Having given away my last wand in July, I found myself without proper magical equipment and with Halloween just a night away. Since I had a bit of wood dowelling already prepared for a new wand, I decided to get busy. Then I got to thinking about just what sort of wand I wanted. Making up my mind was the hard part. I finally settled on:
Sometime before the movie version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
was released, the BBC put a number of publicity photos on their website, and
one of these was a decent detail-shot of 
the
wand used by Professor Snape. It looked pretty typical of the wizard - dark
and intricate, and at the time I didn't think it was do-able using the sculpy
technique I've described on the previous page.
The publicity photo is reproduced here.
I figured I could make the form of the handle in Sculpy, but the carving was another matter. The thought refused to go away, however and I decided to give it a try anyway.
Using the usual technique, I formed walnut-brown Sculpy around a dowel, then
used a smooth kitchen knife to shape the 'turnings' at the ends and in the middle.
Fairly easy, so 
far.
Next, I used the very end of a sharp-pointed paring knife to press a pattern into the handle, forming a lacework of marks in an attempt to emulate the carvings. The biggest challenge was keeping the Sculpy tight to the wood without smooshing the 'carving'. Once I had the design completed I baked the wand at 275 degree F for 10 minutes, which hardened the modelling compound.
After the wand had cooled, I colored it with a combination of rosewood and walnut stains, let that dry, and finished with a coat of clear acrylic varnish. Here are the results.
I think I could make my version a shade darker, but I rather like it as it is. Not too bad for someone who won't get near a wood lathe - it was good enough to impress the trick-or-treaters. :-)
Created 1/1/03
Updated 1/1/03