So, last week, I told you more than you probably ever wanted to know about our family trip to Harry Potter World in Orlando, Florida.  Naturally, I came home with a fierce desire for all things Potter, and got right away doing some related projects.

First project:  The Dobby doll!  My big souvenir from our trip was this wonky little Dobby.  I knew he wasn’t the greatest looking thing…

He looked pretty purturbed, actually.  Like he just ate something sour and is a bit miffed by it.  But I figured I could do something with him.

He’s got a wire poseable frame, and is made of a foamy sort of material, so there’s no chance of changing the face sculpt at all.  All I could do was try my best to give him a new paint job and brighten him up a bit.

I tried turning his wonky lips into a bit more of a smile, and made his eyes quite a bit bigger.  I also took off the nylon fabric they had wrapped around him, and exchanged it for some paint-stained muslin scraps I had in my craft room.  And I love him!  Myla likes to make him hold his arm up and say, “You must not harm Myla Hendricks!!” which is good for a giggle.  I suggested we replace the Elf on the Shelf (which I got suckered into last year) with Dobby, but she didn’t think that was funny.

For Christmas, I had gotten almost the ENTIRE Harry Potter Funko Pop set (I have a bit of a Funko Pop problem), which I happily painted with a bit more detail (because I have a bit of a Funko Pop problem)…

In a geeky facebook group I’m part of, one member told us she used her Ollivander’s wand boxes as display shelves.  WHAT.  Mind. Blown.  So, along with a snitch and a couple of other knick-knacks, my Funko Pops are housed atop ours, and they sit on our wall, making me smile a bit each time I pass them.

As for the wands, my dad (being pretty crafty himself) said he’d be willing to make us a scroll display, but for now, I built a temporary one.  I took an oval natural wooden plank, screwed in several cool-looking drawer pulls from the hobby shop, added some cup hooks, and a string to hold it up (the rusty star isn’t part of it–it’s a wall decoration we already had, but it fits well with everything).  I bought the leather pull hoops at the bottom intending to have three, but when I got home, I realized I had only grabbed two…and then decided it was perfect for holding the map of wand spells that comes with each wand!  It needs some work (never mind those holes I mislined), but I love the basic idea of how it turned out.  It seems very homemade, put-together and “Weasley,” and I’m pretty happy with that.

Most likely, I’ll re-do it with a nice piece of wood (and balance the wands BEFORE I drill), but for now, this works.

And speaking of my dad, I thought I’d give you an update on his backyard garden train Hogwarts he built by hand.  If you haven’t seen it, I wrote a whole post on it here, but for now, this photo shows you the basic idea:

And now he’s working on Diagon Alley!!!  Look at the figure for the Weasley shop!  I’m so excited to see it.  He sort of went off the map for Diagon Alley, enjoying putting his own little shops in there, but it’ll have the main shops, including Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, and a Gringott’s with a dragon on top!  I can’t wait to see it!

For Christmas, I made him a few signs he could hang from some of the storefronts he’s building…

Then I got a bit obsessed by making these tiny corked mandrake seedling bottle pendants!

I was inspired once again by a tutorial on one of my favorite blogs, Epbot, for building a large mandrake bouquet.  These were SO much fun to make!   I made teensy ones, and tried different versions that were a little more involved, and ultimately didn’t work out as well.  But after a bit of trial and error, I came up with the more simple design above, and made so many that I put them up in my etsy shop.  We couldn’t decide if we liked the moss or the dirt pebbles better, so I made several of each.  Now I want to make other tiny things to put in necklace bottles!   (But I get the feeling that’s been done for a long time by miniature sculptors  much more coordinated than I….)

So there it is!  Potter-brain for sure.  Along with the Butterbeer lip gloss I found on Etsy, a couple of patches for our patch collection (this one and this one), I’m fairly sure we will never tire of wizarding things…<3