Wand-Making

Lesson Three

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Making your wand



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This lesson will be primarily directed at making a smaller wand --ie: a hand wand rather than a staff. The same principles apply, however.






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Tools and Supplies Needed for your Basic Wand



Small handsaw - to gather your piece of wood and then to cut to length - adult supervision please

Colored inks - non-water soluble

Sandpaper - rough and fine

Knife or wood-scraper - adult supervision please

For fancy wands:

Twine (or yarn) - often available in different colours and materials

Glue - white glue, superglue or wood glue

Feathers and/or fur

Ribbon - narrow, of a supple weave, so that it bends easily and won't crack

Thread - preferably a heavy duty waxed thread

Glitter - of the smaller pieces (the larger, chunk, glitters won't stay on very well)

Skin - leather strips narrow and/or wide depending on use

Beads - ceramic, glass and/or metal

Paint - there are many kinds of paints available in little jars at craft stores; remember that your wand may become immersed in some sort of fluid in your adventures, so chose a paint that won't run when exposed to water, rain, dragon drool or dog slobber!

Paint brush(es) - fine tip if you are painting rune signs, slightly larger for painting the wand



Remember: when using tools of any kind, exercise caution and safety practices. Constant Vigilance! If you are creating a lot of dust in the air, use an air mask over your nose. If you decide to make a fancier wand, and use power tools, use safety goggles. Again, if you are not adept in the use of knives, saws or other equipment (like power tools) please be sure to have supervision by someone who does know about these things.






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Gathering Wood for your Wand



First off, again, I believe that the wand chooses the wizard. So it might be interesting how you come across the wood for your wand.

For one of my wands, the wand that first chose me, I felt somehow *tugged* over to a clump of weeds, and in that clump of weeds was a small branch which had fallen from the cherry tree above. I pulled out the small branch, and within all the twists and breaks was a piece of fairly straight, unbroken wood. This ended up being my cherry wood wand, length 13-1/2 inches, with blueberry stain and olive oil finish (and protective coat).

Before that wand, I had been given a chopstick! I absolutely love this chopstick (yes, I still have it) and the funny thing is that I use the chopstick as a wand with my right hand, and the cherry wood wand with my left hand. What kind of wood is the chopstick? I don't know! All I know is that it works! My favourite spell with it is Wingardium Leviosa.

In any case, you need some wood for a wand. Do not go traipsing to just any tree and break off a branch! The wood Deva for that tree might have a word or three to say to you. ALWAYS ask permission of the tree if you may have some of its wood.

Often you will be able to find small downed branches or larger twigs, like I did, and not have to remove green, living wood from a tree or shrub. If you cannot find something lying on the ground, then ask permission of whomever the tree or shrub belongs to, if you may harvest a small part. (Find out, too, what kind of tree or shrub it is, while you are asking permission.)

If you need tools to harvest your piece of wood, please ask an adult to help you. If possible, cut off a piece of wood that is about 5 - 6 inches longer than you need. (You will be using the extra inches to hold onto the wood while you are working with it.)

If you find a piece of downed wood, check it for rot or breakage. It is disheartening to do a lot of work on a wand and then have it break just as you are finishing it up. Check the wood, even if fresh from a tree, to see if it is supple and/or strong. Some kinds of branches, like pear branches, break very readily, and would make a very short-lived wand.

As for the diameter of the piece of wood, how big is your hand? You want something that you can hold easily, so maybe the size of your forefinger up to the thickness of your thumb would be good, depending on the strength, availability and kind of wood. (Approximately 1/4 inch diameter is the smallest you would want, I think, but it is up to you and what you find.)

Going back to my chopstick wand -- that is a perfectly good first wand and has already been smoothed and is a very nice length (10-3/8 inches). If you don't like that idea, or don't have a convenient place that you could obtain a chopstick, you might go to a lumber store, hardware store or a craft store, where they have wooden dowels for sale. They are of different diameters, and generally available in 3 foot or 4 foot lengths. Sometimes they are available in different kinds of wood. Most frequently what you might find are pine, hemlock or oak.





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Preparing the Wood to be a Wand



If you are using a branch, it is your option whether to take the bark off, or not. Several wizards like the feel of bark on their fingers, for a bit of a grip and for the texture. If you do leave the bark on all or part of your wand, be aware that with some trees, the bark will stay on indefinitely. With other trees, the bark will start coming off rather quickly. Willow trees, or olive trees, with their smooth thin bark (on the branches anyway) seem to keep their bark longer than, say, some fruit trees, like the pear tree. If you wish to keep the bark on your wand, observe the different trees available and see if the downed branches show signs of losing their bark yet.

The bark will peel away after it has dried awhile, if you put it by a source of heat. I peeled away the bark on my cherry branch, after it loosened some. You can use a knife for this, or a wood-scrapper. Be sure that you are shown how to do this, and supervised, if you are unfamiliar with using these tools. Blood really stains the wood, and is hard to get off. The next step, in either case, peeled branch or dowel, you use the sandpaper to smooth the wood. First use the rough sandpaper, for heavy duty sanding, then use the smooth sandpaper to finish it off.

If you are making your wand with a branch of a tree or shrub, you will sometimes notice that there appears to be a place where the 'wand part' starts and then finishes. I noticed this on my cherry branch -- there was a part of the branch that had a distinct curve to it, straightened out mostly, and then a series of knots or knobs. The space between the curve and the knots ended up being 'my' wand. I cut it much larger than the place where the wand would be, so I'd have a place to hold the branch while working with the wood. I grasped the unfinished ends to have better leverage on some awkward parts of sanding work. When the sanding was done, I cut off the excess on both ends -- and there was my 'raw' wand. I was so proud.

After cutting the wand to size, sand off the ends which are freshly cut. Now you have a smoothed, sleekish wand. What will you do with it -- leave it as it is or fancy it up?






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Additions to the Basic Wand



What I did with my cherry wood wand was simply stain it with blueberries and when that had dried, put a very very light coating of olive oil on it. The blueberry was for the color and for the qualities of blueberries, the olive oil was to help protect the wood and also for the qualities of the olive tree. I didn't add a handle because I simply like the feel of the wood in my hand, it is smooth, silky and yet gives me a good grip.

But you might want to add further enhancements to your basic wand. Do you wish to color it, or put runes or designs along the side? Do you want to glue on feather or hair from a favored bird or animal? Perhaps you wish to add a handle of some kind using either wrapped leather thong or twine.

Ribbon, thread, glitter, beads (attached by the string) or paint are all additions that you can add to your basic wand and make it particularly your own. Add just one or two things to this, your first wand. Later on, as you gain in magical abilities, you can make yourself a much fancier wand --- or obtain a wand from someone like Ollivanders (in business since 382 bc).


If you decide to make your wand a bit more fancy, try it out first without permanently marking the wand, or gluing things onto it. A drawing on some paper, with the colors and glitter (or whatever) next to each other will tell you if that seems a good combination. The same with trying out a leather wrap or twine -- practice wrapping it different ways until you like the looks and feel of it - because once you've glued it in place, it is there to stay (especially if you use super glue)!

Hint: Whenever you use glue, use the smallest amount that you think will hold your ribbon, glitter or whatever you are attaching to your wand. You will be mopping up the excess and a little bit goes a long way.



Remember, though, while all of these things can result in a FANCY wand, the basic, raw wood is the chief part of the wand. A bare twig, in the hands of an accomplished wizard or witch, is more powerful than the fanciest, gem-encrusted wand ever made in the hands of a near-squib wizard.





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