Howarts Hidden Box

A stack of letters

It looks inconspicuous enough, except for the fact that it is Harry Potter themed. An envelope (which I wish I had "weathered") displays a very precise address (which is smeared in the picture). It reminds one of Harry Potter's acceptance letter: Harry Potter, The Cupboard Under the Stairs, Little Whinging, etc.

Other themed papers are in the stack-- a letter from Ron, a parchment from Hermione, a Howler, and a page from my brother's HP journal. All tied together with a fitting piece of brown cord.

But all is not as it seems.

Is that... a box?

It opens up, revealing a letter from Harry at the Auror HQ.... and... a box! And on the bottom of the box is a copy of the First Year Hogwart's booklist.

I wanted to make a hidden book box, but lacking a nice book ruined enough to use (since we cleaned our our bookshelves), I realized I had to improvise. So out came several envolopes, bits of paper, a printed page of the Daily Prophet and The Quibbler, etc. I stuffed the envolopes with old paper that hadn't yet made it to the recycling box. Then, I glued it all together. I made sure that the glue spread far enough that the box wouldn't affect it and small enough that you could still read the bits of paper. 

Then, I took the Xacto knife and cut out the box! It took far too long, because I had a very dull blade. I then coated the edges of the box with glue for added stability, tied the string around it, and voila.

Don't let my brothers know you know about their special box. Oh, and I never told you that it is home to their homemade Rings of Power. And I did not say that I will be sneaking a picture of those rings and putting them up on the blog someday. :)

The Golden Snitch Jewelry Set

The Golden Snitch jewelry set

Almost any familiar with Harry Potter will remember the Golden Snitch, a key ball in the game of Quidditch! I made a jewelry set based on the Golden Snitch. It is fairly simple.

I simply took three glass pearls (sizes may vary, or be the same). Then, I took six feather beads off of a necklace to use as the wings. My uncle Tom gave me a pretty necklace with these feathers for Christmas, but I didn't like the colors so much. I felt a little guilty about taking it apart... :P

Next, I took some floral wire, threaded the beads (a pearl sandwiched between two feathers/wings), and tied it into a loop at the top. The wings can be spread out, as I did for the necklace, or left side-to-side, like I did for the earrings. If the wing beads flop around the wire, hold them in place with a few daubs of clear fingernail polish.

My first set-- I did not like the size of the earrings or the fact that I forgot the Golden Snitch is, well, golden. But the white pearl is classy. :)

Elvish Clay

In addition to the clay Gold Evenstar, I have made several other Elvish clay creations based on the Lord of the Rings movies. To make these, all you need is some Sculpey clay.

 To make your thinner clay creations sturdier, paint over the peice with Mod Podge or another kind of glue. This will also work extremely well for gluing broken creations back together. My two year old brother smashed all of these pictured into at least three separate parts. Two coats of Mod Podge later, and you can't hardly tell they were broken. Also, for a more metallic, realistic look, coat with a glaze. I wore my Chase Buckle to a dance, and everyone thought it was metal and that I had bought it!

My brooch out of Sculpey clay

The brooch as sold by Noble Collection

 Arwen wore a butterfly brooch as a clasp on one of her many capes. I made my own version by rolling out the clay, using a toothpick to cut apart the main pieces (the wings, etc), rolled up bits for the antenna and swirlies at the bottom, and used a toothpick to carve the designs on the wings. Mine is two inches wide.

My simplified version of Galadriel's brooch

Galadriel wore a beautiful, intricate silver and mother-of-pearl brooch. Mine is all clay! I used the same techniques as above.

My version

Arwen wore this brooch (or is it a buckle? It is hard
to tell) on her Chase outfit. It was definitely confusing-- I realized that there are four "petals", two "leaves" and two "stems", with ends intricately wrapped and twisted around each other. My only suggestion, should you choose to attempt this, is to pay very close attention to the picture.

My Eternal Star, a failure in my opinion...

As sold by Tolkien Town

Now, this one didn't turn out so great. I have been using the pictures that came in a little booklet inside our Lord of the Rings DVD. You know, the ones where they try to sell you all the coolest, most expensive trinkets related to the movies? This was called the "Eternal Star" or something. I couldn't find the same picture online. I spiced up the clay with some beads.

There you go! My adventures with clay... and being a total Lord of the Rings geek. :)

Evenstars of Undomiel

Evenstars-- click on picture for more detail

Well, I have finally gotten around to updating. :) Theses are from my teaser.


Here are my Evenstars! (I've since given most of them away). The white one is actually the cheap $3 Halloween version that I refinished.

The gold evenstar on the left is made out of Sculpey Clay. I lay my evenstar on top of the clay, cut it out with a toothpick, pressed glass beads into the clay, pressed a wire loop in, and etched the designs. Then: I baked it! Voila! Were I to do it again, I would make the back more like the one in the movies, with a leaf design that stretches all the way to the back.

The very middle necklace is the very first Evenstar I ever made. It is part of my still-mostly secret Halloween costume (see here and here). The rest are the same, with different colors and some modifications to be sturdier.

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The Evenstar Gallery

click to enlarge the images 

see more on my facebook page

Front

Back

The Front

The Back

Variation-- "Fair Isle" Flower

Another teaser from your terrible blogger

Now that I have effectively spent far too long online and have to finish up schoolwork, I thought I would leave you all with a teaser. :)

Instructions for ALL the crafts in this picture coming up! ...soon(ish)...
More Ink and Fairydust magazines with articles by yours truly...
And a description of why styluses don't work on iPod touches/iPhones, and how to make your own stylus that will work.