Review and Giveaway: Harry Potter for Origami Owl!
After 20 years, fans of the Harry Potter books and films have seen all types of merchandise specifically meant to help a fan support their love of the wizarding world, represent their House pride, or even just identify themselves to other fans by wearing a symbol from the series.
The latest in this long line of Potter wares is Harry Potter for Origami Owl.
I have to be honest. I have seen Origami Owl before. Yes, it’s pretty, and there are so many ways you can personalize your lockets, but I am not much of a jewelry wearer. Jewelry has never called out to me enough to open my wallet and shell out my precious Galleons, until now. The new line of Harry Potter for Origami Owl has me completely rethinking my priorities.
My first Origami Owl locket – What better way to show my love of Harry Potter than through the Harry Potter for Origami Owl collection? Featuring Hedwig, Hermione, Ron, Harry, a Golden Snitch, a Gryffindor tie, and the iconic lightning bolt, with the hand-etched “9 3/4” plate as the background!
First, let’s talk about the locket. Origami Owl has all types of lockets to choose from, but it’s got a wonderful locket created specifically for this special line. Designed to look like an old-world pocket watch, the Harry Potter Antique Living Locket gives it that special Potter touch so that you can wear it with your Muggle clothes and still keep the Statute of Secrecy intact, or you can proudly display it with your best dress robes and fit right in with the coolest wizards and witches in your neighborhood! The locket is also the most expensive item you will find when building your Potter necklace but in my opinion, is so very, very worth it when you see the finished product. The Antique Living Locket retails at $44.
What I didn’t like about the Antique Living Locket is that it was a bit confusing how to open it, and once I got it open, I wasn’t able to get it to stay open so I could easily insert the charms and place them exactly how I wanted them to remain. Since these charms are so tiny, you can fit many charms into one locket, and arranging them is part of the fun. The Antique Living Locket has an automatic closure so that the face closes once you let go. If you have fat fingers or are an unfortunate soul blessed with a lack of coordination, as I am, this becomes a bit of a fight to keep the face of the locket open and insert the tiny charms. You might need to break out a set of tweezers to place your charms the way you want.
There are many choices you can make to ensure that your Harry Potter piece is unique, and one of them is the chain. What I love about the chain with my locket is that while it appears to be quite small, you can tell that the chain, a silver ball station chain, is quite durable. It also lends itself to the old-world vibe of the locket. The ball station chain retails at $16, but the price for chains in this collection ranges from $12 to $16.
On to the charms. And oh, are they charming! At only $7 per charm, they are well worth the price when you look at the amount of detail on them. These aren’t your average, everyday Muggle charms, okay? The designers of this collection really took the time to put the magic into each one, creating the detail not just on the front but on the back as well! This is really cool when you consider that the lockets can be used with or without a hand-sketched plate, and if you decide to forego using the plate, you can see the back of the charms through the glass of the locket. On one side, you see Harry, Ron, and Hermione, wands at the ready, and on the other, you can practically hear Hermione exclaiming, “Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?” Even the Golden Snitch looks AMAZING.
What I didn’t get for this review, because the full line of Harry Potter for Origami Owl had not been released until May 29, was the Swarovski Crystal Stardust packs in House colors. Yes, my Galleons will be spent this month acquiring the Slytherin pack, because I. MUST. HAVE. THEM. ALL. The Stardust packs come in House colors or in simple clear and retail from $6 to $12.
Harry Potter for Origami Owl – House pride!
Okay, now let’s talk about these hand-sketched plates. These are super cool, as you can see from the House lockets in the picture above. You can swap them out as often as you wish and make them your background for your charms, facing the plate so that the image of Hogwarts evokes all the magic you need to make it through your day, or you can choose to face it to the back, so that if your locket happens to turn around, the plate then becomes the focal point. Each plate is dual-sided, featuring the Harry Potter script we’ve come to know and love on the back amidst a scatter of stars. Seriously, I’m such a huge fan of this entire line. It’s details like these plates, especially the House plates, that make all the difference in stand-out Potter merch! Plates retail at $12.
So you’re wondering how on earth you can get some of these awesome pieces? It just so happens that we have a giveaway you’re going to want to enter. Just look at these magical images and tell us that you don’t want everything they’ve got! We dare you!
No product was provided by Origami Owl for either the review or the giveaway.
