Dobby Shadow Box.........Birthday Present Number Two

Having made the Harry Potter character shadow box for the 22nd birthday of my eldest son, it seemed only fair to make one for my daughter's 20th birthday next week. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and what I intended to include and began with the basics.

 Despite looking everywhere the deepest boxes I have been able to find are only one inch, so I had to line the interior with strips of balsa to extend the depth to two inches. I then used up some left over stone wallpaper and ceiling paper for three of the sides.

The walls were then grimed a bit and then I glued on some Harry Potter printies and other wizardly items.

 I found all these using google images and then printed them on tea stained photo paper. I also used my little magic pot of MicroGlaze which is definitely my new best friend.

 For the floor I used some left over Richard Stacey roof tiles which I grouted after giving them a good PVA/water wash. They were still a bit of a pain to clean off mostly because of the tight space I was working in. These look a bit bright and new at the moment but I will give them a grimy wash to tone them down.

 And here he is the star of the show, looking out on the world but a bit shy at the moment.

 Dobby!! By the wonderful Jain Squires. I bought him at a Kensington Show about a year ago for Diagon Alley and although he is perfect in every way I decided my daughter would love him. 

 The back wall is also papered in stone but I have added a fireplace with some left over slate. This will house a bubbling cauldron by Debie Lyons hopefully on a log fire. This will be interesting as I have never attempted bubbles before!! 

 A bit of a dress rehearsal. Dobby fits the extended depth thank goodness. The fire place mantle is dressed with various HP printies and a 'Hocus Pocus' movie poster because my daughter loves that film! There is also one of Wendie's super pumpkin candles and a wonderfully turned mortar and pestle from one of my favourite sellers Ashwood Designs. 

 I filled the mortar with soft gunge and then laid the pestle on the top because it was so beautifully turned I didn't want to cover it up!! The large book was part of a wizard set from Pear Tree Miniatures that I have set aside for Flourish & Blotts.

 The fireplace is topped by a photo of the two Dumbledore's in  a frame I originally made for the Leaky Cauldron. As it was the perfect width for the mantle I cut it down added a bit of gold rub 'n' buff before gluing the picture in place.

Of course there had to be some mention of S.P.E.W even if the house elves don't always approve.

At the moment my bubbling cauldron is cooling down so I hope to be able to show you how it has gone tomorrow.

I hope the sun is still shining in your part of the world, we had lovely sunshine today but a very chilly north wind. I don't mind how cold it is as long as that sun keeps shining!!

Harry Potter Birthday Disaster...er I Mean Project, Part 3

The paperclay proved to be a disaster. Well that's not quite true. I finished the painting and the clay did not crack any further but the backboard of the shadow box warped horribly and despite many an hour under heavy weights I could not get it back into shape.

This meant it would not fit on to the back of the frame. Which meant I had to start again.

So new frame. Smaller than the last.

Same left over roof tile flooring with a little bit of greenery to hide the gap at the back.

This time I lined the frame directly with bog standard stone effect paper nothing fancy.

A bit of bush greenery in each corner softened the edges nicely. All was going well until I noticed the size of the back board. For reasons known only to the manufacturer the board was the same size as the glass, this meant it fell straight into the frame. I could not work out how the board would ever fit. Surely it needed to be slightly wider than the opening?

Well anyway, the physics of that was beyond me. I am sure there is a really simple answer but what I did was make four sides to frame the hole at the back and cover them with the stone paper providing an edge all the way round.

The backboard could now be glued to this. 

This will be the stone wall for the new floating shelves. With my son's birthday on March 15th I have been a little worried that my teeny Harry Potter dolls would not arrive on time.....but they have!!!

How cute are these?! They will really make him laugh, she says hopefully! Birthdays never seem to be as much fun when you are working and paying rent so I wanted to make him feel that he is still allowed

 to have a bit of silliness in his increasingly sensible life!

Shelves still need to be added and they will each have their name on a parchment scroll.

When everything is glued into place I should be able to place them all in the shadow box. A much simpler project than I had first planned!

Floating distressed steps added along with the parchment name scrolls.

Oh dear! Set light to this scroll but after taking three attempts to get the right font and size I decided to leave it as is. He is deceased after all!

All done just in time for the birthday tomorrow. The back fitted on nicely and I have added picture hooks so it can be hung up, somewhere!