2019 is proving to be a busy and momentous year. Not only
did I start a new job in January but I also moved house. Rather unexpectedly, I
then moved house again last week. Let’s just say, the year’s events have
definitely been keeping me on my toes!
Sadly, this has meant little time to exercise the creative
muscles. I’ve even been cooking less. However, I’m hoping things are going to
settle down a bit and that I can get creative again.
Mind you, this is not to say that I’ve done nothing. I have
a friend who also moved house in January and I was determined to put an idea
into practice as housewarming presents for her two young sons. Late last year a
friend, who is a primary school teacher, was telling me about a lantern parade
she was involved in at school and she was getting all the children in her class
to make bird themed lanterns. She then
also showed me a very basic paper lampshade that she had decorated for her
apartment. Both these projects planted a
seed in my head which I have been waiting for an opportunity to try out ever since.
My friend’s sons happen to be Harry Potter fans and
so the idea of turning a paper lampshade into a Golden Snitch was born. For
those not familiar with the Harry Potter stories, a Golden Snitch is a small
flying ball that features in the popular game of Quidditch. The Golden Snitch is released from a box at
the start of the game and it is the role of each team’s Seeker to catch it
whilst dodging various obstacles which his or her team mates try to protect
them from.
In reality – umm… I mean, in the fictitious world of Harry
Potter (!) – a Golden Snitch fits into the palm of your hand but a lampshade
this size would be no good to anyone. My Golden Snitches were, therefore
somewhat larger. They also involved a considerable amount of planning and
engineering, with materials being an important factor in how the lampshades were
eventually constructed. To be completely honest, they just gradually evolved!
The main body of the Snitch was always going to be a paper lampshade sprayed
gold but the wings went through various thought processes and experiments. Card
wings seemed difficult to attach to what is a very flimsy and fragile lampshade
so that plan was quickly dismissed, and the plan for pipe cleaners and tissue paper
turned out to be just too flimsy. In the end I happened across a wipe clean but
disposable table cloth in the partyware section of my local supermarket (I
have completely forgotten what I was actually looking for at the time). This
proved to be far more robust than the gold tissue paper I had but still had the
advantage of allowing movement.
With the pipe cleaners being dismissed as too flimsy, the
offer of the core wire from a disused coaxial electrical cable was gratefully
accepted. Two lengths were cut for each lampshade paying careful attention to
get the right proportion of wing size to body (how did we achieve anything before the arrival of Google
Images?) and these were further lengthened with a section of pipe cleaner at
each end. The object of the pipe cleaner was to give a little more fluidity to each wing tip and also attempt to
reduce its ability to poke out an eye!
A wing shape was cut from the folded tablecloth, with the fold
planned for the top edge of the wing.
The wing shape was then opened out and the length of wire and pipe
cleaner placed along the inside of the fold with about 10cm of wire sticking
out as a sort of feather ‘quill’ to attach to the lampshade and the pipe
cleaner making up approximately 10cm at the other end - the feather tip.
The wire was then taped in place using double sided tape.
The protective strip was then removed from the second side of the tape and the
wing folded around the wire to reveal its final shape. All was left to do was
to create the wings’ feathers by snipping along the bottom edge.
How to attach the wings had been exercising me a bit but it
was the lampshade structure that gave the solution, courtesy of my residential engineer! Each lampshade comes flat packed with a rectangle of wire to
insert to help open it out. Fortunately the top edge of the rectangle of wire has
three really handy features. The first is a c-shaped piece of wire in the
centre which is where you hang the lampshade on the lighting flex that hangs
from the ceiling. The other two features are a small triangle of wire sticking
up at the top corners of the rectangle for inserting into two small circles of
wire in the top of the lampshade which help anchor the lampshade to the
rectangular frame.
The wings were easy to attach by threading each bare ‘quill’
wire through the small triangle on either end of the frame and then hooking
the end around the c-shaped piece of wire in the centre. This gave them enough
of a foundation to stick out rather than droop down. There was also no trying to attach wire to
the fragile tissue paper lampshade. The ability to slot the wings in and out
also meant that the Golden Snitches were much easier to transport – believe me, two large and fragile lampshades are a lot easier to fit in the back of a car if
they don’t each have two huge wings sticking out of them!
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| A completed Golden Snitch |
I was rather pleased with the end results and just hope that
the Harry Potter fans were equally as delighted.
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| A Snitch in its new home |
