S3PP - Season 3 Premiere Party
Maesters Apothecary Kit
Maesters Apothecary Kit
This was an expensive task but the result is freaking awesome. I've really been enjoying creating these one-of-a-kind Game of Thrones tribute projects and makes it even more rewarding that all of my nerdy friends who love the show oogle like crazy over them.
This project took a lot of research. I spent a lot of time looking of Game of Thrones poisons and remedies. I started with Milk of the Poppy and it just kind of exploded from there. I spent a lot of time on A Wiki of Ice and Fire researching all of the cures and poisons and placed everything I found in a book I made. This book was mostly copy/paste into word with some extra dazzling formatting, a medieval font here, a picture of a crow there, and in it every poison and cure that is found in the books, give or take a very few. For ones that I couldn't find anything on like Demons Dance, I simply typed "Unknown Poison - administer at your own risk." The title of this gem is "The Westerosi Book of Healing and Harm" with a picture of a black crow on the front. I have the pages for the book printed and the leather for the cover, I even have the transfer sheets to get the cover art onto the leather but have had no time to finish that part so I'm hoping to have it done before the finale... at this rate..
The actual kit itself though... oh this was so much fun to make. I ordered about 20 3.5 oz jars from Amazon (That's the expensive part!) and found a few larger sized ones on eBay that I used for the poisons. I also ordered a bag of assorted flavored rock candy from Amazon that had a bunch of different colors in it and used the rest based on their descriptions with things I found in my kitchen.
Before you fill the jars up though, you need to label them and for this, I found some parchment paper in my office, a felt tip pen and some Elmer’s school glue. I made some pretty small labels for each jar and burnt the edges with a candle to give it a more authentic feel. I then glued the labels on the jars with the Elmer’s glue and made sure to cover the letters so that it dried a bit on the foggy side. I like this effect, to me it makes the jar look older.
I also ordered an old looking box on eBay that I paid too much money for but it's the perfect thing for these to fit into and now they're all in their box ready for administering... it's pretty cool.
Now as you know, if you're doing the research, there are TONS of poisons and remedy's in the books. This is where you need a bit of creativity to help you create the most awesome looking box. For example, I created Widows Blood by mixing food coloring with honey and kyro syrup. Lavender, of course, would go in the larger jar labeled for "Pennyroyal." I used Chamomile flowers for Tansy, Provincial seasoning (mixed with lavender and chamomile flowers) for Moon Tea, clear Kyro syrup for Milk of the poppy, etc. I will post a complete list a little later on so that you don’t have to get stuck like I did...
If you're an obsessive fan of the books, (and I am... just in case you didn't know...) you know that maesters generally keep small vials of these types of remedies in pockets in the sleeves of their robes. So of course, just for the sake of authenticity, I also ordered some small vials that would fit perfectly in the arm pockets of a would-be robe. They are also stashed in the box. Eventually, I am going to make a little row of pockets to keep all of the small vials in so that it's a bit more organized.
Part of the thing I love about this box is that not only is it a great conversation piece and it looks amazing, but I just LOVE the smell of lavender. Since the lavender is...well... potent, every time the box is opened the person who opens it is hit in the face with the amazing smell of girly lotion and candles. Also hilarious when an unsuspecting dude opens it up and makes the comment "Holy shit, did a flower shop fart in your box?!?" Yes. Yes it did. And it's wonderful.
To finish off my apothecary set, I ordered a skull and crossbones leather puncher and some sealing wax and dropped a skull and crossbones in red wax on the top corner of my box. My son calls it art and he really likes it... He's 4. Kids got good taste, what can I say?
This kit looks amazing and is something completely unique that I will have for a very long time.
Here is the list of poisons and remedy's that I found along with what I used to fill the jars with:
Basilisk Blood: This one isn't in my kit but yet but once I get the jars to put it in there, I will probably use a thick red curry paste or something. Its described as a thick paste and I would imagine it's sorta red looking. I'll have to think on that one..
Basilisk Venom: mixed green food coloring with honey and kyro syrup
Blinde-eye: I'm guessing this makes you blind? It's mentioned as a poison but doesn't say what it does or a description. I took a wild guess and thought that if I were in Westeros and had come across it, it would strangely resemble orange rock candy.
Demons Dance: My best guess is this is a hallucinogen... but again, no facts about it. It's listed in my book but not in my kit.
Dreamwine: This isn't in my kit but it will be - I'll just use some merlot in a bottle. The book metions this as a wine from Qarth flavored with strange spices that relieves pain. Too much, like many of the things in the books, will kill you.
Firemilk: Not in my kit but it also will be at some point. It's a medical ointment that's poured into open wounds to clean them and yeah, apparently, it burns.
Manticore venom: All I could find on this is it's a deadly poison that kills you the instant it reaches your heart. Not in my kit yet but soon....
Milk of the Poppy: This is a gimme. I used clear corn syrup - a lot of people seem to assume it's milky but the descriptions of it I could find were that it's the sap from the un-rippened seed pods of poppies.
Moon Tea: I described this earlier - just some lavender flowers with some chamomile flowers mixed with some herbs from the kitchen. Looks like a tea I wouldn't wanna drink!
Myrish Fire: Originating from Myr it's a medical ointment sort of like Firemilk that used to clean wounds and burns. It's not in my kit but if I were going to make it I would probably mix up some orange food coloring with some kyro syrup.
Nightshade: My favorite poison. This is made from the nighshade shrub - It's leaves are dull and it's flowers can be either pink or purple but it's berries are the most toxic - a black shiney berry. Naturally I used honey and kyro syrup with some really dark purple food coloring. It's a very pretty but deadly looking bottle...
Pennyroyal: Used in moon tea and theres lots of information on it out there. I used lavender flowers because it describes it's flowers as either a reddish purple or a lilac blue. Lavender is close enough!
Powdered Greycap: I couldn't think of anything that was a grey powder in my kitchen so I dug into my fireplace and grabbed some old soot. Works well enough but I'll have to remind my friends not to taste that one if they get frisky.
Sweet sleep: This is in my kit but I had to get creative with this one. They describe it as sweet and grainy - can't think of anything else that fits that description so sugar it is! There's thinking outside of the box...
Tansy: Used in moon tea - I used chamomile flowers. All of the information I found about it described it as a tall flowering herb with yellow button-like flowers. Yup, that'll do it!
Tears of Lys: One of the most popular poisons - purple rock candy is your friend here. I ground mine up in an herb grinder super small so that it didn't resemble The Strangler too much even though their descriptions are very similar.
The Stranger: Looks like Tears of Lys - unless you have an herb grinder and then it looks like a slightly bigger version of Tears of Lys...
Vinegar: Listed as a remedy so again, I had to get super creative... I used vinegar.
Wasting Potion: Information about this will tell you exactly what's in it. Pepper juice and yellow mustard. Sounds yummy!
Widows Blood: I used clear kyro syrup and mixed a very dark red batch of food coloring to go in it...This stuff is crazy bad - shuts down the persons intestines and bowels until they die from the body's own waste.... yeesh, that's crappy.
Wolfsbane: Also the name of someones weapon, I think... It's not in my kit yet but it will be soon. This is an herb relative to buttercup with yellow, blue, purple, white or pink flowers. Lots of information about it if you look it up.
That's all I could find - if I'm missing any please let me know and I'll get it in my kit!
No comments:
Post a Comment