17 Dec 2019, 16:08
Ornament Crafting
I look out the window one morning and see that it is snowing. The snow blankets the grounds and the tress. It looks pretty but I don’t fancy the cold. Lucky for me the Gryffindor Common room is warm as always. With the fireplace going you’d never know it was cold out if you hadn’t looked out the window.
I check the notice board like I do every morning. There are always the usual boring notices like “The use of magic outside of class is not permitted” and “Roaming the school at night is against school rules.” But there’s one that catches my eye. It has a red and green border and is written in gold. “Ornament Crafting” is the title of the notice. In the Great Hall we can craft our own ornaments. It sounds interesting. I’ve never made my own ornaments before.
Later that day I make my way to the Great Hall. Some professors and prefects are hanging up decorations and putting up Christmas trees. On the long tables there are an array of crafts of many colours. There are paper, cardboard, pompoms, pipe cleaners, strings, glass balls, and many more. Some students have already started.
I take a seat at the table, say hello to the students around me, and look over the crafts in front of me. There are so many to choose from I have no idea where to start. I search around and one thing catches my eye. It’s golden and small. When I get a closer look I see that it is a little lion head almost like a pendant from a necklace. I love it, but I’m not sure what to do with it. I look around for a gold chain that matches the head. I’ll make it into an ornament just the way it is and then maybe I’ll keep it as a necklace or bracelet. Finally I find a gold chain and place it through the hole in the top. That’s one down.
I take a clear round ball and think about it for a minute. I can glue some stuff inside of it. So I look for small objects that be suitable to fit inside the glass ball. Maybe some poms poms or another little figure. I see some white felt and decide I’ll use that for snow. I glue the felt to the bottom very carefully. I take a pen to press down on the bottom. Once that’s settled I take a little snowman I found and glue that to the felted bottom. This one takes a little more time. I want to make sure it is secure. After holding it for about a minute I let go. It holds. I place it beside my lion head.
The older students are using magic to enchant their ornaments. Some of them dance, wave, speak, complain, twinkle, or sing. I get jealous, I’m unable to perform such spells because I only know the basics but then I get excited about all the new things I will learn in the future. Someday I will also be able to do that.
At the front of the Great Hall I watch as a prefect levitates a star on top of the massive tree. They had just finished decorating it. There are a lot of ornaments ranging from big to small, round to square and a golden garland that wraps around the tree. It’s very beautiful. There’s another tree on the other side of the room that’s bare. This is where our hand-made ornaments will go. I can’t wait to see what everyone makes.
I move on to my next ornament. I decide I want to make a snowflake. I take some more white felt and cut that into a snowflake shape. I fold the square four times and cut out random areas. I unfold it to see what it looks like. It doesn’t look much like a snowflake. So I cut it again without folding it until I’m satisfied with the way it looks. I find a small container of silver glitter and gold glitter. This will make the snowflake look a little prettier so I put both colours on both sides. The glitter gets all over my hands and all over the table. An older student who was near me saw the mess I had made. I feel a little embarrassed but the student doesn’t complain instead they clean it up with magic. I thank them. I can’t wait to learn that spell in the future, it is a useful one. To complete my ornament I tie a string to the top of it and put it beside the others.
For the next ornament I want to try and paint it. I take a round blue glass ball and look at it. I’m not sure what to paint on it yet. I’m not much of an artist but I want to try anyway. I think of painting stars and a moon, it would look great on the dark blue background of the ornament. I pick up a small paint brush and some white paint. Carefully as to not make another mess I pour some paint on a plastic pallet and dip my paint brush in. I begin painting a moon in the center and all around it I add little stars. It’s not perfect but that’s okay, it still looks nice enough to hang up. It will take a few minutes to dry so I hold it up and wait. Once it’s dried I place it beside the others.
Now it’s time to hang my ornaments up. Some students are lined up and also ready to hang theirs. A lot of them are very creative even the ones that aren’t enchanted with magic. There are snowmen, little houses, Santa Clause and his elves, a kid riding a sled, a snow globe that is magically filled with snow that doesn’t stop falling, a fairy whose wings flutter, and so much more. I give a compliment to the student who is standing in front of me. One of his ornaments is a round glass ball that was enchanted so that Santa Clause and his reindeer fly around it. He likes my glass ball with the snowman inside.
When he’s done hanging his it’s my turn. I want to hang all of mine close together. As I’m deciding which place to put them a little brass human figure tells me cut my hair and straighten my clothes. I just respond by laughing at it. I’m not sure why someone wanted to make theirs complain, maybe they thought it was funny or maybe it was a mistake. But it doesn’t matter because I like it anyways. I find the perfect spot to place my ornaments. I hang them up and take a second to admire them. They aren’t as impressive as the others but they’re good enough for me.
[Word count: 1154]
I check the notice board like I do every morning. There are always the usual boring notices like “The use of magic outside of class is not permitted” and “Roaming the school at night is against school rules.” But there’s one that catches my eye. It has a red and green border and is written in gold. “Ornament Crafting” is the title of the notice. In the Great Hall we can craft our own ornaments. It sounds interesting. I’ve never made my own ornaments before.
Later that day I make my way to the Great Hall. Some professors and prefects are hanging up decorations and putting up Christmas trees. On the long tables there are an array of crafts of many colours. There are paper, cardboard, pompoms, pipe cleaners, strings, glass balls, and many more. Some students have already started.
I take a seat at the table, say hello to the students around me, and look over the crafts in front of me. There are so many to choose from I have no idea where to start. I search around and one thing catches my eye. It’s golden and small. When I get a closer look I see that it is a little lion head almost like a pendant from a necklace. I love it, but I’m not sure what to do with it. I look around for a gold chain that matches the head. I’ll make it into an ornament just the way it is and then maybe I’ll keep it as a necklace or bracelet. Finally I find a gold chain and place it through the hole in the top. That’s one down.
I take a clear round ball and think about it for a minute. I can glue some stuff inside of it. So I look for small objects that be suitable to fit inside the glass ball. Maybe some poms poms or another little figure. I see some white felt and decide I’ll use that for snow. I glue the felt to the bottom very carefully. I take a pen to press down on the bottom. Once that’s settled I take a little snowman I found and glue that to the felted bottom. This one takes a little more time. I want to make sure it is secure. After holding it for about a minute I let go. It holds. I place it beside my lion head.
The older students are using magic to enchant their ornaments. Some of them dance, wave, speak, complain, twinkle, or sing. I get jealous, I’m unable to perform such spells because I only know the basics but then I get excited about all the new things I will learn in the future. Someday I will also be able to do that.
At the front of the Great Hall I watch as a prefect levitates a star on top of the massive tree. They had just finished decorating it. There are a lot of ornaments ranging from big to small, round to square and a golden garland that wraps around the tree. It’s very beautiful. There’s another tree on the other side of the room that’s bare. This is where our hand-made ornaments will go. I can’t wait to see what everyone makes.
I move on to my next ornament. I decide I want to make a snowflake. I take some more white felt and cut that into a snowflake shape. I fold the square four times and cut out random areas. I unfold it to see what it looks like. It doesn’t look much like a snowflake. So I cut it again without folding it until I’m satisfied with the way it looks. I find a small container of silver glitter and gold glitter. This will make the snowflake look a little prettier so I put both colours on both sides. The glitter gets all over my hands and all over the table. An older student who was near me saw the mess I had made. I feel a little embarrassed but the student doesn’t complain instead they clean it up with magic. I thank them. I can’t wait to learn that spell in the future, it is a useful one. To complete my ornament I tie a string to the top of it and put it beside the others.
For the next ornament I want to try and paint it. I take a round blue glass ball and look at it. I’m not sure what to paint on it yet. I’m not much of an artist but I want to try anyway. I think of painting stars and a moon, it would look great on the dark blue background of the ornament. I pick up a small paint brush and some white paint. Carefully as to not make another mess I pour some paint on a plastic pallet and dip my paint brush in. I begin painting a moon in the center and all around it I add little stars. It’s not perfect but that’s okay, it still looks nice enough to hang up. It will take a few minutes to dry so I hold it up and wait. Once it’s dried I place it beside the others.
Now it’s time to hang my ornaments up. Some students are lined up and also ready to hang theirs. A lot of them are very creative even the ones that aren’t enchanted with magic. There are snowmen, little houses, Santa Clause and his elves, a kid riding a sled, a snow globe that is magically filled with snow that doesn’t stop falling, a fairy whose wings flutter, and so much more. I give a compliment to the student who is standing in front of me. One of his ornaments is a round glass ball that was enchanted so that Santa Clause and his reindeer fly around it. He likes my glass ball with the snowman inside.
When he’s done hanging his it’s my turn. I want to hang all of mine close together. As I’m deciding which place to put them a little brass human figure tells me cut my hair and straighten my clothes. I just respond by laughing at it. I’m not sure why someone wanted to make theirs complain, maybe they thought it was funny or maybe it was a mistake. But it doesn’t matter because I like it anyways. I find the perfect spot to place my ornaments. I hang them up and take a second to admire them. They aren’t as impressive as the others but they’re good enough for me.
[Word count: 1154]
Books are the windows to my soul