Of all the items I create for my Etsy shop, my wands are my absolute favorite things to make. I love watching the transition from raw materials to finished product. How something that starts out looking downright awful, turns into a true work of art. You may not believe it, but a mess like this:
ends up looking like this:
Now, most all the wands I sell are ones I slowly, carefully figured out how to make, and remake if necessary, until they looked perfect. Then I would list them. That way I knew exactly how to make it. But, my ambitious side tells all my potential customers that if they want a wand that I don’t have listed, that I can still make it for them. A custom wand, if you will. Now, I love getting custom requests for wands, twice it has resulted in a new wand I am then anxious to list. Case in point, these two:
But I must admit that when one of these requests rolls in, I am more than a little terrified. What if it takes longer than I say it will? What if I really can’t make it look good? I know I shouldn’t doubt my skills, as they have always proved to be more than good enough :), yet I still have that nagging fear.
So when one of these such requests came in about a month ago, I was equally excited and terrified. This time it was for the wand of Sirius Black. It is a relatively simple design, if you don’t count the intricate runes that are carved into nearly the entire surface of the wand. I had actually made a Sirius wand before, when my family put on our Harry Potter play, but that time I just drew the design with a sharpie. And that was so not going to fly in this case. That one was not good enough to sell.
So I replied sure, I can make that. I set up the custom order, and then started to panic. Just a little. A trip to Hobby Lobby and a purchase of a small, battery operated engraving pen later, and I was feeling much better. It took nearly 3 weeks to work out all the kinks and get it perfect, but I loved the result. The engraver was easier than I thought and now I have a new wand to offer at my shop. And to top it all off, I got a 5 star review on the original Sirius wand, with a mention of my great craftmanship. Phew, and yay, thank you so much!! Here it is-
I love designing and creating new wands for my shop. It is very therapeutic to me when I am knee deep in creating a wand. Just the smell of the wood is relaxing to me. I’m weird, I know. I really want to add more wands to my shop, but never know which characters’ are in demand. Any ideas? Who’s would you like to have in a real, all* wood, just like the real thing would be wand? I’d love some suggestions.
{ * I strive for all wood, but some wands include a non wood element crucial to their design.}
Want me to make a wand for you? Sure! Just hop on over to my shop and check out my entire collection. Or request a custom made wand. I can do it, no matter how nervous I may be.
Until Next Time,
© 2014, Terri. All rights reserved.
