Hi everyone! Long time no see!
Today is the 10 year anniversary of my joining the RPF, so I thought I'd post a few update pics of some special things I've added to my collection over the past decade. Adding to my collection has not been at the forefront of my mind for a good few years (unfortunately life has had other ideas for my time and finances) but I’ve still managed to snag the odd item or two!
I’ve not got many actual display photos as I’m in the slow process of moving house (
so slow) but hopefully you will enjoy some of the new additions to my collection! At the very least I hope you can appreciate my photography skills have gotten better!
So first up: Grams’ cursed engagement ring from
Charmed (1998). This is one of the most satisfying things I've found; it’s one of those items I’ve been hunting for years and I had to include at least one
Charmed prop – it’s my tradition! You can also see a couple of props from
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) on this shelf: the Urn of Osiris and the Gentlemen’s box from “Hush”.
Also used in
Charmed, along with a wide variety of other media, (most notably 1981’s
Excalibur) we have the sword Excalibur! I loved the movie and I love this particular sword’s style; I love how it gets reused as Excalibur in almost every show. It’s popped up in
The Magicians,
Supernatural, and
Once Upon a Time to name a few, even if it’s just in the background as set dressing. Some productions use the Darksword Armoury version; this version was made by Legacy Arms and is the same as the one that was used in Charmed (which is why I wanted it obvs).
Why break with tradition now? Here are two new props from
Warehouse 13 (2009)! I still love that show even after all these years! Here’s the Barometer from the U.S.S. Eldridge and Vyasa’s Jade Elephant. Although the barometer itself is quite rare I’m particularly proud of the elephant; I eventually found the same ornament the WH13 team used, and I painted it with different layers of green acrylics to get a similar jade effect. I coated the whole thing in layer upon layer of clear nail polish so it would look glossy and smooth like the original. The Elephant is the only item on this shelf that is a replica, all the other artefacts are actual props from the show.
Next up we’re going back in time to 2013, when I made these replicas of the Ruby Slippers from
The Wizard of Oz (1939). I hand-sewed about 4000 sequins onto a vintage pair of heels after getting inspired to make a pair, after seeing the Smithsonian’s shoes in London in 2012. They aren’t exact copies as the heel shape is wrong, but they were a special project and I enjoy them, and really that’s all that matters! They’re displayed on a replica of the first edition of
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which is signed by Robert Baum – great grandson of L. Frank Baum.
A more recent creation of mine is this replica of Winifred Sanderson’s spell book from
Hocus Pocus (1993). I contracted encephalitis in 2018 and after spending what felt like forever in hospital, I needed a project to help regain some skills I’d lost; this was my way of pushing myself to get back to normal. It’s the biggest project I’ve had since the Ruby Slippers in 2013, and entirely made by me! I painted and stitched the leather, I sculpted all the fingers & snakes and cast them in resin (my first time doing anything like that – I now understand why everyone here loves it!) I taught myself bookbinding by watching tutorials on youtube and bound the book myself. The eye is a glass doll's eye complete with fake lashes, it's
very glam.
As an aside, the book is entirely filled with replicas of the pages in the real prop. These were all designed and created by me after painstaking research. There's only about 20 different pages in the real books, so I just repeated these over and over - I made a few extra pages that include some of the magical info from the film too just for fun. I made some replicas pages from this book back when I was about 16 – they’re not very accurate but they’re ok for freebies. However, quite a few people over the years have used these pages in their own replica books which they sell, which isn’t cool. What
IS cool is that Bette Middler even used some of these graphics as a backdrop during one of her tours where she performed dressed as Winifred Sanderson. So that was pretty neat!
Anyway! I’ve always kind of wanted to re-do the pages but perfect this time, just to spite the people who sell my old ones, so this book is as exact as I could get it – the pages are maybe 98% accurate in text and graphics this time. I just needed to get that out there guys, its irritated me for years ok? Thanks for bearing with me!
Carrying on with the Disney theme, here we have replicas of Mary Poppins’ carpet bag and umbrella from
Mary Poppins Returns (2018). Ever since I was a kid I’ve always wanted a parrot headed umbrella, this is one of those given out in Leicester Square when the movie premiered. There are quite a few varieties of replica of this umbrella, but this one has the most accurate shape. I feel like it’s made from a casting of one of the real props, but that’s just an inkling.
I also have a couple of other
Mary Poppins (1964) replicas – her compact mirror and genuine Edwardian tuppence.
A newer acquisition is this replica of the Heart of the Ocean from
Titanic (1997). It came with an accurate Asprey box, and the necklace itself seems very accurate to the movie prop. The cage on the backside of the jewel is accurate, which is rare, unfortunately I don't know anything else about this version as I found it on ebay with very little information in the listing. My previous replicas of this necklace were never quite right, so it’s satisfying to finally have an authentic replacement I’m not slightly annoyed by every time I look at it!
Matching that blue diamond necklace is this one! The Hope Diamond. The diamond itself is both a brooch and pendant, but was quite tarnished when I received it - a little Silvo took care of that. The chain is from an old replica of the Heart of the Ocean I repurposed as it's very similar to the original. It makes a nice counterpart to the Heart of the Ocean!
Wizards. Who doesn’t love wizards? Here are three of my favourite props – Bob’s skull from
The Dresden Files (2007) (still got him!), the magical portal button from
The Magicians (2015), and the Prime Merlinian ring from
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010). The portal button was a nice little project, you can find the hexagonal glass & brass boxes quite easily online, make a little cushion out of blue velvet and add an old button and you’re good to go!
Finally a few items your inner child might recognise, especially if you grew up in Britain in the 90’s! This brass key was the key to
Harry Potter's vault in Gringotts, the 1982 50p is accurate to the one used in
The Queen’s Nose where rubbing the coin grants a wish, and next to it is a gold
Blue Peter badge, because everyone definitely wanted one so why not!
Also here is the brilliant replica of Hook’s Hook from
Hook (1991) that was done as a run on here a few years ago. I haven’t polished it in a while please don’t judge
One thing I really like looking at over the years is the progression of different people’s props and how they get better and better with each build as time goes by. I didn’t make these myself, but pictured above are replicas of the Old Grandad stopper used in the first season of
I Dream of Jeannie (1965). The oldest one has yellowed quite badly with age; the second one was made by someone else and has kept its clarity quite well, but is still just resin. On the right is a real stopper, which I was very lucky to get a while back. These three little items are a nice reminder of my progression through the world of prop collecting, and how much more discerning I’ve gotten with age. If any newbies are reading this I really really do suggest that as tempting as it may be to just buy the first thing you see, if you really do your research and wait for the perfect item to become available, you’ll feel so much happier with your collection!
I’ve started taking my own advice lately and am beginning to work on filling this beauty with accurate pages – guess what TV show
this magic book is from?
On that note I finally come to the end of my anniversary post. Thank you for reading it and taking a little look at my pictures! My collection isn’t typical of the sort you find very often, but even if it’s not your thing I hope you’ve found it interesting! Here’s to another 10 years on the RPF!!!
Wooo!
