Serendipity Refined Blog: Pottery Barn Inspired Halloween Mantel Witch Silhouette (Free Pattern)

Yes, I do realize that it's two days before Halloween and I'm just getting around to putting anything even vaguely related to Halloween on my mantel. Remember my last Halloween Mantel? (More Here)

... sigh

I haven't really been in the mood to do much mantel decorating since I moved to the farmhouse. I think that it's probably due mainly to the fact that I don't really have a mantel.

It's more like a ledge...

a very small ledge.

So in the hope that I'd have a cool mantel in time for Halloween, I started on this project a month ago. In fact, it may have been longer ago than that.

It was right around the time that the Pottery Barn Fall catalog came out and I got a phone call from my friend, Maureen.

She said, "Hi there! Have you seen the PB October Catalog?" to which I replied, "Of course I have. I've got it right here." and she said, "Turn to page 13. Do you see that witch silhouette? Do you think that we could make one?"

I flipped open my catalog, found the witch in question and said, "Absolutely."

In an effort to ~~avoid work at all costs~~, make sure that there wasn't an easier way than trying to draw this witch, I checked the PB site. They provided lots of great party planning advice and free printables but the only cool witch silhouette was a teeny tiny one at the end of a sheet of printables. I don't give up that easily. I went to the PB Facebook page and asked if there was a pattern for the witch. Sadly, they responded that the cool witch silhouette was just a photographer's prop.

Okay, I thought, on to PLAN B. I went to my computer, typed in witch silhouette, and found this:

Eerily similar, no?! I printed it out, (right click the image above to do the same) took it to my local copy center and had it copied onto a transparency so that I could use the overhead projector that I borrowed from my friend, Ann (really, at this point, I should probably just pay her for it...or maybe buy my own.).

Note: If you don't have access to an overhead projector (sometimes local schools, churches and libraries will allow you to use theirs), simply have the copy center enlarge the image to around 380% and trace it onto your board.

I used 1/4 inch smooth plywood for the witches (two of them...one for Maureen and one for me) because they'll be used indoors and we're hoping that they'll last awhile. I also considered black foam core board (easier to cut with an X-acto knife) or 1/2 inch plywood (too heavy).

The next part was easy: project the image onto the plywood and trace it.

After that, the um....more challenging part: cutting out the silhouette. I used a Jig saw with a fine blade to do the first pass at removing the large sections of the wood.

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I used a scroll saw equipped with a very fine blade to cut the details. At some points, the blade needed to be turned sideways to be able to make the cuts. A couple of coats of left over chalkboard paint (any black paint will do...or glitter...I considered glitter) and here she is!