Introduction: Quidditch Diorama Clock
Step 1: What You Will Need
- Small glass jar (the one I used held face cream)
- Watch
- Polymer clay
- Thin wood (I used 1/32" basswood from a hobby shop)
- Wire
- Sharpies
- Green felt or craft foam
- Needle nose plyers
- Vegetable steamer and pot
Step 2: The Stadium
I cut a one centimetre strip of thin wood, it was as a bit larger than the circumference of the inside of the jar. With a pot of water and vegetable steamer I steamed the wood until I was able to bend it enough to fit inside the jar. This took roughly 10-15 minutes. I cut off the extra wood so the ends met flush. I also stained the wood using a brown coloured sharpie diluted with alcohol. I needed to work quickly here as the wood was beginning to become less flexible and difficult to fit back into the jar. Once the wood was ready I slipped it into the jar and positioned it near the bottom rim (there was no need to glue it, as the wood dried it was stuck in place.)
Step 3: Viewing Stands
I used white and yellow clay to make the viewing stands. I made five in each colour. They have a width and thickness of 0.5cm and are 2.5 cm long. The top is steepled and there is a small v-shaped notch on one side. I stuck a small length of wire in the top as well to attach a flag later (put the wire in before you bake it.)
Step 4: Viewing Stands Continued
Once the viewing stands are baked and cooled I added the house colours. For the yellow stands I made 2 checkered with brown (Hufflepuff) and three with red (Gryffindor). For the white I made 2 checkered with blue (Ravenclaw) and 3 with green (Slytherin)*. The flags on top of the stands were made from paper coloured white and green, white and blue, yellow and brown and yellow and red. They were just glued onto the wire.
(*Note: the house colours I used were based on a Google image search of quidditch pitches, if you look at the Hogwarts entry on Wikipedia the house colours are slightly different. If you are particular about this sort of thing please adjust the colours accordingly).
Step 5: Gluing in the Stands
I marked the clock increments on top of the jar so I know where to glue the stands. The 6 and 12 o'clock will be marked with the quidditch hoops but 1-5 and 7-11 will be marked by the stands. I put one of the Gryffindor and Slytherin coloured stands at 3 and 9 since they are the teams competing. I glued the viewing stands to the wood with super glue and used a small clamp to hold them in place while the glue dried.
Step 6: The Turf
I had at first planned to use green felt for the pitch since it would look more grass-like, unfortunately it was a bit too thick as it hindered the movement of the clock hands. Instead, I used craft foam. I cut a circle small enough to fit inside of the jar, poked a small hole in the centre for the clock mechanism and drew the lines on the field with white paint.
Step 7: The Hoops
I used a brass coloured wire for the quidditch hoops. I made three for each end with one hoop larger and longer than the other two. I simply wrapped the wire around the end of a paint brush too form a circle. I poked the wire through the foam on each end of the pitch and glued the bottom.
Step 8: The Players
I used a small gold coloured bead for the snitch and glued it onto a thin piece of clear plastic, which was then glued onto the second hand of the watch (the watch hands were bent upward 90 degrees). I used and modified some clip-art to make the two players and printed tiny (roughly 0.5cm) versions of them onto a transparency sheet. I cut around the players and glued them onto the minute and hour hand. I then assembled the clock and checked that the movement of the hands were not impeded.
