In 2023 I spotted this cool journal on Amazon and was inspired to create a spellbook for one of my players.
The book has 5 sections and I tried to make each section a theme: Potions/Alchemy, Divination, Magical Creatures, Runes/Sigils, Demonology/Summoning. I learned about “Junk Journals”, which I had never heard of, and got the pages to glue inside the journal from makers on Etsy.com. There is a very wide, huge variety of pages out there in all kinds of styles. The stuff I selected is not meant to be read, itʼs all gibberish, but cool looking. The “staining” of the pages was done with 2 different cans of Kiwi shoe polish. Just use a makeup sponge to apply it to the page and it dries in about 10 seconds. Only problem is, with the wax seals and such, it’s way too thick to wrap the cord and tuck the key into the loop on the front now!
I found some cool templates on Etsy and created the following group of spells for the book:
I used a dragon head wax stamp kit to create the envelopes then glue them inside on some of the pages:
The story behind this prop is it’s a messed up spellbook created by someone who is insane. It works, but not quite the right way. According to the rules of D&D, a wizard should be able to record any spells he’s learned into his spellbook and then use them whenever. The spell sheets I sealed in the envelopes are some cool spells I found that he’s going to be able to cast much earlier than normal. For example, there are some level 9 spells in there. Normally you can’t cast a level 9 spell until your character is at level 17 or so. He’s going to be able to cast them when his character is level 9, but only once. He won’t be able to cast that particular spell again until he’s actually reached the correct level. Ultimately, it was a fun prop to make that will allow him to play with some cool spells.
Here’s a video of me flipping through the completed journal, you can see how big it’s gotten!
I purposely left some of the pages blank in each section. I originally had the idea of putting some mad scribbles in there, but never got to it. I also thought he may want to write in it, could be fun for recording any new spells or words of power. Most of the time spent on this project was just figuring out what to do with all those pages!
Project Supplies
- Journal
- Antique Parchment
- Vintage Stationery with Envelopes
- Wax Seal Molds
- Wax Stamps
- Sealing Wax Kit
- Wax Stamp Kit – Your Initial
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