Friday, December 17, 2010

The Golden Snitch! Ornament Tutorial


Yup, I wore a hastily made clip-on felt Gryffindor tie to the premier of Harry Potter this year. This officially makes me a crafty dork, but it also means I had an uncontrollable urge to try making a Golden Snitch ornament for my tree. They turned out really nicely and I thought there might be one or two other crafty Potter fans out there who would like to know how to make one too.

First, draw an actual size sketch of how you want your snitch wings to look on a scrap piece of paper. Use this as a guide to shape thin craft wire into your wing shape. Close the shape by twisting the wire around the other one 3 or 4 times to make a tight coil. Snip the wire close to the coil. Make 2 (I made 4 as I am giving another Snitch away to my lovely sister).

Coat wires with glue and lay a sheet of tissue paper over top of wires. Use a clean dry brush to push down on the paper, sticking it down to the wires all around each wing. Let dry, then cut out, leaving a few millimeters of paper as a border. Apply glue to border and roll over edges of wire all around the wing. Coat wings on each side with white glue and apply light gold glitter. Let dry.


I used a mixture of brown and gold acrylic paint to paint the swirly 'snitchy' markings on the golden ornaments. I did this mostly from memory and they don't look like movie replicas, but I am okay with that. It occurred to me that if you had a fine-point brown sharpie and one of those gold paint pens, you might be able to achieve real greatness here. I chose to use glass ornaments, because I had them already, although plastic might prove easier to attach the wings to.

Use a small dab of hot glue on the wire coils to make a surface for attaching to the ball. I held each of them vertically against a piece of parchment paper. They don't stick to the parchment (or the glass balls, I tried this first), so just hold each one until the glue cools and a flat surface has formed on the bottom.

I tried a bunch of glues to get the wings to stick to the glass balls. Hot glue pops right off, white glue takes too long to set, even Super Glue didn't work. Finally I tried my trusty Fabri-tac, a glue which I only recently discovered (that I cannot live without), which is like a very strong type of rubber cement, and success! Hold each wing until the glue sets (about a minute or so), then cover glue with gold paint. Tadaa! Go hang it on your tree and get yourself a cookie, you deserve it :)

72 comments:

  1. I love this---I'm going to send this to the HP-obsessed people I know!

    ReplyDelete
  2. These are completely and totally adorable! I love it when I find a fun craft I can complete in an afternoon. Thanks for posting this!

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOVE it! Potter-philes will be thrilled to have golden snitches on their trees. I like the wing tute-I can "wing" anything now. I work for Beacon Adhesives, the makers of Fabri Tac. Thanks for loving it, and citing it too. It helped me find your blog, which is fantastic-can't wait to scroll through the whole thing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. you just made this potter fan very happy with this tutorial!!! thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. how cool!!! and cute!!!! am definately going to try this one....

    ReplyDelete
  6. this just made my night! can't wait to make one for my mom and sister!!! thanks for the post!

    ReplyDelete
  7. these are so cute! i lovelovelove them!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is great! So making this for my daughter for Christmas.Thanks so much for sharing.
    A fellow Islander

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. can i please be your daughter this Christmas?

      Delete
  9. Saw this on pinterest and LOVE this! Thanks for the great tutorial!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Just saw this on pinterest. I am participating in Creepmas this year this little project all done up in black will be perfect for it! Thanks for the tutorial.

    Creepmas is a hybrid mixture of Halloween and Christmas celebrated by a few hundred crazy about Halloween bloggers.

    ReplyDelete
  11. My son will love making these. Can I ask if the Fabritec glue held up from last year to this year? boo(at)booturtle(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  12. So cute! I will make this for my niece this year!

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is absolutely gorgeous, well done! Can't wait to make it :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. this is pure genius!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. this is amazing! i'm so trying to do this for christmas, thank you for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh my gosh, this is amazing! I'm definitely doing this for my Christmas tree this year, thanks for the idea :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm in love!!!
    Thanks!!
    Kisses!
    Ana.
    http://a-enmipropiaprimavera.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am totally making these. THANK YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  19. BRILLIANT! This will make a perfect "extra" gift. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  20. How wonderful .. going to the craft store for materials today. Both of our grown sons love 'Harry Potter'. Each will be getting some for Christmas. Thank you so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Freakin' love it. Found you through neatorama.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks for this! I made a few in place of christmas cards for friends this year. Went down a storm :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh and if you manage to find 'smash proof' (or plastic) baubles then a glue gun works just fine (and makes it all a bit more child friendly)
    ~natalie

    ReplyDelete
  24. Fabulous idea! I've started a set for my sister and brother-in-law, who are HUGE Harry Potter fans, and ridiculously difficult to buy for. Thanks for posting this!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Im making a Halloween tree for Christmas, and using this tutorial to make bats. THanks for this!!!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Oh, I love this ornament!

    Must look through our boxes of x-mas ornatment to se If I´ll find one that can be transformed into a golden snitch...

    ReplyDelete
  27. Beautiful! Why has it taken so long for someone to think of this?! Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Great Idea! such a great Idea and very Unique
    what type of wire did you use?

    ReplyDelete
  29. Very effective but also easy to make :) Kids would love messing around in this lovely project. Thanks for this!

    ReplyDelete
  30. So EXCITED to make this! I'm doing an across the world secret gift swap with a bunch of Potterphiles!! Our budget is quite low so I thought I'd get rather crafty, and this is so utterly perfect there are no words. I'm going to have to fashion the wings out of something I have with me, though. I thought a coat hanger, but that would be too heavy to glue, I'd presume. Could you suggest anything else?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hello, gift ribbons very often have thin wire put in their seams to make nicer bows. you can pull these wires easily out, they are very lightweight - and you can still use the ribbon to wrap up your presents! I've already used those wires in loads of delicate craft work, for they are not only lightweight but also very plie- and durable both.

      Delete
  31. Hi Rai, I agree that coat hangers would be way to heavy and difficult to work with. Any lightweight craft wire would work, but if you can't find that there must be something else you could use. If you have access to a grocery store maybe you could find some cheap white paper twist ties (like in the bulk food area)? I bet if you peeled the paper off them, they would work, although you might have to use 2 per wing to be long enough. If you are sending these long distance, I would also recommend making them with plastic christmas balls, which are less likely to smash to pieces in the mail!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Hey there ANONYMOUS: I used lightweight craft wire, the kind that people use for wiring paper flowers to stems etc... It is pretty inexpensive and comes either on a roll like thread, or in a package of cut lengths. You can buy it a any craft store, and some beading stores have it too. Make sure that you are not buying a very heavy gauge wire, as it will be too stiff to bend, but also, don't buy a super fine filament wire, which won't be able to support its own shape.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Thanks so much for this idea! I made a normal sized one and a bigger one for my tree topper (an idea someone mentioned when they posted your tutorial). I found gold ornaments with glitter designs on them at Michaels that were all swirly so that saved me a step and I didn't have wire so I just used cardboard that I sprayed gold and cut slits to make the wings bendable, I modgepodged them into a "flying" shape and e6000'ed them to the ornament. Took a while since I put small amounts of glue at a time to each wing, trying to keep it from globbing too much. Added some glitter to the wings and bam! <3 Such a great idea and just in time for Christmas! Our star tree topper broke and the tree looks kind of sad.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I wasn't able to get fabritac to stick to glass ornaments, however, my sister had a brilliant idea. She suggested using scrapbooking squares to stick on the ornament and provide a base on which to use super glue, which seems to work great!

    ReplyDelete
  35. I made these using clear glass bulbs and using pledge with future shine and glitter to mate the bulb glittery on the inside, then using silvery Christmas trim that I had found that looked like snitching wings, put down a dab of glass glue then put a dot of hot glue over top to help hold until the glass glue set....,thanks to you for the idea, my hp loving friends have a snitch for their trees!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Followed the link here from EPBOT.com, and have now made my own flock of snitches for presents. Thanks for the tips! I'll be linking here from my blog after Christmas is over and the presents have been opened...

    ReplyDelete
  37. Thanks again for the wonderful idea!!!
    I just posted my own golden snitch that I've made and pointed to your tutorial :)
    http://estrella05azul.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/the-golden-snitch-my-harry-potter-ornament/

    I LOVE it so much! It's my only ornament up for now, so I better go decorate the rest of the tree :P

    ReplyDelete
  38. I love love love these! I had clear plastic craft ornaments lying around from last year so I used those. For some strange and sad reason couldn't get my fabulous fabri-tac to work on them, so I thumb tacked them and made nice little holes to stick the wire into and hot glued over to seal it, worked like a charm. Thanks for deciding to be awesome and creative and making these, and then deciding to share them. They're amazeballs!

    ReplyDelete
  39. I totally didn't do your idea justice, but I think my cousin enjoyed it all the same. Thank you sooo much for sharing, it helped me make a extra special gift. I also have to say I loved your idea so much that I had to share your link on my blog -http://diy4mommies.blogspot.com/2011/12/diy-christmas-gifts.html

    Thank you again.

    ReplyDelete
  40. GREAT Idea! Thanks!!!

    ReplyDelete
  41. Such a great idea! I love how the snitch just looks like a Christmas ornament. Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Perfectly fits the season, this is a awesome present.

    ReplyDelete
  43. This is a great idea! Thanks for sharing, my son and I will be doing this around Christmas time.

    ReplyDelete
  44. That is so cool - a definite must make! Thank you so much for sharing! There might be just the right old baubles in our Christmas decoration box... :)

    ReplyDelete
  45. Oh, I'm in love with this ornament. Can't wait to make one. Thank you so much for sharing.

    I wonder if you'd be interested in linking it up to The Children's Bookshelf linky: http://www.mylittlebookcase.com.au/activities/the-childrens-bookshelf-playing-with-books/

    ReplyDelete
  46. Hi :) Do you happen to know the thickness in mm of the wire you used? I'm having trouble with the wings and I'm using 0.9 mm.

    ReplyDelete
  47. In the process of making one now for a present and I have to say...i'm SUPER excited!!!! May have to make one for myself just because!! Waiting for the wings to dry and then it's time to attach them. . .i'm a tiny bit terrified! Wish me luck!! And thanks so much for this tutorial!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  48. What gauge wire did you use? I got 20 gauge, the 16 looked too flimsy, and they didn't have anything in between.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Wow! I think you have no idea how impressed I am right now. What an absolutely awesome idea to make snitch ornaments for the christmas tree! Thank you so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  50. Lovely job! Looks like it's gonna be an HP Christmas! :)

    http://cafecraftea.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  51. Question: Would you object to people making these and selling them for Christmastime fundraisers?

    ReplyDelete
  52. Hi! I hope you don't mind - I've included your project in a round up of 'gifts for the geek in your life'. I just thought this was so amazing. You can see it here (http://www.craftaspell.com/2014/01/25-gifts-for-geek-in-your-life.html) if you'd life.
    Thanks!
    Dianna

    ReplyDelete
  53. HP loving friend is moving and we are going to try to make this for a moving/birthday/Christmas present. Thanks so much for the instructions and inspiration!!!! Wish us luck!!

    ReplyDelete
  54. Would you be willing to make me 2 of these? Name your price.

    ReplyDelete
  55. BIG Harry Potter fan. love this idea. putting on my tree this year

    ReplyDelete
  56. These are so much cuter than the ones on Etsy! You might consider selling these.

    ReplyDelete
  57. very interesting, good job and thanks for sharing such a good blog.
    This website provide you genuine link to download autoclicker andabaker

    ReplyDelete
  58. Very interesting, good job and thanks for sharing such a good blog. Your article is so convincing that I never stop myself to say something about it. You’re doing a great job. Keep it up and look at our blog cps test

    ReplyDelete
  59. Yes pirate bay proxy could be argued that the opening ‘flash forward’ is unnecessary and the intriguing way the story is set up – each character is deliberately set aside with on screen name captions – doesn’t really pay off with the type of intricate ‘character study’ it was promising, it’s still admirable that a potentially silly premise is treated with such square-jawed conviction.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Very interesting, good job and thanks for sharing such a good blog. Your article is so convincing that I never stop myself to say something about it. You’re doing a great job. Keep it up and look at our blog CPS TEST

    ReplyDelete
  61. I found your post interesting to read and i want to say that this is a best post i have ever seen until now. Take a look at this article to Google Play Music Free Trial 30 Days 2021.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Hi ! this is often nice article you shared with great information. Thanks for giving such anexquisite informative information. Feel free to visit my website; 바카라사이트

    ReplyDelete