Ravenwood Apothecary No.1

RavenWood Apothecary
That old black magic, has me in it's spell,
that old black magic that you weave so well!
~ Johnny Mercer

Last year, I was a crafty lil' witch around Hallowe'en. Get it...'crafty'....'witch'....'witchcraft'?! Okay, moving on....so we all have different ideas of what Hallowe'en looks like. Some of us hard core Halloween Heads go for the gore....the blood, the guts, the brains and entrails. Yuck! No, that's not for me....I'm far too squeamish for that. Although I am not beyond appreciating a gory scene in a Haunted House mind you....I just can't decorate like that in my house as I really dislike blood. Some of us dig the Monsters....the werewolves, vampires and zombies, oh my! Then their are the die hard Vintage Hallowe'en fanatics who will only decorate with orange and black....no glittery purple and green color schemes for them. Don't forget the Skeleton crew....all skulls, bones and skeletons in the graveyard. And of course, on the flip-side, are the lightweights who prefer their Halloween decor cute and not so spooky. They're the ones with smiling jack o'lanterns and happy scarecrows in the yard! Yes....there is no limit to the many myriad of themes we can choose from to decorate for Hallowe'en. And I've been promising to share some images of how I haunt my house come Hallowe'en.

Hallowe'en Happenstance Potion

Witch's Brew Potion

Arsenic & Old Lace PotionCelestial Summoning PotionActually, I shot a bunch of photos last year, but I ran out of time to process and post them before Hallowe'en had vanished in the night. But I finally have them ready. My theme of choice for Hallowe'en decor is decidedly 'WITCHY'! Go figure! And I chose to go with an 'Apothecary' theme. "RavenWood Apothecary" to be precise. It is a Witch's Apothecary full of potions and herbs and magical ingredients.....odd relics, spell books and test tubes. I used "Practical Magic" as my jumping off point, because I wanted my Apothecary to look and feel somewhat real. I wanted it to feel as though you could come in and 'sit a spell' while I 'conjured' something up. For RavenWood Apothecary always has just what the 'Witch Doctor' ordered in stock! So I tend to decorate with more real items as opposed to store bought items, and I also create a lot of my own stuff as so many Halloween artists, crafters and haunters do!Full Moon Bat's Blood TonicPoe's Nevermore PotionWitch's Familiar PotionRavenWood Apothecary is the focal point of my home between September and November. And it's what our party guests love the most when they come for the Annual Pumpkin Carving Party. Because I am such a stickler for details....there is much to be discovered in my little magic shoppe! So my favorite thing is when I catch a guest who has snuck away from the party to return to the Apothecary. They are usually studying each ingredient carefully, reading my titles and descriptions or avidly photographing everything. They always rave that they've never seen anything like it, and most of them even cast a few suspicious glances my way....wondering if perhaps there is way more to me than they knew....muwahahaha!Incense and Amber PotionNocturnal Owl OintmentRaven'sClaw PotionSo my next few posts will focus on my Halloween Decor and RavenWood Apothecary! First up is a project that I collected and worked on over the course of a few months. (That's what all the photos are in this post.) I like to think of this as my Traveling Suitcase of Magical Potions. Each bottle is themed and decorated and housed in a small old traveling trunk. Something a Gypsy Witch might carry with her in a magical tale. It has a Fortune Teller hand, some old glass Halloween ornaments and photos of my 'witchy' great aunts on their bicycles. I made each bottle different, usually according to it's color. I let the bottle's appearance dictate what sort of magical brew it would hold. So step into my parlor and let me brew something special for YOU! All Images © 2010-2011 Wendy A. (All Rights Reserved)