Harry Potter Birthday Party!

Yes, I have turned 27 but I decided that the best way to celebrate would be to throw a Harry Potter party in my flat.

I made the mistake of looking up lots of Harry Potter party ideas online, all of which seemed to come from immaculate parties held in enormous American mansions with an unlimited budget (I have a Pinterest board here with some of the stuff I found- to be fair, it was pretty inspiring). But I live in a two bed flat in Nottingham and was planning on inviting some guests who, although they've seen the films, aren't as massive fans as me, so it was necessary for me to tone it down a bit. Sticking things on the walls seemed like it was a good way to start.

These were made before we knew that Ron was sharing is bed with a murderous balding man rather than a pet rat.

These are my pre-movie, 2001 Harry Potter wall stickers. I used to have a huge set of them that adorned my bedroom walls when I was younger but presumably threw the majority away as I now only have a select few remainders. I tried Googling them recently to see what the rest of the pack comprised of but there is no record of them whatsoever on the internet. Just let that sink in for a minute. I own some Harry Potter merchandise that doesn't appear to exist anywhere else. And I threw most of them away as a teenager. Yep.

Here's a selection of some of the rest of my wall decorations:

These are some more of the HP wall stickers, along with a handmade Honeyduke's sign

I made a Darks Arts section of my living room by creating a mini altar covered in dark-coloured scarves and adorned with skulls and other creepy objects. I used a UV pen to write a sign underneath which could only be seen when the UV light was turned on.

Naturally I made a 'Potions' area in my kitchen with bottles of various drinks with tea-stained labels:

Despite renaming it Veritaserum, I still couldn't get rid of the abominable grappa I bought in Italy last year

I have an extensive selection of teas so, together with a glowing orb and a set of tarot cards, this became the Divination area:

Snacks came in the form of Honeyduke's sweets and Gringotts' galleons (protected by a dragon, of course):

Two of my friends also made gorgeous cakes, one of which featured a Deathly Hallows design made of of chocolate hearts.

It should go without saying that the Harry Potter films were playing in the background at the party:

RIP old TV

I created an 'Olivander's' game which consisted of a collection of 40+ 'wands' (sticks) I had foraged for in my work lunch hours with a selection of questions and challenges stuck on each one. The sticks were put in a container covered with silver wrapping paper so guests could select a wand at random and complete the task. Tasks ranged from 'pretend you're riding a broom' to 'what would your boggart turn into?'. There was also one stick that said 'you are a unicorn for the rest of the game' and one unfortunate male had to wear a glittery cardboard horn crafted by my own fair hands for the next half an hour. It then got passed around the room and was worn by most of the party.

Naturally the party was fancy dress, so there was an assortment of characters and Hogwarts students including Sirius, Hermione, a young Bellatrix and a house elf. I went as Luna by making some Spectrespecs from some old 3D cinema glasses and wearing something resembling a school uniform:

I put a fair bit of effort into decorating the flat but my friends really made the party by being so enthusiastic about dressing up and joining in the silliness. So... same time next year?

Slytherin Scarf

So just in time for glorious spring weather (aka rain that is not quite so cold as winter rain) I have finished my second knitting project- a Slytherin scarf!

I followed exactly the same method as I did when making my Gryffindor scarf before Christmas except this time I knew what I was doing and made far fewer mistakes.

The wool I used for this scarf was:

• Green- Patons Fab DK, shade 02341
• Grey- Knitting Essentials DK, shade 804

Here is the finished scarf in its full glory:

I'll probably make a Ravenclaw scarf eventually although I'll give Hufflepuff a miss (yellow and black stripes will just make me look like an oversized bee).

Em-Con 2015

Last weekend I attended the second annual Em-Con (East Midlands Film and TV Convention) in the Capital FM Arena, Nottingham. I had initially planned to put together some kind of Skyrim cosplay but life- and a lack of motiviation- got in the way, so I decided to put together a last minute Hermione costume. 

Hopefully Hermione would approve of my smug face

On a pumpkin juice break

The costume consisted of:

• a white work shirt
• a rather frumpy skirt I bought for my graduation ceremony and have not worn since
• a grey top/jumper that I wear for work
• my boyfriend's maroon tie
• extremely thick tights (in my defence, it was very cold that day)
• Dr Marten's shoes, again usually worn for work
• my homemade Gryffindor scarf
• a Gryffindor badge I found in a charity shop
• a timeturner necklace
• prefect badge from school (we all received one at my school. I was never a 'proper' prefect)
• an official Hermione replica wand
• a striped satchel bag from Topshop 

I spotted a few other Hogwarts students at Em-Con- including Harry, Ron and a tiny Hermione- as well as a few people wearing timeturners and Harry Potter t-shirts. I would have loved to get a group photo with them all but alas, the opportunity never arose.

There does seem to be a bit of a Harry Potter curse to Em-Con. Last year Jessie Cave (aka Lavender Brown) was due to attend but didn't turn up on the day and this year James Payton (Neville's father) pulled out a few days before the event.

Also, I managed to get attacked by a Cyberman:

If this isn't evidence of the curse in action, I don't know what is

It wasn't all bad though. Highlights of the event included real, moving Daleks:

I refuse to believe that any creatures offering cups of tea can be evil

The Impala from Supernatural:
 

Sam and Dean not included

And the 'Three Doctors': Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker and Peter Davison:

My photography skills leave a lot to be desired

There was also that perennial favourite: queuing. I queued to get in, queued to look at stalls, queued to walk past stalls, queued to get barcodes scanned for the Q&A sessions and queued to have my name ticked off a list for the Q&A sessions. I even had a conversation with Syvester McCoy about queuing while I was in a queue. It was the most British of events.

The majority of the stalls at Em-Con offered all the usual merchandise you'd expect- overpriced replicas, large men's t-shirts (perhaps with a tiny and inferior selection of women's tops) and signed prints- however I did manage to find one stall that sold Harry Potter and other geeky jewellery that I hadn't seen before! They were also very reasonably priced- amazing! The stall was called 'Harpys' and they have a Facebook page here.

I bought this amazing Harry Potter necklace, worn here just before I went on a visit to the British Library:

I also picked up a Skyrim necklace:

Definitive proof that I am the Dovahviin

There were many creepy costumes at Em-Con, including a man with entirely black pupils and some sort of demon. However, the hands-down winner of scariest costume for me was the guy that came as Keith Lemon with a lightsaber:

Intentionally blurry to protect you from the true extent of the horror

Next year's Em-Con is due to be a two-day event which I'm a bit unsure about. With any luck, twice the length means twice the numbers of ,and so maybe, just maybe, we'll manage to see a Harry Potter actor at last!

Harry Potter Book Night

Happy Harry Potter Book Night everyone!

'What is the Harry Potter Book Night?' I hear you cry. Well, it's a celebration of the Harry Potter books and is primarily aimed at schools and libraries to promote the stories (and reading) to younger generations. It is run by Bloomsbury publishers and individuals and organisations could register in advance to receive an emailed pack which contained quiz questions, game ideas, decorations etc for their own event. Lots of info can be found on their website here and you can follow the fun on Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag #HarryPotterBookNight

This is the first such night and, hopefully, it will be a massive success and will grow into even bigger and better celebrations.

Unfortunately the events in my neck of the woods are very much child-orientated so, as a 26 year old with no kids of my own, I would stick out like an over-enthusiastic sore thumb amongst the family-friendly revelry.

Maybe next year they will run some events for old gits too. Until then, I'll celebrate in my own quiet way....

Gryffindor Scarf

I've wanted to take up a new hobby for a while and I've also been coveting Harry Potter scarves for years, so knitting was an obvious choice.

Although I am a Slytherin (according to Pottermore, which I regard as the only 'true' way of knowing which House you belong to), I've always been more drawn to the colours of the Gryffindor scarves so I decided that this would be my first knitting project. There are two designs of scarf in the Harry Potter films:

1) The wide striped scarf with tassels seen in Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets:

2) The narrow striped design seen from Prisoner of Azkaban onwards:

I prefer the former, and as I made it in December, it seemed a lot more Christmassy than the later design.

There are lots of different knitting and crocheting patterns out there for making a Harry Potter scarf (and even more for a generic striped scarf) but most seemed a bit too advanced for me so in the end I decided to make my own- very basic- pattern.

Materials used:

• Red wool- Yarnfair double knit in shade 034
• Yellow wool- Sidar Country Style double knit in shade 0612
• UK size 6 needles
• A crochet hook (for the tassels)

Method:

1. Cast on 32 stitches in the red wool
2. Knit for 40 rows. I just used the basic garter stitch as this was quick and easy for me to do as a beginner.
3. Change to yellow wool
4. Knit for another 40 rows
5. Continue until you have 17 stripes- you should begin and end with a red stripe
6. Tidy up the loose threads by weaving them into the scarf
7. Create and add the tassels. The article here outlines how to do this better than I can. I made 9 tassels- 5 red and 4 yellow- and made sure that the first and last tassel were both in the red wool.

I found that these videos were really helpful for teaching me how to knit, so I'd recommend them to any other absolute beginners who are interested in starting knitting.

Here's an 'in-production' photo of the scarf:


                         

The finished product:

                                  

                         

                         

It's not perfect (I wasn't really sure how to retrieve dropped stitches and my knitting was a bit irregular) but I'm very happy with it as a first attempt. I showed it to my Nan who has been knitting her whole life and she said it was very impressive, which is just about the best praise I can imagine.


                          

Not sure if Harry likes it though...

                       

My Amazing Journey to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour Part 4

This is the fourth and final part of my account of my Warner Brothers Studio Tour trip. So far I've seen the Great Hall, Gryffindor Common Room, Dumbledore's Office and Ministry of Magic amongst many other iconic sets and props. Could the tour possibly get any better? Oh yes, it can.

From the gorgeous graphics display, visitors leave the first section of the tour by a door which leads out to a courtyard. Two things face you immediately when you step outside: the very ordinary-looking Number 4 Privet Drive and the obviously magical triple-decker Knight Bus.

This could easily be any street in Britain

                   Unfortunately not normally seen on streets in Britain                      

Other features of the courtyard include the Hogwarts Bridge, Flying Ford Anglia and Sirius' motorbike. The great thing about this area is that, unlike the other props and set pieces, you are welcome to touch and stand/sit on many of the buildings and vehicles. I can officially and proudly say that I have touched Harry Potter's door knocker as well as gone for a ride in the Ford Anglia (well, in my head, anyway).

If you squint hard, me and my partner could almost pass for Harry and Ron

The courtyard also offers visitors the chance to buy a cup of Butterbeer! I wouldn't say I was particularly taken with it (it was like a mix of Irn Bru, Cream Soda and whippy cream) but at least I've given it a try.

After the excitement of the courtyard, I found the next section of the tour- animatronics and prosthetics- a little less thrilling, although still very interesting.  This is the most 'behind the scenes' part of the tour and some of the things you'll see here include life-size models of actors and creatures, a dementor backback (yes, really!) and rows of goblin heads. I was most surprised by a talking Hagrid head, unceremoniously plonked on top of a stack of crates, which was used for Robbie Coltrane's double in the films.

Or maybe this is what Hagrid always looked like under his coat?

I left the animatronics room expecting another room of technical stuff but was instead met with....

Squeeeeeeeeee!

Diagon Alley! My absolute favourite place in the books and films! And it was definitely my favouirte part of the Studio Tour too, even though it was pretty crowded. The facades were so beautiful; I longed to head into Olivanders to browse the wands and stroll into Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour for an extravagant sundae.

One scoop of champagne ice cream with gold sprinkles, please

Maybe after an ice cream, I could pick up a copy of Magical Me...

Or browse the puking pastilles and joke wands in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes....

 

 

But either way, I'd definitely need a visit to Gringott's first to collect some gold!

                                  

It's easy to get carried away when visiting this part of the tour! The lighting in Diagon Alley changed from day to night every few minutes which was nice and atmospheric, but I also would have loved to hear some soundscapes too- maybe some owls hooting and witches and wizards chatting in the street. Or perhaps even the music from the film that is played when Harry first visits Diagon Alley. Overall though, this was- apologies for the cliche- an absolutely magical part of the tour.

The next section of the tour was a collection of artwork and paper models which were a bit of an anticlimax after Diagon Alley, but I'd like to spend more time looking at them on a second visit. 

The final part of the tour was- judging by others' reviews- many people's favourite part of the Studio Tour. It was the large scale model of Hogwarts.

                         

Harry Potter figure not included

I don't want to downplay how magnificent this model is; it really is beautiful and intricately detailed. It is also massive. It's hard to explain the scale of the model but it took up an entire studio room by itself and visitors could walk around the entirety of the model to view it from every angle.  I think I would have been more impressed if every newspaper and internet review I'd seen of the Warner Brothers Studio Tour before my visit hadn't printed a massive picture of the model and gushed over how it was the highlight of the tour. That said, the tour wouldn't have been complete without Hogwarts I am very happy to have seen it.

Visitors exit the tour through a room filled with wand boxes, each displaying the name of a person who contributed to the creation of the films.

                           

 As you head toward the exit and into the gift shop, you are met with a screen displaying this quote from J.K. Rowling which is a fitting and touching end to the tour:

                         

N.B. I visited the Warner Brothers Studio Tour back in 2012 and there have been a few additions since this time, most notably the Dark Arts exhibit. With any luck, I'll be able to go again soon to see the changes!

My Amazing Journey to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour Part 3

If you can remember back past the annual abundance of Christmas pudding and turkey to Part 2 of my trip to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, I had just left Dumbledore's Office and had promised you props. The majority of the most important props were in one particular display case.

         

Am I the only one who thinks the Philosopher's Stone looks edible (and really tasty)?

There was also a horcrux display containing the five inanimate horcruxes. I'd like to be able to say that the blurriness of the following photos are due to the horcruxes exuding an aura of evil that interfered with my camera. Unfortunately the reality is probably down to my own poor photography skills.

 

The wonderful thing about the Studio Tour is that you have the opportunity to take as much time as you want to inspect props and sets that are only glimpsed on screen. For example, I had never noticed quite how beautiful Slytherin's Locket was until I saw it as part of the tour. The locket itself is almost opaline with delicate inlaid green gems in the shape of an 'S' or serpent. I'd just assumed that it was a plain amber-brown colour from the films. The photo I took didn't do it any justice whatsoever!

                         

I begrudgingly pulled myself away from the horcruxes to visit the enigmatic Potions Classroom.

Where you can learn how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses

This was the first set on the tour that included a 'magic' moving item- a self-stirring cauldron. You can watch a video of the cauldron in action on YouTube here (please note: the video is not my own). The Classroom is watched over by the costumes of everyone's favourite Slytherins: Severus Snape and Horace Slughorn.

                                         

 

Fun fact: Snape's costume didn't change throught the films

From the Potions Classroom you pass by Hagrid's Hut which was mostly notable for mugshots and details on the films' animal actors nearby. Did you know that it took three cats to portray Mrs Norris and only one of them was female? Well now you do.

After Hagrid's Hut was a display of three significant doors- one to the Chamber of Secrets, one for a Gringotts' vault and one for the Hogwarts Entrance Hall. Sadly the snake mechanism of the Chamber of Secrets door was not yet up and running when I visited but I'm informed that if you go now you would be able to see this working even without having to speak any Parseltongue!

                 

The next set is The Burrow and again features moving items- this time a self-chopping knife and Mrs Weasley's magical-knitting needles (as someone who is currently learning

to knit, I'd love to own some of these!).

I particularly enjoyed seeing the Weasleys' magical clock in the corner of the room. Unfortunately when I visited this was a very busy area of the tour and it was hard to get to the front of the crowds to get a good look at the set.

As you turn from the cosy and homely Burrow, you are confronted with the monstrous Magic is Might statue depicting muggles being crushed under a massive stone tower.  This change of set is very jarring and it reflects the darker change in mood within the books and films as Harry Potter's story progresses. The following Ministry of Magic set is less whimsical and more based in the real world than the tour so far; the set is intended to resemble the tiled London Underground and the Magic is Might statue is based on real Soviet statues, particularly the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman.

                                  

 

Still think Harry Potter is a children's story?

The only colour injected into this area of the Studio Tour is the violent pink of Dolores Umbridge's Ministry Office.

                      

I actually find Umbridge's Office strangely beautiful (I know many would feel otherwise!) which makes Umbridge herself even more repellent to me.

Thankfully the mood lightens once more as you move on to a surprise gem of the Studio Tour- the graphics deapartment display. Aside from a few key sets, this was easily my favourite part of the Warner Brothers Studio Tour as you are able to get really close to incredibly detailed items such as Dumbledore's will and the Marauder's Map.

                                     

                          

You can also peruse a shelf of mouth-watering wizarding treats such as Cauldron Cakes and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

                          

I can't overestimate how much I loved this section. The love and care that went into each of these items is phenomenal and I could have easily spent an hour examining every small detail in this display. However, there was much more still to be seen....