#wandcrafting

Week 1, Chapter 2 - Wandmaking

So full disclosure, I didn’t make a wand. It doesn’t suit my practice and waving a wand around would make me feel absolutely foolish. HOWEVER, a lot of people really like using wands and that’s totally cool for them so I’m going to just go over what this chapter covers more or less.

As Pearson eloquently puts it, “a wand is an instrument used in magical practice to project the virtue or force of the witch.”

Traditionally, a wand will be the length of the witch’s elbow to the tip of the middle finger, measured on the outside of the arm. The personal measurement making the wand more suited to its ~owner~(I felt that this seemed extraordinarily long, but he mentions that it can really be any length that one finds suitable.) Usually a wand is made of wood, some people dremmel holes either through part of the wand or theough the entire length of the wand and will run copper or another metal type of wire or a thin rod through it.

He goes on in some detail about the correct ways to go about building a relationship with a tree before taking any wood or branches from it. He then goes on to talk about the spirit of the tree, or the tree’s dryad, and how to maintain the relationship between the tree and your wand. Even down to the specifics of how to cut it from the tree. He suggests building the realtaionship with the tree for a minimum of a year.

Apparently you can use wood from a tree that has fallen or is about to fall from the tree(dead wood and live wood) but the tree spirit will no longer be in it.

He also goes on to list certain correspondences for various trees native to the British Isles. They’re helpful but if you don’t live in the UK I would suggest doing your own in depth research.

After obtaining the wood you would like to use, he goes into detail in terms of how to craft the wand. He recommends drying your wood out for six months to a year before carving it but says that if you’re in a hurry six to eight weeks is usually sufficient. He also mentions that you should peel the bark off while it’s still wet. He reccomends tying it down to a flat, dry piece of wood so it drys straight without warping or cracking.

The book then goes on to mention the three distinct parts of the wand and different ways they can be crafted. I’m not going to go into to much detail in that because it’s pretty self explanatory. In terms of crafting the wand the last thing Pearson talks about is how to seal it either with varnish, beeswax, or oil (there’s mention of people sealing their wands with their own sweat?) If any of you do end up crafting a wand you might want to look into this more thoroughly because it is rather involved I terms of how often you need to apply the sealant.

The last part of this chapter is a Hallowing rite as to consecrate the wand. He has a handful of recommendations on what to include in the rite such as dedicating it to certain deities, imbibing it with select virtues, etc... you then bury it in the dirt a bit, say a few words, “breathe life” into it, and then mark it with three x’s in your own saliva. The ritual itself looks sound and if anyone wants to see the whole thing just message me and I’ll send you a picture of the page itself.

So yeah, sorry if that was less than helpful, wands just really aren’t my thing. The first half of next week is spell crafting though so I’m looking forward to that for sure.

Department of Magical Research and Development

World’s Fairs, both magical and Muggle, have historically been a place for brilliant innovators to share their research, inventions, and challenging ideas. As the Muggles take advantage of the international audience to showcase new technology, so the wizarding community advances itself through the exchange of ideas.

The experiments which debut at Wizarding World's Fairs often have lasting repercussions. This was perhaps most notable in the 1978 debut of the Wolfsbane Potion at the Wapi Pathum Fair, when the wizard Damocles shocked the community by daring to demonstrate the potion's efficacy on a volunteer werewolf during the full moon. Many decried the danger presented if the potion had failed, but its success has led to decades of renewed international debate over the legal status and rights of werewolves.

Other innovations feature improvements or alterations to existing wizarding technology. At the 1962 Fair in Ploče, Garrick Ollivander held an exhibition to discuss his determination to use only three cores in his wandmaking, a departure from over two thousand years' practice. Other exhibitions have displayed alternate foci such as rings, staves, crystals, or hoops -- many unfamiliar to mainstream European wizardkind in the modern age.

Have you found a thirteenth use for dragon’s blood? Pioneered a new method of drawing back the veil of the future? Analyzed the relationship between wands and willpower? The wizarding community wants to know about it! Share your brilliance with the world at the 2015 Wizarding World's Fair in Laconia, New Hampshire.