Quick sketch of roughly what the front yard will look like.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
House Rings
Daaaw, Sam found these rings online and got them for me. I think they'll serve as either rings or maybe I'll be able to do something with them.
Book end project
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Another wand session
Dragon Lair sketch
A bit of a sketch for how the dragon lair might end up looking. I find it's often valuable for me to sketch stuff, just to solidify the image of how everything is going to be setup. It can also reveal gaps or missing parts that are otherwise hard to visualize.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Ravenclaw Scarf
Cornish Pixie Mobile
Pamphlets
Original report card |
On the back I put a description of how the house points could be awarded; participating in various activities, classes, finishing trivia and games, etc.
School Trunks
This was the first draft |
This version is what I ultimately went with. |
**UPDATE**
Finally put on all of the rivets to the 'trunks' and put on ALL the luggage tags. They're all ready to go--just have to figure out the best way to display them--open or kept flat.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Slytherin Scarf
Friday, June 20, 2014
Quidditch Logistics
- The game is going to be fairly short--like under 3 minutes--because the snitch is found rather quickly. We also figured out that both of us going after it added a bit of adrenaline and competition into the game, further shortening the time (like to under a minute).
- We're (possibly) going to need more bean bags. You can throw quite a few in the span of even a few minutes. I had the whole sack of 40, and each of us was able to throw them all in about a 2 minute span. So a few options--make more of ALL the house colors, OR assign two colors to each team (like if Gryffindor and Slytherin were playing against each other, Gryffindor might get red and yellow, Slytherin might get green and blue).
- We tried a new method with the ping pong balls, which was to throw them all over the grass and then have to bend over and search for them. I'm torn about this option. In some ways it makes it much more like a snitch hunt--in others, it's more of a pain in the ass to bend over or crawl around looking for it. But the time it took to find the snitch was much longer (and by much, I mean ~20 seconds) than if they were just in the box.
- At some point, we had the (perhaps impetuous) idea to get board/roller scooters for the seekers so they wouldn't be bending over. Also, the way the layout is, there would be 2 sets of hoops at opposite ends, with team members throwing bean bags from opposite sides of the field. With the seekers and balls in the middle. There is also some skill in navigating the scooters, so that might extend the game a bit as well.
- We played with the idea of moving the game to the driveway. The advantages are mostly weather centered. If it rains (or mostly, has rained) then the grass will be muddy/soggy/nasty and all my prep will be for naught. If it's on the driveway, it'll at least be relatively dry (as long as it's not constant rain). The other advantage is that there is no tree, so nothing to get in the way of throwing bean bags. Also, there are fences and 'walls' that can be decorated very cool to make it look more like a quidditch field that would just be much more difficult to do on the grass.
- The disadvantages to the driveway is mostly just the concrete is more of a bummer if you're bending over. Although another advantage is that if it gets too dark, the security light would provide some needed light for play.
- We're also considering moving the firepit slightly more onto some bricks on the grass, giving more room on the porch. Which would encroach on the room for the quidditch field.
**UPDATE**
Okay, just came back from some testing with the lights. Definitely distracting, and make it harder to see the snitch. They create shadows so it makes it harder to see what's a mark and what's not. Might work instead of the scattering of the balls. Possibly.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Porch entrance sketch
Just a quick sketch of an idea for the porch entrance. I like the drawbridge idea--not a ramp, as I'd be worried the kids might trip, but just a piece of wood on the ground would be simple enough. The photo booth I would actually probably move up the driveway a bit so that it didn't block the entrance.
The portcullis I'm not sure what the height should be. Would be easier to do short, but wide, taking up the whole width. Could also do one large one with a split in the middle they could walk through--slightly spookier. Given the difficulty with the last one I made, I'm inclined towards the short but wide option.
Also playing with the idea of adding stained glass windows by taking cellophane and putting white paper behind it to light it up. Need to do a practice run on it first to see if it would work.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Ch-ch-chains
Tip: Use SUPER good, comfortable, sharp scissors, or your hands will be raw by the end. |
This is about 5 tubes worth; each strand is 4-8 feet; 8 strands. |
Should also mention that this is a pretty relaxed, easy project--one of the things I love about it too is that this kind of chain I can use and reuse for future years--just have to store it in a garbage bag for next year:)
The ring on the right hanging down is 'whole', so you're only connecting every other link--makes the process go faster. |
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Bean Bags
I made enough for at least 10 bags of each color (which yes, is a lot, but it means less time gathering them up after each game). Now it'll just be a matter of sewing up 3 sides, adding a scoop of beans or rice, then sewing up the other side. Hoping I made them big enough...
**UPDATE**
Sewed up a couple of these bags--so far so good. Also pinned a whole stack of them; the going back and forth from sewing and pinning was a little annoying. I prefer just doing the same thing over and over instead of stopping in the middle. So I paused and pinned them all. Next step will be to sew the rest.
Quidditch scoreboard
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Daily Prophet Completion
On another note, also finished the Daily Prophet newspaper I've been slowly chipping away at in my spare moments. This one was not nearly as difficult as the one I made back in 2007; that one I made a lot of the material from scratch, and it was a huge production to put together. Fortunately enough time has gone by for Harry Potter materials to be archived on the internet, and so there is a lovely website with ALL the articles from the Daily Prophet over the course of all the books. So it was mostly just a matter of copying and pasting (and a little layout magic, which took me back to my newspaper editing days in high school). I may add to it before October, but it's 10 pages right now, which is a fairly decent size for a prop, and I'm generally pleased with how it looks.
In chains
I also got the slightly larger pipe to make it easier to link them up. |
Friday, June 13, 2014
Gravestone sketches
The blue halogen light that came last week will also look really cool when cast on them. I want enough light so that the names will be at least a little visible.
Wand Boxes
The one I ultimately decided to go with., involving small moving boxes, holding 12 wand boxes. |
A couple of the options/formations I played with before deciding on the one on the right. |
Sketch of the final box formation. |
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Side project: Game of Thrones Party
Super side project, but Sam's birthday came up and Mom and I went a little crazy and did a Game of Thrones themed food, decorations, etc. We wanted to do something a little extra, and as we've gotten into GoT lately, this seemed a good theme. We spent a frenzied whole week pulling together decorations, costumes, labels, food, etc. Turned out really cool and Sam was super surprised.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Honeydukes Part 1
So far I've made a box for the chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's beans (which I found online and printed/put together), along with one for Tooth Splintering Strongmints and Chocoballs (which I made). I still want to keep working on a few other options, but these at least are all a little different from each other.
The display box I'd like to either paint or wrap in wrapping paper to cover all the duct tape and cardboard. The cool thing about the box is that I put in a little step to raise a second layer on each shelf, which should make the candy a lot more visible.