Signage is apparently still an important part of the wizarding world.  There are some iconic signs from Harry Potter that we wanted to create for this year’s Halloween house.  We were going to need a Platform 9 ¾ sign, a Privet Drive sign and some directional signage to help people know the lay of the land.

To create these signs, I did some measuring to determine the ultimate size of each of the signs.  The Platform 9 ¾ and Privet Drive signs would need to be sturdy, so I cut them out of some thin wood (the directional signage would be made from cardboard). I then located images of the signs online (from the movie or Harry Potter backstage tour) and Photoshopped them to be the correct size, matching the dimensions of the wood.  I printed those out full scale (and taped the pages together) to make a template for the signs and laid those out on top of the wood.

I used an Exacto knife to trace the details, which created a thin line in the wood.

I traced over that line with a pen to define the outline of each detail.

I did the same for the Privet Drive sign.

For the directional signage, I just printed out the pointing-finger sign shape full size (so that we could use it as a template for cutting the cardboard).

Then, at our Community Painting Day, I handed these templates off to our sign makers, each of whom adopted a sign and set to work. Bich tackled the Platform 9 ¾ sign.

Bethany worked on the Privet Drive sign and Keith cut out the different pieces of the directional signage.

Eager kids painted directional signage as well as the base (Christmas tree stand) for the directional signage post.

Privet Drive sign ready to go!*

*The piece of wood we had was curved due to weather exposure. So, we re-simulated-weather exposed it (sprayed it with water while clamped against a curved board) to get it back into shape.

We will add some support hardware for these signs and mount them in their various places around the front-yard scene, so that every visitor can find their way around the wizarding world..