Harry Potter Sorting Hat

Why did I want to make this?

Well, I've been a huge fan of the harry potter series as I have grown up. I was completing my daily search on Pinterest and saw an amazing art project. That's right, the Sorting hat from Harry potter. I loved this paper Mache project as it involved using card, wire meshing, tape and a lot of PVA glue!

Anyway, I decided to make this with my boyfriend on the weekend and this is a step by step tutorial on how I made it. I hope you like it.

What do you need?

- PVA glue

- News paper

- Corrugated Card board

- Masking tape

- Wire meshing

- Black paint

- Brown paint

- White paint

- Scissors

- Box cutter

- Hot Glue gun

- Hot Glue sticks

- Wire cutters / pliers

- and a lot of free time on your hands...

Step one - Cutting the base

Once you have disassembled the box you plan to use, cut off a piece about 50cm by 50cm. Lay this piece down onto an even work surface such as a floor or desk.

Once this is done, use a sharpie or thick pen to draw out a circle about 25cm in diameter. This is the hole which will sit around your head. Draw an oval with the smaller part about 45cm in diameter and the longer sides about 55cm. This will give it a better look at the end.

Step two - Cutting the pieces out

Using a pair of very sharp scissors or a sharp box knife, begin to cut away the smaller circle.

Be careful when using these types of equipment as they are very sharp. So pay attention.

When the first circle gas been cut, use the same knife or pair of scissors to cut the second out. Be very careful as you could slip and injure yourself.

Step three - Making the base of the cone

This is quite a fiddly step and may require two people. Using the pliers or wire cutters, cut two 30cm squared pieces of the wire meshing. This will be used to form the base of the cone That will soon make up the sorting hats head.

When this is done, cut 2cm up from the bottom all along the bottom and bend these about 80-85degrees. This is what will be glued onto/around the middle hole.

When you have bent them, Place the meshing around the hole, and bend the surface so it fits the circle. Make sure the top goes in more as it needs to be pointed. But do not make this part painted. The diameter only needs a little smaller than the first circle.

Complete this with more wire meshing until the entire circumstance is covered. Make sure you add spots of glue to the joining mesh along with glue at the bottom. This will give a much stronger structure.

Step four - Adding the card

Once the meshing is done, its time to add the card. grab some more of the corrugated card used in one of the previous steps and cut out a trapezium with a base of 30cm. And a height of 50cm. Make sure the corrugated pattern is pointing vertical to the base. Use something such as a copper pipe to roll the card into a tube. This will make it easier to curve the card. Unroll the card and cut 2cm up from the bottom. Bend these tags so they are roughly 90 degrees from the horizontal axis. This will allow you to glue the card to the base.

Using hot glue, attach the card (look at the pictures if not too sure). Cut another trapezium and complete the same process until the mesh is covered. Make sure you leave a 10cm gap on the top meaning there is still a hole at the top of the hat. This is because you care going to create a curved paint as seen in the movie.

To do this you must cut different sized card pieces and arrange them such that they are curved. Cut out some curved pieces like the ones shown in the picture, tape these in place and then add the small pieces to just join the curve.

Once this is done, use the scissors to cut an elongated U shape and stick thick to the lower cone. Look at the pictures if not sure. Copy the shape and tape it a little higher than the other but facing the opposite way, this will great the beak like mouth.

Cut out 2 rectangles about 2cm in width and 9cm in length. These will make the eye brows. Attach these using either tape it glue about 10cm above the mouth pieces. You need to bend each rectangle about 3/4 of the way and point it in towards the centre of the mouth.

Step five - Paper Mache

Im not going to insult your intelligence by telling you how to paper Mache. So ill tell you where to build up the areas to make it look more like a hat. The base of the cone should be a little thicker so make sure you build this up. You can do this by adding newspaper balls or tissue paper to the base before adding the Mache.

On top completely cover the hat with the newspaper and make sure you add at least 3 layers. Build up any area you would expect to see folds such as the curved part in the point.

Step six - Painting

You can really have fun with this step as you don't need to follow anything. You can make it yours and personalise it as much as you wish. I completely covered the surface in brown paint to create the base colour before adding the black and white to the places that need it. The folds were painted darker while the places exposed to more light were painted much lighter. I painted the eyes with black along with the inside of the mouth as this made the overall look much more creepy and realistic.

Done!

Well done! If you attempted the project I really hope you have something you are proud of. Anyway, thank you so much for reading and if you enjoyed what you read, feel free to favourite and follow my account. Feel free to comment on what you think or ways to improve. Thank you so much.