Did you know that today is National Bat Appreciation Day? In fairness, I only learned about this holiday recently, but what a great excuse to celebrate! In honor of one of my most beloved little winged creatures, I bring you a DIY Vampire Bat Trinket Box!
I found this metal planter at a thrift store. These are a dime a dozen!! I seriously don’t know where they all come from and why so many people have them and then discard them, but I’m not sure I’ve ever gone to a thrift store without seeing one. I happen to have a bit of trouble turning down anything with those awesome claw feet on it, so needless to say, I own a lot of these planters!!
When I learned about National Bat Appreciation Day, I was pondering what kind of project I could do when I stumbled across my pile of planters. I’ve used plenty of them to actually plant plants, and I just recently made all of those Skull and Spider Flower Pots. Enough gardening for the month… it was time for these planters to get repurposed!! Why not use them for a trinket box. I mean, who doesn’t need a cool looking box for something…. kitchen gadgets, jewelry, makeup, office supplies.. whatever.
The Vampire Bats are actually wall sculptures from Design Toscano. Instead of hanging them on a wall, I thought they may enjoy a new purpose as well. Bats… meet planter. At 7″ wide, they were the perfect size for a project like this…. not too big, not too small. Anyone can have a box… but a Vampire Bat Trinket Box?!?
In true Vampire fashion, much like their beautiful velvet lined coffins, I lined this box with red velvet. The velvet is really the icing on the cake that transforms this piece from a planter to a piece of home decor.
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Here’s what you’ll need to recreate this….
- Metal Planter
- Vampire Bat Figurines
- Iron Orchid Mould – Moulding 1
- Corn Starch
- Small Paint Brush
- Paper Clay
- Set of Painting Knives
- Aleene’s Tacky Glue
- Heat Tool (optional)
- Flat Black Paint & Primer Spray Paint
- European Gold Rub ‘n Buff
- Heavy Cardstock
- Scissors
- Red Velvet
- E6000
Start by giving your planter a good scrub. If you picked yours up at a thrift store like me, it will likely be a mess. Ensure it is completely free of any dirt or debris.
I am a girl that likes ornate details, so I chose to add some trim to the top and bottom edges of the planter. I also knew I was planning to use gold wax to finalize the finish, and the wax looks best when there are raised details to highlight. I chose a silicone mold with a border trim design. I linked the one I used in the supply list, but there are tons of border molds to choose from. Use the mold to create a casting out of paper clay, and attach it to the top and bottom edge of the planter using the tacky glue. For more detailed instructions on using paper clay and silicone molds, check out these Skull Candle Sconces or this Baroque Vase. Both tutorials will walk you through every step of the process.
I recommend tackling one side of the planter at a time, and allow the clay to completely dry before moving on to the next side. I typically give it 12 hours. Otherwise, gravity plays a role, and your clay will slide off of the planter.
Once the clay has hardened, paint the box black.
Use your finger to add Gold Rub ‘n Buff to the Raised Edges of the planter – the clay trim, the claw feet, the corners, etc. Use caution because a little can go a long way!
This next step may take a bit of trial and error, so you may want to grab a glass of wine, take a deep breath, and channel some patience before getting started. You need to make a pattern for each of the 4 inner walls and the floor of the planter. If you ended up with a straight box, then enjoy your wine… because this step will be pretty easy. But typically these metal planters have a curved line, and a non traditional shape. The walls of mine even had a slightly different variation in size, so I ended up with 5 different pattern pieces… lucky me. I used a piece of notebook paper, but you can use anything…. maybe you have a newspaper or magazine handy. I started by getting pretty raw dimensions. Measure the base of one wall, the top edge of one wall, and the height at the center of one wall. I trimmed my paper a bit bigger than those dimensions, and then laid it against one wall. I used my fingernail (but a pen or pencil could work) to press the paper into the inside corners, and basically indent the pattern shape into the paper. Then I just followed the indention lines and trimmed accordingly.
Once you have your paper pattern, cut the shape out of cardstock
Lay the cardstock onto the velvet and cut velvet about 1/2″ larger than the cardstock all around
Center the cardstock onto the back side of the velvet. Fold the velvet around the four sides of the cardstock and glue in place. I trimmed the corners of the velvet to avoid added bulk.
Glue the velvet panels into the box using the E6000 glue. Have that glass of wine handy…. another test of patience is approaching! I love this glue. It is always my go-to because it has such a good hold. The only problem is that is has an extremely long dry time. In fact, on most projects, I would suggest waiting overnight. Because of the shape of my planter there was no way to keep pressure on all five walls at once in order to allow the glue to dry, so I had to work on one wall at a time. I started by gluing the base piece in. Then I glued a wall piece along the bottom edge, and held in place for about 15-20 minutes. That seemed to be enough time that I could release the pressure and continue gluing and holding the rest of the wall. Tedious? Yes. But that velvet is now on for life. There are other faster drying glues that you can use, but I cannot attest to their quality of hold, so you’ll have to take that risk if you want to save some time on this step. For me, I caught up on some TV while I held each wall in place, so it was no big deal.
Remove the hangers from the back of bats.
Add the Gold Rub ‘n Buff to corners of the wings and the raised edges of the bats. I intentionally left the bats in their original color to give a bit of dimension, but I wanted the gold Rub n Buff to tie it all together and give some consistency.
Use the E6000 to glue the bat to the box. I used 2 bats, and attached them to opposite sides of the box.
Throw your crap in the box and you’re all set!!
Happy National Bat Appreciation Day!! And if you dig bats like I do, then you’ll definitely want to make this DIY Vintage Bat Tray Table!!
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Another gorgeous DIY! You’re incredible!
And a tip from someone who appreciates your struggle with lining the damn thing. Having been in your shoes and gone through a bottle of wine (or two) trying to find dimensions on similar projects, one of the tricks I’ve learned is to make technology your friend. With flat sided things like this I’ve often found it’s sometimes possible to use the scanner function on my printer to make a copy of the item and use that as a template for the interior dimensions. Yes, you’ll have to shave off a bit in order to make sure it really fits on the inside, but with curved things like the sides of your box, this trick is a massive time saver!
Nice tip!! That’s a brilliant idea!
I just love this bat trinket box. This is looking perfect for Bat Appreciation Day. Thanks for sharing this post.
So glad you like it!!!