Harry Potter Book/Paper Prop Tutorials, Photos + Complete Advanced Potion Making
- Thread starter ecl
- Start date
LLestrange
New Member
That is amazing!!! So well done. I love it I really want to have one. But I have one question do you only have alchemy info pages in there or do you also have the potion recipe from Harry Potter in there?
oliversnape
Well-Known Member
So, I have a laserjet printer at work which I'm going to try to make the foil transfer on for the cover, but I have a question. Will it ruin the foil if I let it cool down, and then print the rest of the cover overtop, on the same printer? Has anyone tried this?
ecl
Sr Member
I'm not 100% sure about the color laser printer, but I used an inkjet to print over the foil and there was no problem at all. (I used black laser to print the foil parts before applying the foil) I know that laser printers print a little differently so you might want to test it out first on a smaller part!
CrimsonGriffin
New Member
Thanks so much for the help. I don't know what I would do without you.
oliversnape
Well-Known Member
ecl, I'm having a right old laugh at myself and I think you ought to as well. I received the book block from blurb.com in the mail a week and a bit ago, and it looks bloody fantastic. Whilst waiting for the foil to arrive, I figured I'd prepare my cover page for it. I've just spent an hour and a bit in photoshop trying to cut out all the silvery bits at the bottom so I could do the foil part, and thought I'd ask you about the signature because I was having issues with it. Figuring you might have a clearer shot in the blurb sale thread, I headed over there and found....the already finished file for foiling. *laughs* And a more updated cover than the one here, too.
Oh well. At least this way I know I've put time into the project and feel it's more something I helped make. I'm definitely using your file though, as I'm rubbish at cutting out intricate designs with that magic wand!
Oh well. At least this way I know I've put time into the project and feel it's more something I helped make. I'm definitely using your file though, as I'm rubbish at cutting out intricate designs with that magic wand!
ecl
Sr Member
Hey Oliver! Glad you like the book! Yes, sorry about that, I've updated the sale thread more with the new files and haven't really thought to update the ones here lol. I'll go through it in a bit and change the links here too. I'd love to see pictures of your finished book when it's done! Thanks!
oliversnape
Well-Known Member
Finally got my foil in the post! What a pain in the arse that is. Might be because I only have a travel iron, and maybe it doesn't get hot enough. Anyway, I have my cover for the book, and I also have marbled endpages that I found on the internet.
Two fuzzy photos for now, it's too damn hot to take any better ones. Plus, I haven't started to rough up the book yet.
ecl, you are amazing for giving the tutorial and cover bits.
Two fuzzy photos for now, it's too damn hot to take any better ones. Plus, I haven't started to rough up the book yet.
ecl, you are amazing for giving the tutorial and cover bits.
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Barneyrfd
Sr Member
Looks really nice oliver. A good scuff job will make it look like it came out of Snape's book closet. What kind of paper did you print the cover on?
I found some canvas textured paper at the local dollar store and I'm wanting to try to print the cover on that but I need to refill my ink cartridges first.
bfd
oliversnape
Well-Known Member
Thanks! I used regular copy paper from business depot. We have a bunch of different papers at work to choose from, but i went with that because I find the thinner paper folds easier without cracking the ink at the fold, if you know what I mean.
Interestingly, the tape I used to stick the foil to the page for heating left some residue, which was of course ignored by the printer on the second pass through. Those are the white-ish marks you see on the back of the cover, and the spine. I'm actually okay with that, because it'll help with the scuffed look.
Interestingly, the tape I used to stick the foil to the page for heating left some residue, which was of course ignored by the printer on the second pass through. Those are the white-ish marks you see on the back of the cover, and the spine. I'm actually okay with that, because it'll help with the scuffed look.
ecl
Sr Member
Hey Oliver! Great work! I'm glad the tutorial and files helped 
Looks like you did a very good job with the alignment. That's a tough part of the process. It looks great the way it is, but for sure some light wear will make it even better! If you're going to attempt that, I'd suggest testing it on an area that normally has the most wear, like the edges etc, to get a feel for it. I used sandpaper on mine, as it worked really well with the paper I have. Different paper will react differently to the process. Just don't go too crazy on it at first, as it's a one way process, as you can only sand away.
Is that residue actually from the tape or is it shiny like the foil? I know that when I iron on the foil, sometimes I'll see foil like scuff marks that end up on the page, even though there was no toner in those parts to attach to. I've found that a light sanding with high grit sandpaper (1000 grit or so) gets rid of it easily. Not sure if that's what is happening on yours, but I wouldn't worry about it either, as you said, the Snape book is quite beat up anyways.
Looks like you did a very good job with the alignment. That's a tough part of the process. It looks great the way it is, but for sure some light wear will make it even better! If you're going to attempt that, I'd suggest testing it on an area that normally has the most wear, like the edges etc, to get a feel for it. I used sandpaper on mine, as it worked really well with the paper I have. Different paper will react differently to the process. Just don't go too crazy on it at first, as it's a one way process, as you can only sand away.Is that residue actually from the tape or is it shiny like the foil? I know that when I iron on the foil, sometimes I'll see foil like scuff marks that end up on the page, even though there was no toner in those parts to attach to. I've found that a light sanding with high grit sandpaper (1000 grit or so) gets rid of it easily. Not sure if that's what is happening on yours, but I wouldn't worry about it either, as you said, the Snape book is quite beat up anyways.
oliversnape
Well-Known Member
Thanks! I double checked the alignment by holding the pages up to the light (with a text print) and making sure they'd match closely enough. Patience is definitely key on this one.
As a bonus, it gave me an extra sheet of the full cover print out, to experiment on for roughing it up.
The residue is from the tape itself; I couldn't get all the sticky bits off no matter how well I tried. I did get a few of the scuff marks, but they were printed over with the purple cover, and you can't really see them.
Would you mind if I posted here the split cover parts I used? It's your cover, but split into two 8x5 chunks for printing on regular letter sized paper.
As a bonus, it gave me an extra sheet of the full cover print out, to experiment on for roughing it up.
The residue is from the tape itself; I couldn't get all the sticky bits off no matter how well I tried. I did get a few of the scuff marks, but they were printed over with the purple cover, and you can't really see them.
Would you mind if I posted here the split cover parts I used? It's your cover, but split into two 8x5 chunks for printing on regular letter sized paper.
oliversnape
Well-Known Member
Okay! I'll upload them as links, so you can plop them into the first post. These are made for 8.5 by 11 paper, to fit the book text that you put up for sale on blurb.com. But they'll also fit any other 8 x 5 journal.
For printing! : My printer settings were to centre the image, and NOT fit it to scale. You want it to bleed over the margins a bit. That's how I got it to fit the book perfectly, using a canon printer. YMMV, so do a test print of just the bw (less ink wasted) to check your settings.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8306/hbpblackfront.jpg
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1431/hbpblackback.jpg
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/4567/hbpcoverback.jpg
and the last one is too big to upload to them, so I'll attach here.
For printing! : My printer settings were to centre the image, and NOT fit it to scale. You want it to bleed over the margins a bit. That's how I got it to fit the book perfectly, using a canon printer. YMMV, so do a test print of just the bw (less ink wasted) to check your settings.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8306/hbpblackfront.jpg
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1431/hbpblackback.jpg
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/4567/hbpcoverback.jpg
and the last one is too big to upload to them, so I'll attach here.
oliversnape
Well-Known Member
Here's my book! It's not screen-accurate, as it isn't quite as beat up as the film version. As it's to be part of Snape's trunk though, that's actually what I prefer. I need to tidy up the end pages, but I'll do that after a little break. For the aging I actually used quill ink, mixed in with very liquid acrylic, and then as I painted it on I rubbed it with paper towel.
Thanks again for the hard work and tutorial, I am amazed at how well this turned out.
Thanks again for the hard work and tutorial, I am amazed at how well this turned out.
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