Harry Potter Inspired Wand

 by ArtfulAl
Featured

     In honor of the last harry potter movie coming out, I decided to do a little project inspired by the book series I've read and reread countless times. This wand is made from a few components. The handle is a peg from an old coat rack my family was throwing out. I took the liberty of unscrewing a couple pegs because I liked the shape. They had little screws on the ends of them, which made it much easier to attach the wand component. The wand component is a handle from an old paintbrush, which was just the right length and shape for the peg. The taper and rounded end were perfect for making the wand look professional. Yes, there are wands out there that are perfectly straight rods, but I prefer mine a bit different. The metallic spiral is hot glue, painted with a mix of gold and copper acrylics. The wand would probably have been fine without it, but I liked the little flair that it gave the joint between the coat hanger peg and the paintbrush handle. I attached the peg to the handle by drilling a hole into the paintbrush handle that matched the size of the twisty screw end on the peg. The screw part of the peg was then coated  in gorilla glue and twisted in carefully. It would be easy to split the thin layer of wood around it. After letting it dry, I applied the hot glue spiral and spray painted the paintbrush handle a glossy black. the metallics were painted on very carefully with a small brush. To make the light wood of the peg look old and worn, I made it darker. I applied sharpie ink to a small area, and then quickly rubbed it off with a paper towel, repeating over all of the wood until the result looked good. Because of the plasticy finish on the two wood components, the end product looked nice and smooth.

I ended up taking this bad boy to the harry potter premier in a ravenclaw costume, just to have a good time.
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eklinger says: Aug 14, 2012. 3:46 PM
nvm! i didnt read the thing through before.
eklinger says: Aug 14, 2012. 3:44 PM
did you make this or did you get it somewhere? if you made it then you are really good at it! and if you bought it can you tell me where!????!
SlytherinRK43 says: Jun 24, 2012. 5:24 PM
slytherin ftw
gorilla0747 says: Apr 9, 2012. 4:53 AM
Heres one that i made. I basically took a stick and started whitteling it until it looked decent.(i'm going to paint it, and ill post another picture of the finished wand.
IMG_00000195.jpg
ArtfulAl (author) in reply to gorilla0747Apr 11, 2012. 5:36 PM
very nice! 8)
gorilla0747 says: Apr 9, 2012. 4:35 AM
Pretty cool...
BouncyPanda says: Jan 16, 2012. 10:32 AM
This is so awesome! I am now starting Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. I have read every book before that but none after. How can you tell that this is a Ravenclaw wand? I took the sorting hat test and would like to make a Gryffindor wand. Can somebody please help? All help would be appreciated. Also, what else could I use for the handle? From the passage above, I am understanding that you painted the paintbrush with arcrylic. Or did you spray paint it? What brand of paint would you reccomend? Thank you! Please reply to this comment, and I have read the comments above, you are right. All houses are great! Would Harry Potter books be interesting if Draco was not in it or any other Slytherins? No it would not. Hufflepuff is for honest, loyal people, Slytherin is for mischievious people, not sure what Ravenclaw is for, and Gryffindor is for brave people. Do you sell these wands? I would definetly buy them. I really want to make this but I don't have the handle. I am not going to break my coat hanger unless it is already broken like yours/you are going to throw it away.
ArtfulAl (author) in reply to BouncyPandaFeb 8, 2012. 10:43 PM
I don't think that individual wands can be specifically attributed to each house, I just mentioned ravenclaw because that's the house that I identify most with. If you did want a specifically gryffindor wand, though, you could use a red and gold color scheme, or somehow incorporate a lion in the design. I actually painted the paintbrush with Krylon black gloss spray paint meant for plastic, it was the metallic spiral that I used the acrylics for. I used this spray paint because 1:there was a plastic coating on the paintbrush handle, and 2: It was what I had on hand. If you needed to, you could definitely use spray paint for the spiral, though I would suggest spraying into a separate container, and then applying it with a brush.
Also, just to clarify, Ravenclaw is a house meant for people who's most prominent attribute is their intelligence, or mind. It may be a bit egoistic that I put myself in this house, but I just found that I would fit there better than anywhere else.
Finally, for the handle. While I seriously lucked out that I was able to get my hands on such a nice wooden peg, I understand that others probably wont have the same fortune, (at least, not without a felix felicitatus potion). I recommend visiting some thrift stores and looking for anything that looks good. If this fails, you can also use part of a natural branch to bet a bark grip piece, which looks very good. A similar effect can be achieved by covering a small section of wooden dowel with hot glue in a bumpy, rippled coat, followed by painting in an organic or metallic color.
I don't plan on selling my wands, but feel free to take the design and make your own. After all, that's what instructables is all about!
star_above_the_clouds says: Sep 24, 2011. 1:44 PM
Woah, this looks fantastic. Nicely done. (;
nzipperer says: Sep 11, 2011. 10:54 AM
How long did this take?
ArtfulAl (author) in reply to nzippererSep 12, 2011. 12:28 PM
maybe an afternoon. it wasn't all that labor intensive.
michaeljme says: Aug 18, 2011. 1:55 PM
So how did you make it?
ArtfulAl (author) in reply to michaeljmeAug 19, 2011. 9:04 PM
you'd know if you actually took the effort to read the text.
splazem says: Jul 8, 2011. 6:10 PM
(removed by author or community request)
glien in reply to splazemJul 9, 2011. 2:26 PM
uhhhhhhh NO RAVWNCLAW RULES!!!!!
lunius in reply to glienAug 7, 2011. 5:00 PM
RAVENCLAW! RAVENCLAW!
splazem in reply to glienJul 10, 2011. 7:25 AM
(removed by author or community request)
tinker234 in reply to splazemJul 23, 2011. 8:13 PM
lets be nice what about hufflepuff
bonzoisawesome in reply to splazemJul 17, 2011. 11:24 AM
It would be so much better if you could actually spell the House correctly.

It's Gryffindor.
capnmckay in reply to splazemJul 17, 2011. 7:20 AM
HUFFLEPUFF! :D
ArtfulAl (author) in reply to splazemJul 8, 2011. 8:07 PM
well, I've always seen myself as a ravenclaw, and everybody just loves griffindor. its important to see the individual heroes in every house. even slytherin had a couple good people.
0110n in reply to ArtfulAlJul 13, 2011. 3:06 PM
I agree. every house is great .
splazem in reply to ArtfulAlJul 10, 2011. 7:24 AM
(removed by author or community request)
DannytheGreat in reply to splazemJul 10, 2011. 4:50 PM
why wouldn't you want to be in hufflepuff? its for honest, fair people
mg0930mg in reply to splazemJul 10, 2011. 10:42 AM
Now we know why you wouldn't be in Ravenclaw.
splazem in reply to mg0930mgJul 10, 2011. 7:17 PM
(removed by author or community request)
mg0930mg in reply to splazemJul 10, 2011. 8:19 PM
You used the wrong form of 'you're'. ;)
splazem in reply to mg0930mgJul 11, 2011. 8:15 AM
(removed by author or community request)
ArtfulAl (author) in reply to splazemJul 14, 2011. 12:43 PM
some healthy competition between houses is normal. but still, hufflepuff is a great house, just like griffendor or ravenclaw. just because it is home for people who may not be super brave, brainy, or crafty doesn't decrease its overall value. every house is unique and special.
splazem in reply to ArtfulAlJul 14, 2011. 8:34 PM
(removed by author or community request)
mg0930mg in reply to splazemJul 15, 2011. 1:58 AM
No.
kit1198 says: Aug 3, 2011. 3:29 AM
I took a personlity test, I ws ravenclaw :D
lunius in reply to kit1198Aug 7, 2011. 4:58 PM
RAVENCLAW! RAVENCLAW!
ecoberley says: Jul 27, 2011. 7:52 AM
how long was the paintbrush handel?
De.JMan says: Jul 25, 2011. 5:12 AM
Does It WORK???? :D
Hugo4123 says: Jul 16, 2011. 2:01 PM
Very nice wand my fellow Ravenclaw
harry potter rules in reply to Hugo4123Jul 23, 2011. 1:41 AM
WHY RAVENCLAW
Sirius Orion Black says: Jul 22, 2011. 1:53 PM
As my username states Gryfindor rules because the sorting hat chose Sirius! Yeah! or urrr... Blimey!
harry potter rules says: Jul 16, 2011. 11:35 AM
Griffindor rules
juicymoose says: Jul 15, 2011. 2:08 AM
im torn between griffendor AND ravenclaw
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