I got the idea to do the Weasley's home from Harry Potter, after I watched the newest movie in the Harry Potter franchise. I love the Weasley's home or what is formally known as "The Burrows" . It's a crazy d-i-y house that has different windows and different doors and it's a bit ramshackle and there is magic all mixed with "muggle" stuff and it feels to me like a house full of love.
I began by sketching this to the scale I was going to build it, then making a model out of foamcore and tape. Each piece I made I used as a template for a gingerbread piece. I think there were over 200 pieces when all was said and done. I made 4 double batches of two different recipes of gingerbread ( for a little colour difference but also because I ran out of some of the ingredients so I had to get creative!!!). It was hard freaking work, my arms were sore, and my hands actually got a little swollen from kneading the dough with my hands. (Craziness) I knew that the weight of the top would be an issue and much like the original the weight of most of it rested on two posts, so I had to use something stronger than gingerbread - so some hardy cinnamon sticks worked wonders!
My favourite part of the whole thing was these little sweaters on a laundry line that I added. I wanted to make something to reflect how much of an awesome D-I-Y-er Molly Weasley was by making all her kids monogrammed sweaters for Christmas. So each one of them is a like a wee tiny Gingerbread cookie. I also made little brooms but they are harder to see.
Over all this was a lot of fun, it took me about a week, and I just puttered away making it taller and taller crossing my fingers nothing would break. The crazy part is now I look at every building in the historic town of Stratford I live in and I think " How would I make that out of Gingerbread?".
I have also recently ( as in 2012 recently) done an instructable.com tutorial on how to build this in detail which you are welcome to peruse.
This has also been featured on a website called Geek Crafts, trendhunter, Robot Libre,
Randomization, which is kind of awesome.
Wooooow,this is fantastic. Great work, really!
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Germany
Hi michelle jamieson!
ReplyDeleteI am e-mailing to you because I'm a crafty witch for The Leaky Cauldron, working in the Harry Potter Crafts section, which you can see here: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/crafts.
As you can see, we are posting tutorials, patterns and pictures for all sorts of Harry Potter Crafts there, and I was wondering if you would allow us to post the "The Burrow" Gingerbread House pictures posted on http://a-can-of-crafty-curiosities.blogspot.com/2011/01/harry-potter-inspired-burrows.html#comment-form. We would identify the pictures and recipe as coming from you. There is also a disclaimer in each of the tutorials we post on Leaky, as well as 2 long paragraphs on the front page of the crafts section explaining visitors that they should use the material found on the website for their personal use and not to sell them (nor to sell any products made from them), as the designers are the only ones who own the copyrights and rights to those items. There is also a copyright sign right by the author's name on the page of a particular item. Last but not least, you will notice that the credits at the bottom of each crafts mentions a source, so in your case, it would say that your pattern/tutorial was taken with permission from http://a-can-of-crafty-curiosities.blogspot.com/2011/01/harry-potter-inspired-burrows.html#comment-form and we would include a direct link to the place where the tutorial can be found on your site.
The Leaky Cauldron easily gets between 70,000 and 1,000,000 hits per month. I believe letting us add your patterns and pictures there would increase your visibility too. And of course, it would enable thousands of crafters all around the world to make wonderful crafts like yours!
Hoping to post your creations soon!
--
Raquel
Leaky Cauldron Crafty Witch
P.S.: We would appreciate it if you could reply to us (whether you're interested or not) by e-mail at crafts@the-leaky-cauldron.org, as we crafty witches figure out our to-do list from the conversations in our e-mail account. Also be sure to include a link to your burrow gingerbread house blog post in the message, otherwise the other crafty witches may not know which one you are referring to! Thanks!
P.P.S: We found your burrow gingerbread house pictures while browsing the Web, which is why we're only requesting permission for that one. However if you have made more Harry Potter goodies, be sure to link us to them when replying to us and we'd be delighted to include them on Leaky as well!
Hi There,
ReplyDeleteI followed over from GeekCrafts, I HAD to come over and tell you how muc I love your Burrow! I think this is the best gingerbread house ever! I love all the details you put in, it's just amazing! I'm on my way over to vote for you on Craftster too, good luck!!
Lisa
And you've been featured in the Great Hall of the HP Knitting/Crochet House Cup on Ravelry.com, possibly the hardest-core yarn&fiber Potter fans on the planet.
ReplyDeleteThis. Is. Perfect.
Now I have to knit it.
I'm blown away by this! I've wanted to someday create a very large Hogwarts castle in gingerbread. Now I MUST also do The Burrow!
ReplyDeleteAlso, you're now counted among the elite on the 'Sunday Sweets' feature on Cake Wrecks!
Congratulations on an amazing project, and thank you for your inspiration! :)
Holy. Crap. I. Am. Not. Worthy.
ReplyDelete