The Shop begins!

31/1/2020: Officially the project starts. I had been thinking of ideas for this shop during the Christmas holidays, as we were given a short summary of the project before the last term ended. I've settled on the idea of a magical clockwork shop: in the introductory chapter of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', Albus Dumbledore reads the time using a watch, which is described as:

'Golden...very odd...it had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore...'

This intrigued me because magical machinery is something that is seen elsewhere in Harry Potter, such as things like the Sneak-O-Scope, but I can't recall seeing a place anywhere in Diagon Alley in the films, nor reading about it in the books, that describes a shop specifically for it. I also thought that since clockwork is such an intricate craft, even magical clockwork had to have a skill to it: it could even tie into the magical Time Turners that we see in 'The Prisoner of Azkaban'.

My shop idea, therefore, is going to be themed around clocks: looking at the visual style of Diagon Alley, that also means I will be making the shop look Victorian and somewhat higgeldy-piggeldy. I think the best overall aesthetic for the shop will be a blend of magic and steampunk, and I'll put some standout references below. I think my next step is going to be sketching some ideas for signs, names and motifs, as well as the overall shop.

Speaking of which, I was assigned a corner shop slot, with my neighboring shop being all about magical plantlife. I spoke to my classmate, who'll be making this shop, and I think it'll work quite nicely: I can even imagine our two shopowners having a rivalry of sorts. Imagine:

PLANT: 'Oi! Whatcha think yer doin?'

CLOCK: 'I, my dirty-fingered fellow, am arranging a vampire-repelling sundial.'

PLANT: 'Yer cuttin down my sprog-blooms, is what yer doin!'

CLOCK: 'Well you shouldn't have grown them in the perfect spot to put a sundial.'

PLANT: 'Where do ye think plants GROW? In the bloomin DARK??'

Etc.

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