First Project: Wand

 

So this is a wand that I am creating for a friend of mine. It was supposed to be finished by Christmas, but again, business got in the way, so it's a belated gift. My original design was going to be a lightsaber, since she's a Star Wars fan, however, halfway through, I realized that doing a lightsaber would be too ordinary. It would look awesome, but it's nothing new. My thought: "Give her something new to see."

 

So my plan changed to a tree-themed wand. First I stripped the stick of the outer bark, sanded, cut off excess wood, then sketched a tree design in the hilt. The hardest part was trying to keep pieces of the wood from breaking off while carving two lines close to each other. Another plan changed when I wanted to try woodburning for the design. Problems: I don't have woodburning materials other than a needle and a lighter, and the dorms do not allow the use of lighters indoors; to use said materials, I would have to hold the lighter down for a really long time while holding the needle over the flame to get it hot enough to burn the wood; with a tiny needle and a large design, I would go through fifty lighters before that process was done. So what do I do instead? Ink. I used my quill with it's very narrow tip with black ink to fill in the carvings. Simple shortcut that only took about an hour.

 

That being done, it was time to work on the shaft. My two options were to keep some of the outer layered wood, or sand/ whittle it down to the core, and really make it more wand-shaped. I decided to sand/ whittle it because the tip was shaved down to the core and some friends of mine told me that it made my wand look like a manhood...shaving it is, then!

 

My plan now is to continue sanding it to get an even color, then carve in the leaf designs. They're going to look like they're blowing in the wind, and I may fill them in with red or black.