DIY Hocus Pocus Spellbook

“Boooooooooooooook!” Do you love Halloween and consider Hocus Pocus to be a work of art? If so, take a seat- this project is for you! I know I’m not alone when I say that watching Hocus Pocus brings me joy every single year without fail. So it only makes sense that I would eventually try a DIY Hocus Pocus Spellbook. This project was time consuming and a bit difficult, but I could not be happier with how it turned out. Interested in making your own spellbook? Keep reading!

This DIY Hocus Pocus Spellbook is actually part of my bigger Hocus Pocus Halloween display. With Halloween and trick-or-treating up in the air, I wanted to make sure that our house was decked out with as much Halloween spirit as possible. It is my favorite holiday and I feel so bad that kids might not be able to wear costumes and run amok this year. At the very least, they will get to enjoy seeing these decorations as they take walks with their families throughout the season! I’m doing it for the kids, you guys 😉 Okay, on to the directions.

Spellbook Materials

• Modeling clay
• Large old book (I got one for $2 at Goodwill)
• Paper towels
• Mod Podge
• Craft paint brushes
• Craft paint in brown, light brown, green, black, silver and white
• Puffy paint in brown
• Hot glue

DIY Spellbook Directions

1. Paint the front, spine, and back cover of your book with brown craft paint and let dry
2. To mold the long snake – roll out the clay into a long line the length of the book. Then bend the snake slightly in different spots to make it look like it is slithering. Pinch the top into a triangle shape for the head. Using a fork, make small indents all over the snakes back to give it texture.
3. To mold the coiled snakes – roll out the clay into a thin long line. Carefully fold the clay around itself to achieve the coiled shape. My clay broke in several pieces during this step, so be delicate! Pinch the top into a triangle shape for the head.
4. To mold the clasp – roll out the clay into a long line and then close it into a circle. Lightly flatten the top to make the shape more square. Using the side of a fork, press lines into the circle every few inches. Then press 3 indents into each section using the fork prong. Mold another small rectangle and attach the rectangle to your circle at a long end. Form a small circle inside the rectangle to look like the gemstone.
5. To mold the eyeball – roll out the clay into a circle and then flatten one side so the eye will sit flush on the book.
6. To mold the fingers – roll out the clay into a thick line. Using the book spine’s width, cut the clay into 5 “fingers”. Using the fork, draw finger nails on each finger.
7. To mold the wounds – roll out the clay into a thin long line. Assemble the clay across the book to look like open wounds(see picture). Using a knife or fork, press an indent through the middle of the clay lines to split them.
8. Allow all clay pieces to dry at least 24 hours.
9. Cut pieces of paper towel to fill in all the spots on the book between the wounds. Using a paint brush, mod podge each piece of paper towel on to the book creating texture as you go. Make sure all portions of the book are covered and allow to dry.
10. When the clay is completely dry, paint each piece and allow to dry.
11. Paint the wounds brown.
12. Using a mixture of brown and light brown, paint the paper towel sections of the book.
13. Use puffy paint to draw stitches across the wounds. Allow to dry.
14. Attach the eye to the book using hot glue.
15. Fold up two pieces of paper towel and drape them over the eye like eyelids. Mod Podge the paper towel to the eye/book to resemble sleepy wrinkly eyelids.
16. Paint the eyelids with a combination of brown and light brown paint.
17. Attach all the other pieces to the book using hot glue.
18. Paint the book page edges gold.

Like I said, time consuming! But a lot of the time was spent waiting for things to dry. You could easily finish this project in a weekend! And what better time than now to have a project to keep you entertained?! Let me know if you attempt your own DIY Hocus Pocus Spellbook! I’ll treasure this book for many Halloween seasons to come, so long as Winifred doesn’t try to steal it away!