Wand Fun

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wand fun - how-to
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Hello world, today I thought I'd tell you about the fun I've had with making my own magic wands, but first 2 things:
I am in no way whatsoever interested in witchcraft or anything to do with it
There is a reason I made them: One of our chain bookshops here has a newsletter and a club which I subscribe to. Every now and again they have competitions where you just need to give an answer and you could win stuff. In this case it was a Harry Potter give away, either a Harry Potter wand, the new book or a couple of other things. I entered and was delighted (and very surprised) to see that I had won a "Collectors Edition Harry Potter Wand".

The day of the package at my work arrived and my first impressions were WOW!!! Just take a peek at the beauty of this box (look at pictures 2 and 3 in the main image page):

Rubbing my hands together in glee, I reverently opened the box... to find... (again, scroll through the top pictures).

Hmph! Well, there was just one thing for it, to make my own!

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Find a nice bit of branch. I trimmed one of my trees a little and also picked up a dry stick when I was on holiday. The very dry one was less successful but they both worked.
Trim the wood to the length you want it (I used my gardening shears) and then also trim off any odd little twigs

Give it a bit of a sanding. I tried to leave mine slightly rough as I wanted them to look like they were used. That's where I'll have to describe each of these separately.
Firstly the top wand:

First I cut a long strip from a leather off-cut and twisted it around the base of the wand to form a handle. I kept it on at the bottom by going over the same part a few times, and at the top with the wire.

Here I used a first florist wire, and then later silver beading wire to get my effect. This is a tricky bit as it's really difficult to try and end the wire at the tip of the wand which is why when I got to the top I just carried on back down again, twisting them together at the bottom.
As I twisted the wire around I added my beads by stringing them through the wire.
Lastly I covered the whole lot in Modge Podge. Not sure if you have it where you are, but it is mostly used as a type of varnish for decoupage.

Then the second wand:

I started with the normal sanding procedure and then decided to stain it with wood stain
After that and using florists wire I twisted the wire up to the top with my beads again and then managed to push the end of the wire into and around the very top bead which anchored the wire there.
For the base of the wire I twisted them around each other, pushed beads through the wire and then looped the wire over the last bead and into the second last bead. I pulled the wire tight using pliers and then trimmed it off.
For this ones handle I used a strip of felt and then some very thin gold wire I found at a craft store to hold it on. It wasn't the best wire to use as I was left feeling that the felt handle would fall off before I could say "Expeliarmus" but decided to address that later.
At this point I really wanted to add something more to it so I used a gold gel pen to draw on some swirly designs. All good so far until (after deciding the modge Podge was too shiny on the first one) I went for the mat varnish. Turns out varnish and gel pens are NOT friends. There followed my trying to colour in the now smudged gold with black marker, re-doing etc. I also covered both the felt and the gold wire with the varnish which I hope will hold the felt in place have I ever to face he-who-must-not-be-named.
There you have it. This is what I learned:

Varnish and gel pens don't seem to like each other. Modge Podge or perhaps a permanent gold marker would be much better!
The wire work needs to be done quite carefully and although I love the feeling of hiding the ends under the handle cover, where do the ends of the handle cover then go? I may try doing the wire first in my next one and then gluing the handle on over the ends.
Speaking of next one's, I'm going to try for an ice queen type wand next. Silvers and white, here's hoping it works out! All in all I had good fun with them. No idea at all what I shall do with them, but I sure do prefer opening that beautiful box to see MY wands inside too.

Sorry...

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Ariel Grimm

28 Jan 18:46

no offense, but if you like harry potter, how are you in no way interested in witchcraft or anything to do with it? because I think the books of harry potter have alot to do with witchcraft...

Shazzcat

28 Jan 19:04

Good point, but I'm referring to real witchcraft, not Harry Potter witchcraft :)

Creativemind

28 Jan 19:17

I think she meant she's not into practicing it, cuz I'm the same way with the tv show Charmed. But any who, those are really cool. And just when I was in the process of making a wand, yours is the second one to be posted here. Guess, I gotta hurry up and finish mine. BTW, I love your idea of using twigs.

Ariel Grimm

29 Jan 00:30

I was reffering to real witchcraft too, there's a bit of truth behind the ridiculousness, I was only put off by the comment because I practice witchcraft and it was like being a gay person seeing a gay pride quilt or something and then the creator making sure that no one mistakes THEm fopr being gay....oh gosh now I feel bad sorry for cauing a fuss I just want everyone who associates with the religion to not feel ashamed or like they have to hide it because of things people say, even if it isn't meant the way it was percieved...sorry for bothering ya.

Ariel Grimm

29 Jan 01:21

I just seemed a bit sad that you had to make it totally clear you didn't practice, all I'm saying is, what if some young person who is interested in witchcraft saw that and thought "oh, it must be a bad thing. I better keep it hidden."

Ariel Grimm

29 Jan 01:23

oh gosh, ignore that I commented twice, the first one didn't show up. I'm not really some crazy meanie ;)

Creativemind

29 Jan 03:30

No worries Ariel, I don't think anyone is making a big deal of it, but it is cool that you do practice it. I have had some friends that were into Wicka; honestly I find it facinating. From what I understood from what my friends told me, you have to be susceptable to certain things and such, but they aren't into evil doings and like cursing people.

Posted By:
Shazzcat »
January 28, 2009 15:23

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