DIY Harry Potter Collection - Signage

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My 3 sisters recently threw a combined birthday party. And the theme they chose was Harry Potter.
As my gift to them I made a bunch of the props and decorations.

 So here I will give a , sort of, step-by-step on how I made the various items.
Be warned though, I'm pretty bad at remembering to take photos of my process.

 This is the last post in this series. To everyone that's been reading, thank you.
For the new comers, go check out my other posts, they are more exciting then this one.

SIGNAGE

I made various signs for the party to add to the mood.

1. THE THREE BROOMSTICKS

The Three Broomsticks sign was made out of foam-core board that I cut to size, and painted.
To give it a more wood-ish look; I painted first a light colored base coat; then dry brushed on several coats in different colors to give it more texture. Remember to do all your brush strokes in the same direction so it looks like wood grain. I did horizontal, but vertical will work as well.

To get the wording placed exactly right and be in the correct font, I used a trick of my own devising.
1st, because I don't have a printer; I opened the image on my laptop, flipped the screen back as far as I could and then gently traced the words onto a few pieces of paper.
I'm basically using my screen as a lightbox.
Don't press too hard when tracing, your computer screen will not be impressed.

Then I grabbed a piece of xerox film (I ripped mine out of an invoice book) and placed it on the painted sign, under my traced sketch.
Then, slowly and with a blunt pencil, I ran over the traced lines, pressing firmly to get the xerox to transfer onto the sign.
I didn't get very consistent lines as the xerox didn't want to transfer to the more textured parts of my paint job; but it gave me enough so I could fill in the gaps.

2. PROFESSOR SPROUT'S VEGGIE PATCH

This sign was placed next to our salad bar.
I made it up in Powerpoint, by playing with different background textures and cliparts for the leaves and vines.
Then printed on A3 and slipped into a plastic sleeve to protect from dressing stains etc.

3. MONSTER BOOK OF MONSTERS

Ok, not really a sign; but I'm grouping it here anyway seeing as it was a short project.
My mom found a wooden box that was already shaped to resemble a book. So I had a good jumping off point.

I first added a bit of jacket padding to the "bump" where I wanted his eyes to sit. I stuck this down with a light mist of spray glue.

Then I draped my fur over the whole book so I could see how big of a piece I needed.
While it was draped, I also took the opportunity to mark where the eyes should go.

Then I un-draped the fur and cut it to size, leaving enough overhang on the side so they could be "tucked in".
I also put the eyes in their designated spaces. I used teddy bear eyes, which you should be able to find in any craft store. I poked a small hole in the fabric with my scissors, then slipped the eye through and secured on the wrong side of the fabric with a clip.Similar to how you would put on a stud earring.I had some extra eyes, so put those on the book "spine" (taking creative liberties, I know).

Then, re-wrap the fur and cover the book as you would a school book. Go slow and smooth the fur as you go. 
Next, teeth; I cut a small strip of white fleece and roughed it up with some grey and yellow powders so they would match the color of the pages better. Then I cut out some jagged teeth from this strip and glued them down along the top edge of the book.The tongue was cut from a piece of red felt and also glued to the inside front cover of the book, so it lolled out.
To finish, I added some brows for the "spine face" and made a velcro belt to hold the Monster Book of Monsters shut.

4. HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WIZARD?

There is a LOT more writing on this sign then on the Three Broomsticks one. So I didn't want to use the xerox method again. It would take too long. So for this sign, I started by printing (at my parent's house) the various wording I wanted to use.
Then I Papier-mâchéd them to a cardboard base.

Unfortunately you could see really obviously where I had stuck the pieces; so I painted over the whole thing with a few VERY thin coats of off-white paint.
Then, I used a permanent marker to go over the letters which were now faded due to the covering of paint.
Then I also did a border around the cut out so it matched the film version.

And voila!

5. PLATFORM 9 3/4

This one wasn't very difficult.
I grabbed a white sheet and a rectangular sponge. Then, using the sponge as a stamp, I covered it lightly in paint and stamped the sheet into a brick pattern.
It wasn't perfect, I definitely wouldn't employ myself as a brick layer; but it got the point across.
Then I cut the sheet in half so people could walk through it.

 Lastly I added the 9 3/4 circle. I used the laptop-lightbox method again.

After tracing the design to paper, I cut out the letters and used my paper as a template. I used the back of my "brick sponge" covered it in a thin layer of black and stamped over the template until I had enough coverage.
I really recommend stamping over brushing with this, as brushing will often lead to your paint getting under the template and making a mess.

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Ok. That's it for the Harry Potter Collection.

I will be making other things, like clothes and stuffed animals etc on this blog as well, so please stay subscribed for more awesome DIY creations.

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