#wandmaking

"Does the wand really choose the wizard? A critique of Ollivanders" by Jimmy Kiddell

"On wand/wizard harmony: a thorough debunking of Kiddel's ciritque" by Garrick Ollivander "Style over substance: on the legacy of Cosme Acajor" by Mykew Gregorovic "Acajor's wands: A loveletter to the beauty of magic" by Johannes Jonker

Ollivanders

{Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B }

Some time last year I had the idea to make a magic wand based on the sword Narsil/Anduril from the LOTR films. I modeled the pommel in Blender, printed it, molded it in Mold Max 60 silicone, and cast it in pewter. Then I did nothing with it for months. Finally I returned to it and made a wood shaft, the first one out of Bocote, and then another out of oak. I am now obsessed with this thing, and have been carrying it around with me whenever I’m home. It feels really nice to hold and gesture with. 

Two blogs in one day! I am not sure if that is a lot as I am still new to this website. But here goes!

I would like to share with you the making of my wand. I finished it yesterday evening, and it turned out to be a very special evening, perfect for the occasion.

First I started out with a pine branch, a nice one, that I got from outside my dorm. It was a good size, no nodes, and as soon as I started to whittle it it broke in half as it was too dry. So I went on another adventure to find another stick. This time, I found a stick, gave it a nice tug, thanked the tree and took it back. Although I don't have an image of the stick itself, here is one of a similar kind. Just imagine that it had three nodes at the top (we'll get to that in a minute)

I started to whittle this beast, and I was quickly finding that my multitool knife was not the most efficient option. However, it was practically my only option. I wish I had a ceremonial knife for this part. As I approached the dreaded nodes, I found that my knife was not working to tame them. I recently acquired a dremel and decided to pull that out instead. Now, when crafting your own wand, it is essential that you stay away from machines as much as possible, as you want to make sure that you are infusing hard work and good intentions into your wand. But let me tell you, I was still certainly working hard with this nail dremel.

It took me two hours to shape the wand, and by the end of it, I noticed that it had a slight downwards curve. Curves in wands can be tricky, as you want them to be a straight extension of your hand, or else the energy can be sporadic in direction, hence why I needed to completely remove the nodes. So, I decided to use the dremel to carve a spiral in the wand and I filled it with steel wire as to ensure that any energy I send through it would have a clear and direct path towards the tip. It also might cause some capacitation, which would be quite handy.

Next, I wanted to attach a stone to help aid me in energy, so I chose unakite. For those of you who aren't as familiar with crystals (don't worry, I'm not either, I'm just familiar with this stone) unakite is a stone that brings grounding, balance, and energy, its planet being Venus, its chakra being heart, and its element being fire. I might not have ever said this before, but I am very much so a fire sign who is greatly intune with Venus. So I found this stone to be very suitable for the job. I attached it using Sculpey®  clay. Once again, I would recommend natural ingredients, but I don't necessarily have an abundance of clay in the soil where I live. I also created a base with the modeling clay and attached a sun pendent for a cute touch.

Next, I became entirely overwhelmed with the plans that my imagination had created for me. I had done some research on google of custom wands, and I came across an Esty page where they used clay to beautifully sculpt flowers and ivy onto the wands, and I know that this is what I wanted to do with my wand too. Below is the Esty page, because I certainly need to give them credibility as I used their ideas as a reference towards my own.

I gave it a week or so, and I finally mustered up the strength to continue my wand crafting journey. First I laid the Sculpey® down for my vines and baked it. Then I worked on the leaves and flowers. Once it was all baked and set, I began to paint it. But out of the blue, a storm decided to join me. Not just a light thunderstorm in the distance, but a vicious storm. Lightning was jutting past the clouds, and thrashing across the sky down to the earth, wind was pounding the sign on my door, water was drenching the earth below, and the earth was receiving it. Around me, I was experiencing all four elements making their presence known without me invoking them. I knew then that this wand was special, and that the universe was trying to tell me that it would be of great use and power. I knew I wouldn't be able to consecrate it for some time due to my lack of an alter, but the universe had different plants for it. At the advice of my aunt, I ran outside and threw a pan on the ground as to collect some rainwater for this special occasion. As I realized these things, I took my wand unfinished, wet paint and all outside and I let the rain wash away all of its impurities.

I finished my paint job with a top coat of high gloss Mod Podge® to seal it, and let it rest over night. Although I know have a blessed and fully functioning wand, I first must become more acquainted with my own energy and learn to conduct it down my arm, through my hand, and out my index finger. Although it comes naturally if I concentrate on it hard enough, I want to be very careful with this wand as I sense it is very powerful. So that is my goal going forward, use my finger first!

Wish me luck on my journey! With love,

Hi there!

Wand-making is a highly individualized art, because it is both very simple and very easy to customize. The wands I make are the more natural tree branch kind, and not turned on a lathe - I do plan on trying out turned ones (I even own a lathe! I just haven't had the chance to set it up yet!) but there's a bit of an over-full market for lathe-turned ones which I believe is due to people catering to Harry Potter cosplayers. Tree branches are much easier for the beginner wand-maker and novice witch or magician since trees are common in most of the world. I'm afraid I don't know what desert witches do, I live in a temperate zone.

First one needs to decide whether you want live or dead wood - by this I mean, do you want to cut a branch from the tree, or use a fallen one? My primary consideration here is: do you have a particular wood you wish to use? Leaving magical properties aside, you can't be 100% certain that a fallen branch came from a particular tree. My own views here are that wood for a wand should be taken from a live tree, because then it has life to it - it's also much easier to trim, peel the bark (not everyone does that, mind you), and do coarse smoothing when the wood is still green. Ceremonial magicians and witches influenced by the Solomonic current will know that traditionally the wand is cut with one stroke from a hazel tree at sunrise on a Wednesday, but this is not a hard and fast rule for everyone. Fruitwood is worthwhile, I think, because there is a pleasant symbolism there of, well, fruitfulness, of bringing your work into existence. My own wand that I primarily use is made from a branch of my apple tree that I gathered when it was in flower. You might choose the tree because of its magical symbolism, its location, whether you have an attachment to it, etc etc. The wand that I made would be good for doing love magic, if I wanted, but if I wanted to curse someone or do works of death and ruin I think I'd much rather use yew collected from a cemetery or something made from a branch that had been dead and rotting.

You may wish to make an offering of some sort to the tree, meditate with it, ask its permission etc. There may be specific actions called for depending on one's tradition. Collect the wood as carefully and cleanly as you can, so as to avoid un-necessary damage to the tree. Many people suggest that once collected the branch should not touch the ground. You may not care about this.

Trim the wood of excess branches, cut it to whatever size you feel is appropriate (again, opinions vary here), you may wish to peel the bark off as well. Are there specific things that need to be done to it according to your tradition and teachings? Do you need to let it dry for a certain amount of time? Does it need to be buried or immersed in running water? Do you need to use particular tools while making it? Are there certain symbols you need to have on it? Are there certain symbols you want to have on it? Is it pretty? Should it be?

When making a wand for sale, I will usually trim the wood, peel the bark and do rough sanding and shaping. A Dremel or rotary tool with a sanding drum or flap sander attachment is very useful for stripping and rough sanding and shaping. Carve it into whatever shape you need necessary or appropriate - again, the Dremel is helpful here. Some woods are harder to work than others. Some traditions call for the wand to have a phallic tip, and this can be as realistic or euphemistic as you like. The local wisdom where I live is that a phallic wand should have a moonstone bead on the tip, the symbolism of which should be obvious.

Carve your symbols into the wand at this point, or use a woodburner which is also a very useful tool for this art. I default to the wand sigils from the Greater Key of Solomon, as there is precedent for their use in a Wiccan context and also because they look cool. If you're putting a crystal on the end drill the socket for it now. You may wish to do this to help direct energy flow or to customise the purpose or symbolism for the wand - a carved moonstone point for one used in lunar work, for example - but you might also want to do that because it's pretty, which is perfectly fine. Aesthetics are important!

Once it has been carved, do your finer sanding, working from a coarser grade of sandpaper to a finer one. I like to use a sanding sponge for the medium sanding - say, 120 or 240 - and then progressively finer sandpaper, up to a 2000 grit. Be careful not to eliminate the carving or decoration. Rub it down with a soft cloth between sandpaper grades. Once you have it to your desired smoothness, you might want to seal it - I like using tung oil for this because it enhances the grain without leaving any residue and it doesn't make things any shinier. You could experiment with making a beeswax finish as well. Attach any stones or crystals, finish up and decorating, and I'd call it done.

You will probably want to consecrate it according to the dictates of your tradition, and then you're good to go!

In terms of reading material: there is actually an entire book out there called 'Wandlore' by Alferian Gwydion MacLir. This has a lot of interesting technical information, but be advised it does something I consider to be unbearably stupid and twee, which is talking about putting dragon / phoenix / other mythical creature bits into it 'astrally'. I am a staunch member of the Anti-Harry-Potter Action League (READ ANOTHER BOOK) and consider this to be indescribably dumb and absolute claptrap. Anyone selling wands that have 'dragon heartstring' etc should be avoided, full stop.