Harry Potter Studio Tour....The Costumes, The Potion Room and Dumbledore's Study.

Recently I dragged my husband to the new Harry Potter Studio Tour mostly as a camera back up! He has never read the books and has probably slept through at least half of the films but he likes a day out if lunch is offered!

Due to his lack of Potter pedigree we pre-ordered a digi-guide for him and he found this a great gadget to play with and he could astound me with all sorts of film facts as we wandered round.

Now before I move on with the tour I do have a terrible confession to make.......I have found all of the HP films a huge disappointment. I can't bear Daniel Radcliffe, I think he has been an awful HP and if it wasn't for the tremendous performances of the truly talented adult actors we would have been stuck watching all those terrible child actors.

I did, however, adore some of the sets so this trip was a must for me both for inspiration and building ideas.

The door to the Great Hall is the entrance to the exhibition and hardly a child in sight! If you are thinking of taking younger children be prepared to spend more time in the shop than the main exhibition. This is definitely a look but don't touch tour with a few interactive gadgets along the way.

Well on with the tour......Scattered through the halls are the costumes we all know so well now.

 The Grey Lady in the Great Hall.

 The Slytherin costumes of the later films.......

 ......and Gryffindor of course!

 The staff: Professor Flitwick,

 Mad-Eye Moody and Sybill Trelawney

 and Severes Snape.

 The gorgeous costumes of Beauxbatons School from 'The Goblet of Fire'.

 A collection of Death Eaters......

 .....including 'He who must not be named'.

Pretty in pink for Dolores Umbridge.

A lot of the props and sets are from the later films probably because so much of the earlier stuff has been destroyed or dismantled (or on the walls of lots of lucky crew and cast members!!).

 The set for Dumbledore's Office is really interesting for those of us doing HP scenes or steam punk themes. 

 You can walk around most of the set but this part has a barrier. The blue lighting is due to the changing lighting within the halls for day and evening. This makes it very atmospheric but a pain to take photos!

 One of the many cabinets all full of marvellously interesting brass pieces. A trick I noticed that I will definitely copy, the same pieces are repeated in the different cabinets but set next to different items each time. This makes the cabinets look very individual but easier to fill.

 Lots of ideas to take away here too.

 This was gorgeous. 

 I am sure we could make lots of these items in miniature to liven up our wizarding shelves.

The Potion Room was huge. Maybe even the biggest of the room sets.

 There was everything in this set that you could possibly want to see for any wizardly project inspiration.

 Jars and jars of potions....

 .......and magical mixing equipment.

 What I really found interesting was the use of over-sized jars and bottles. This will be a great way for me to use all the glass ware I have that bought thinking it was miniature!!

 Everything is covered in a fine layer of dust which certainly adds to the dungeon feeling.

A table ready and waiting for a group of students.

I have created a folder of all the photographs I took on the day if you would like to see more of the exhibition. No labels yet but I think they are pretty well known!

Enjoy.