat if the mystical symbols glowed in the dark!” Or, “hey, I should sculpt little piles of faerie bones to sit outside the Boggart Cells!” Followed by, “well faerie bones should definitely be hollow, and what if I made some of their skulls pointed, maybe pixies have pointed heads under those pointed caps…,” and we’re off to the races.
The entirety of the Boggart Cell is made of wood, except for the tiny little iron ring pulls which I sculpted from Polymer Clay.
The little piles a fairy bones, gnawed upon and weathered as they are, were likewise sculpted in Polymer Clay. Each of these piles is different, but I was very happy with how realistic they ended up looking.
Each one of these that I have built looks perfectly at home hanging against the base of a tree, or at the base of a stone wall, or even inside on a bookshelf or similar feature. I invite you to follow this link to check out my listing for the Boggart Cell on Etsy. And while you’re there, if the magic compiles you, please check out the Goblin Mines and all the other stuff I have listed there!
I hope to be working on more additions to my Unseelie Portals series in 2023.
