App-Enabled Magic on Halloween
In order to allow visitors to experience some extra ‘magic’ when they visit Albertson Halloween House, we are using an app called Aurasma, which is displays augmented…
Author Archives: Eric Albertson
Floating Candles
The Great Hall at Hogwarts features many cool things. One of the special features is its floating candles. We decided to include those as part…
Sorting Out the Sorting Hat
The legendary Sorting Hat is a highly significant Hogwarts object. We wanted to have it be part of the Halloween house. So, we purchased a…
Making an Entrance (Part 2)—Winged Boars
The entrance gates to Hogwarts are topped by winged boars. We wanted to also have the entrance gates to our Hogwarts to have those, but…
Making an Entrance (Part 1)
The entrance gates to the grounds of Hogwarts are ‘flanked by winged boars’ and serve as a barrier (sometimes magically reinforced by the professors and the…
Half a Trunk
In similar fashion to the Making Half an Owl Cage post, we wanted the cart going through Platform 9¾ to also have a Hogwarts trunk on…
Making Half an Owl Cage
When Harry pushed through the barrier at Platform 9¾ he entered a new, magical world. While we are trying to simulate that magical world for…
Real-Life Quidditch Team in San Jose
One of J. K. Rowling’s most unique inventions in the Harry Potter series is Quidditch—the sport where players fly on broomsticks, try to score goals…
Magical Painters
As Halloween approaches there are some details that need an artist’s touch. On our final Community Painting day, several skilled individuals arrived to help us…
Educational Decrees
Madam Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge (who would later assume the titles of Hogwarts High Inquisitor and Headmistress) enacted many educational decrees during her time at Hogwarts. One…
Making Magical Moving Portraits
One of the things that Harry and his friends marvel at when they first arrive at Hogwarts are the painted portraits that appear to move…
How to Make Your Own Butterbeer
We got to sample butterbeer at Harry Potter World at Universal Studios in Southern California. We loved it and wanted to incorporate it into this…
Building Hagrid’s Hut
We wanted to make sure that the house of the Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts (and sometimes teacher of Care of Magical Creatures),…
Wizarding Signs
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…