Goblet of Fire - Harry Potter

Hello all!

I made this Harry Potter Goblet of Fire for my sister's birthday. She is a big HP fan and I love her so this was a little something to show her. She was really surprised when she got it in the mail.

This is the goblet from the illustration in the book. Not the movie version.

She used it at the library she works at for the HP themed Tri-Wizard tournament where patrons voted for their favorite character from the book. It was nice to see it was useful.

There is a hole in the bottom of the goblet and top of the box. That way notes disappear like the "flames" burned them. They fall into the box. This can be omitted.

This is pretty cheap to make but I did have some of the supplies laying around. In all I spent about a week working on it. There is A LOT of dry time.

Supplies for the Goblet:

I got the bowl for the goblet at the Dollar Store. It was in the kitchen storage section. It was a bowl and colander set. You will only use the colander part.

The base and stem are cardboard from a toilet paper roll and thin cardboard from a Ritz or Lego box

Sand paper and palm sander

Drill and 1" hole cutter

scissors

box knife

paper clay/paper mache

paint - brown, gold

white/off white spray paint

DAP Fast-n-Final lightweight spackling - 8 oz

floral wire

shiny gauzy material - blueish in color

more cardboard from Ritz/Lego type box (thin cardboard)

masking tape

hot glue & gun

Supplies for the chest - if making

cardboard

puff paint

stencil

misc notions

paint - white, gold & green matallic (colors of your choice)

material for the inside of the box

The final goblet is roughly 6.5" tall and 8" wide, the rim is about 1/2" thick.

NOTE*

*If you are going to make the goblet with the hole in it for notes - cut the hole in the bowl before you tape the stem to the bowl.

*Use a 1" hole cutter if you have one. If not use your box knife. Make it the same diameter as the paper roll.

I cut off about an inch of the paper roll to get the stumpy look.

Cut two circles out of the thin cardboard. I used the top of the spackle to make the circles.

Then cut out a thin strip to connect the two circles, to form the base.

It is easier to attach the stem to the base if you cut a hole in the top base circle and have the stem rest on the bottom.

*If you are doing the hole for notes, cut holes in both of the cardboard base circles.

Fill the base with paper or clay before you tape it all up. That way the base will have some weight and you won't have to take the whole thing apart once you realize the base is hollow. (Learn from my mistake :))

Tape all this together.

Attach the bowl to the paper roll. Use the masking tape. It's a little wobbly at first but use enough tape and it'll stay.

Before you move on flip the whole thing over on the thin cardboard. Trace around the bowl and set aside, I'll come back to this.

Now you are going to have to make some forms to build out the sides of the goblet and give it the right shape.

Use the thin cardboard. Your going to make forms for the sides so the paper clay has something to stick to.

The template I have is for the bowl I used from the Dollar store. Yours may be shaped a little different depending on what you use. You want it to be straight on the outside then angle down to the stem.

Once you have your template make another 8-10 and stick them all around the bowl.

Lastly flip the goblet over onto the thin cardboard you drew a circle on previously and drawn another circle using the outside of the forms as a guide. You should have a ring about 1/4"-1/2" wide. It should be a wide as the tops of your side forms. Cut this out and tape it to the tops of your forms that go around the bowl. This will give the goblet a lip to help set the depth of your finished project.

Now that your goblet is all taped together mix up some clay.

Cover a piece of sturdy cardboard with plastic wrap. You want to work on that so you can move the goblet around as you need and it's easier to clean up that way. Its also handy for taking it outside to dry.

The sides are straight as opposed to being round all the way around. Refer to the illustration.

Flip the cup over and starting from the bottom, fill in between the forms. Don't do too much or it will sag and take even longer to dry. Cover the bottom of the base and fill in the cavity in the base (if you didn't do that already).

Once you have a good layer built set it aside to dry.

Repeat filling in and building out and drying. Shape it and smooth it to your liking. Use the illustration as a reference.

Once the outside is dry flip it over and do the inside of the bowl and inside the stem if you are doing the option with the hole.

Now let the whole thing dry.

When it's dry, take a sander to the goblet and knock down any large bumps and smooth it as best you can. The next layer will fill in any gaps so it doesn't need to be perfect.

Now get out your spackle.

If you've never used this stuff it's very easy to work with and very very lightweight. Seriously I had to open the jar at the store because I thought it was empty.

Anyway, smooth the spackle onto the goblet and using a putty knife or some sort of scraper make it as smooth as you can. It's supposed to look like wood so if you are going to do any graining, now is the time. I didn't and just left it smooth. Hand sand any bumps and keep going until you are happy. I only did the outside but you can do the inside if you have enough left.

When you're happy let it dry completely.

The box is optional.

If you aren't doing the notes but want the box just don't cut the hole in the top.

If you can find or have a box your goblet fits in then hooray use that. :)

Get a cardboard box. I used a random Amazon box I had lying around. I ended up cutting it up and making a box. Mine was 9" by 7" if I remember. I didn't do a ton of pics for it.

Anyway tape all the sides together. Make the top hinged. I used two small pcs of cardboard to attach the lid to the back of the box then a small piece of gold ribbon to cover them.

Set the goblet on top of the box. Trace around the base of the goblet (this is so it will sit flat on top of the box and the notes can fall into it) and cut a hole the same size as the one in the goblet.

You can decorate the box however you like. I believe the book says it is jewel encrusted. I got a stencil from Hobby Lobby and traced it on to the box. Then I went over that with puffy paint, then painted the entire thing white, then metallic gold, then highlighted random dots with the green metallic. Since I made the box, the edges were rough. I glued gold ribbon along the outside edges to finish it.

For the inside I cut six more pieces of cardboard to fit inside the box. It helped with stability and made it easier to cover the inside. Make sure the piece you use for the inside top fits inside the inside sides of the box or the top won't close. I covered these pieces with some random material I had and glued them in. Dry fit everything before you glue. (I did not do this and had to start over a little.) To cover the edges and finish it I glued more gold ribbon along all of the edges.

To make the latch I used more ribbon. I cut a slit in the front and the top. The ribbon was run through a decorative stone and held by a match stick. The ribbon was then fed through the front, then out the top and back down behind the stone.

You don't have to have a latch or make anything as weird as I did.

The flames are pretty simple and once you get going they aren't too bad.

First, get your floral wire and bend it into the shape of a single flame. You want to leave the wire long for now, they'll be trimmed later. Make about 6 of these.

Next, more floral wire and make smaller flames to fit inside the flames you've already made. Take these outside and paint them white. Let them dry completely.

When dry lay them out so you can cut the fabric. I used some gauzy type fabric that was iridescent. (I'd bought it for a Cinderella dress I have yet to make) Anyway, cut around each flame (big and small). Cut two pieces of fabric per flame to encase the wire. Make them bigger than the flames, the fabric will extend beyond the wire and the way it frays will help with the effect. Set the fabric aside. Now fire up the 'ole glue gun. Run a thin bead over the wire. Don't glue down all the fabric at the bottom. You will end up trimming some off. Press on the fabric. Do this to all the flames. When everything is cool to the touch trim up the sides to follow the shape of the wire, not too close to the wire, leave a little on each side to get the size flames you want. The wire is just for support.

Now the tricky part. Making the ring of fire. Lay the large flame on the small flame. Yes, the small flames are on the outside. Using the long tails from the untrimmed wire wrap the flames together along the bottom. Make them as tall or short as you want. Use extra wire to make them secure. Then wrap the wire to make a flat bottom on the flame. The fire should be flat on the bottom of the joined flames and stick out the sides to join others together. Don't trim off any of the extra wire yet.

Now make the flames fit into the goblet. Take a flame and curve it to the bowl, using the extra wire to secure the flames to each other. Keep adding flames and curving until you've circled the whole thing. You want the circle to fit down into the bowl about half way. Trim all the excess wires and make it nice and neat.

Fit the flame circle into the bowl of the goblet. Mark two holes across from each other. Drill two holes into the goblet (not all the way through) If you go all the way through just patch it up. Fit two pieces of left over wire into the holes then set the flame circle over top and wrap the wire around. Remove the whole thing from the bowl and completely secure the two wires that hold the flames to the bowl.

Paint the goblet brown and highlight with the gold. It is supposed to be made out of wood so nothing fancy here.

Put the flames back in once everything is dry and your done.

I hope you enjoy this instructable and if you have any questions please ask.