Harry Potter Amigurumi Dolls

Harry, Dumbledore, Ron, Hagrid and Hermione

I made these five Harry Potter amigurumi dolls for a friend and her kids who all love the series. I had a lot of fun making them though they took much longer than I expected. Part of that may be because I was trying to made a duplicate set of dolls for myself at the same time because I knew if I didn't make them then, I never would. Unfortunately when we decided to move I had to rush to finish them and didn't get to make Dumbledore or Hagrid for myself.

Since I don't own the rights to Harry, I can't post a pattern. However, I will explain some of the basic techniques I used to create the dolls. I ended up doing a few new things for these dolls that I had never attempted before.

The bodies: I used a basic mushroom body shape, like the body I made for my Nativity dolls. Hagrid needed to be bigger so I added stitches to make him fatter and added extra rounds to make him taller. For Dumbledore, I didn't add extra stitches but I did add extra rounds.

The hair: This was my biggest challenge as I had never done hair on an amigurumi doll and it took a lot of experimentation. I think I will do a separate post with photos of the methods I used, but for now I will summarize by saying that for Hermione, Dumbledore and Hagrid's hair as well as the two beards, I crocheted a "wig cap" then threaded yarn through the spaces between stitches. I put glue on the underside of the cap so the hair wouldn't get pulled out. I pulled apart the strands of each yarn then used a wire brush to gently brush the yarn so it got fuzzy (except for Hermione, I didn't brush her hair out). I then attached the cap to the head. For Harry and Ron, I embroidered the yarn directly on to their heads.

The robes and Hagrid's vest: I started with my pattern for Joseph's robes and just added sleeves by picking up stitches around the arm holes and then crocheting in a spiral until they were long enough. Hagrid's vest was a short version of the robe without sleeves.

Scarves: I experimented with crocheting and knitting ties and scarves out of embroidery floss but when nothing turned out how I wanted, I switched to regular yarn and a homemade four-stitch knitting Nancy to make the i-cord scarves (this could also be done by using the double pointed knitting needle method, see this video).

Details: The faces and details were embroidered with embroidery floss. The eyes were safety eyes. Dumbledore's hat was a simple cone.

Work In Progress: Harry Potter Amigurumi Dolls

 

A quick peek at the Harry Potter amigurumi dolls that I am making for a friend. I've finished the "trio" of Harry, Ron and Hermione and am starting on Hagrid and Dumbledore.

Because Harry Potter is a licensed property I won't be able to post a pattern for any of the dolls, but when I am finished I will detail some of the techniques I used while making them.

Severus Snape Pumpkin

In honor of the release of the final Harry Potter book this year I decided to carve Professor Severus Snape (as portrayed by Alan Rickman).

Here's the unlit pumpkin, just so you know it's not a Photoshop job:

Last year I did a Jack Sparrow Pumpkin. I think this year's is a bit better. One reason may be that I followed some online instructions on how to make a pattern with Photoshop (instead of making up my own by hand). Another reason may be that I used a Funkin (an artificial carvable pumpkin) instead of a real pumpkin. The carving wasn't really any easier, especially since the "flesh" of the Funkin was thick, hard foam. To get the intermediate shade (orange), I had to cut open the back of the pumpkin and spend several hours with a Dremel tool to make the "flesh" thin enough for light to shine through. Despite the extra work, I think the Funkin gives a cleaner result and best of all it doesn't rot!