Laser-Cut Harry Potter Time Turner

This post contains affiliate links.

Jamie and I wracked our brains to come up with a great way to give Max his big birthday present this year; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is coming to San Francisco later this year, and we bought tickets to see it in December. He knows that we'll see it (eventually) but doesn't know that we've already booked it.

I had the idea to make a Time Turner after seeing a couple of DIY ones on Pinterest, and of course I had to put the Glowforge to work to make it!

I built the file myself, using an image I found online of a necklace version of the accessory. It's cut from 1/4″ MDF, which we spray painted with Rustoleum Metallic Gold spray paint. I love the texture that the MDF gives the finished product; I wouldn't normally use this for a final project, but we really loved the look more than the texture-less look we got with plywood… it gives the piece a cool sort of antique-y feel.

I bought the hourglass on Amazon, and used a photo of it as a template for the space while I built the file in Illustrator. Once I had done that, I cut a variety of test templates out of scrap cardboard, which is the perfect material for prototyping, since it cut beautifully and costs nothing! I always have a few Amazon boxes lying around, so it's easy to use. I adjusted the size of the hourglass by about .1″ for each version, to give me a good idea of sizing before I moved on to the final material. (And I still ended up having to do multiple cuts of the final, since it doesn't act exactly the same!)

I painted the MDF before cutting, so that the engraving would show through the paint and the lasered edges would be black, creating a little more contrast on the finished piece. Be sure to mask after painting though, so you don't get char marks!

Time Turner Assembly

Assembly was the most anxiety-inducing part of the whole project! Drilling holes and applying glue to our finished pieces was so stressful, we just took it slow and everything worked out great!

I found these spacer beads at Michaels, but you may want to adjust the sizing depending on your project. There are lots of options of gold spacer beads on Amazon. We drilled a slightly larger hole for the outer ring and a smaller one for the inner piece, to allow the correct piece to move while also being held in sturdily on the inner ring. Small brass finishing nails were just the right size and color for the project.

The outer ring is engraved on both sides; one has the wording from the actual Time Turner in the books, and the other side informs Max that we're going to see the play, but that he has to wait until December.

Side 1: “I mark the hours, every one, Nor have I yet outrun the Sun. My use and value, unto you, Are gauged by what you have to do.”

Side 2: “Of all the magic in the Wizarding World, if only you had a Time Turner to speed up time! We are going to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on December 8, 2019!”

The words are set in Lumos, a free font.

Finished Time Turner

The base is made from 1/4″ black acrylic with an inlaid. the Deathly Hallows made of mirrored silver.

Get your own Glowforge

This project wouldn't have been possible without my Glowforge! It's an amazing upgrade to my creativity from my Silhouette Cameo, and I can create things that never would have been possible without the Glowforge and all it can do.

You can save up to $500 on the purchase of your own Glowforge when you use my referral link!

Learn more about Glowforge in these posts:

• What the heck is a Glowforge?
• You CAN afford a Glowforge!

Find more Harry Potter crafts and projects here!