I had no budget at all
for this project, but luckily a stash of materials for creative stuff of all
kinds. I decided that the moment in time of this miniature would be set a few years
after the Battle of Hogwarts, when all the children had left home, and most of
them had married and some started families of their own.
In the end I made
- almost the entire
front of a wool Weasley jumper, and some skeins of yarn
- a knitted wool
blanket
- a pillow in crazy
quilt patchwork technique
- a wooden wand
- a candle on a
candlestick
- an inkwell with a
quill
- a framed picture of
Arthur and Molly Weasley from the films
- several books
- letters, both
unopened and opened
- a shopping list
- a child’s drawing
- Witch Weekly
Magazine
- a box with merchandise
from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes
- a cup of tea
The jumper was knitted
in thin two-ply wool, with a gauge of 9 stitches/cm (23 stitches/inch). Had I
had longer needles to knit on that wouldn’t have been a problem – I like
knitting on thin needles - but I only had embroidery needles, and being so
short they made my hands cramp if I knitted for too long at a time. The knitting needles
I transferred the stitches to is made from jewellery supplies. I made some
additional balls and skeins of yarn to make it look more complete. As the knitting is small enough to carry it's own weight, it's quite easy to position it so that it looks like it's knitting on it's own.
The blanket was
knitted in one-ply wool yarn on 1,5 mm knitting needles. It was loads of fun to
do, even securing all the loose ends after casting off.
The crazy quilt pillow
was stitched from small scraps of linen, cotton and raw silk fabrics. It was
stuffed with a single layer of quilt batting.
The wand was made from
a thin wood stick from my craft stash. I sanded it down, stained it brown and
varnished it. It doesn’t look like Molly Weasley’s wand from the films, as I
didn’t think to google it until I was finished, but I think it’s cute anyway.
The candle was made
from the same stick as the wand. I made a small hole in one end, and after
painting it, I glued a piece of waxed black quilting thread in it for a wick.
The candlestick was made from the wick holder in an old tea light, that I bent
into shape. Another time I think I would have liked to spray paint it a copper or brass colour.
The inkwell was made
from two parts of different sized grommets and an orphaned part of an earring.
I glued them together and splattered the would-be inkwell with black paint for
ink. The quill was made from a small feather escaped from a pillow, that I used glue from a glue stick on to hold its shape. I then glued the quill to the
inkwell.
The framed photo of Molly and Arthur is
simple as can be: a picture from off the internet, sandwiched between two
pieces of scrapbooking cardstock, the top one cut out to be the actual frame. It has a stand from the same
cardstock.
For the books I used
book covers that I downloaded from the internet - as there are so many I'll just post a list of links at the end of the post. Some had titles that are mentioned
in the books, and on some of the blank ones I added titles of my own, like "Delicious Desserts with a flick of a wand" or "How to care for your owl". I then
printed them out and glued them round small pieces of cardstock. The pages were
made from paper that I’d dyed in tea, cut and stitched together. Depending on
how I wanted the books to look (closed, partially opened or completely open) I
stitched the pages in slightly different ways. The open books were given
insides in patterned scrapbooking paper, but I didn’t bother with that on the
closed books. The stitched pages were then glued to the covers, some of them
with scribbled paper scraps, an entry form for The Daily Prophet’s yearly lottery, or a tasselled bookmarker (made from sewing thread)
glued between the pages for visual interest. Most of the books were glued together
into stacks, with various other stuff (letters, a child's drawing e.t.c.) between, under or on top of them.
There are two unopened
letters made from the same tea dyed paper as the books, one showing the back with its seal, the other one addressed to Bill Weasley. The first letter was
actually addressed to Molly herself, but I decided the back was also
interesting to see. The letters are glued to a stack of books, or I’m afraid
they’d quickly get lost. The opened letter is
from Percy. It’s really just a short note to let his mum know that “we’re
coming to dinner on Sunday”, and even though you can’t see it, glued between
books as it is, I thought it was a nice touch to show him on good terms with
his family.
The shopping list has
a mix of very ordinary things like tea, flour and socks, and more exotic
things like dried spiders and essence of dittany on it. I like that it's so long it can trail off the edge of a table, as parchments are often described as doing in the books.
The Witch Weekly cover
was also taken from the internet, but I changed a few things: I gave the dress
of the silhouette witch bell sleeves and made it longer – I imagine Witch Weekly is mostly read by adult, maybe
even middle aged witches, not teenagers or young adults. A mini skirt looked
rather silly in that context. I removed the date - I'm aiming for a few years into the 2000's here after all. I also changed some of the headlines – “fall
fashions” just wouldn’t do on a British publication. As I couldn’t fit
“autumn”, I just changed it to “spring”.
I made some other small changes as well – a bit pointless perhaps, as
they don’t really show on such a tiny magazine, and part of it is hidden
anyway, but it felt nice to make if fit my vision. Still, a thank you to the person who made the cover in the first place! I assembled the magazine in a similar fashion to the books, but simpler – I
just glued the stitched together pages directly to the folded paper of the
cover. I’m not sure Harry would have liked a heroic cover picture like that of
himself, but he’s instantly recognizable, and it is rather fun to see him as an
auror.
Balancing on top of
one of the book piles is a box from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, where Ron was
working with George by this time. I always thought it was nice that they started working
together, though I’m sure they both felt that it should have been Fred. I still
haven’t got over his death, and having lost a sibling myself I know they –
George especially - never did either.
I thought that Molly
would like a big cup of hot tea when getting comfortable in her corner, so I
made a cup and saucer from polymer clay I had left from years ago, when I made
(rather ugly) miniature dolls. I painted it in green and orange shades, as my mum
like those. I would have loved to fill it with resin water, but that wasn’t in
my budget, so I tried to gradually fill it with craft varnish. It worked rather
well I think, though not perfect. I gave the cup a spoon as well –
self stirring for a bit of magic. The cup looks a bit chipped and worn, and the spoon handle is a bit battered as well - this is the Weasley family after all.
All these little things were put in a large matchbox that I'd covered and lined with scrapbooking paper, and decorated with a scrapbooking tag and some organza ribbon.
So, how do I feel about making miniatures? I love it! I would obviously need lots of practice to become proficient, but I feel this is something I will do more of, when time allows. I’d also love to try and make miniature dolls again, and see if I can make prettier ones now. But first I have other things to do.
Links to book covers - unfortunately some of the links are dead ends:
Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain and Ireland
Charm your own cheese
Medicinal Plants
One Minute Feasts - It's Magic!
Several handsome miniature book covers
Several basic book covers
