On Deck: Mountain Cedar ... no, that's Juniper

Previously I've spoke of the cedar I like to use for wands, and I need to clarify that the actual tree type is Juniperus ashei, which is commonly referred to as mountain cedar or just cedar. Juniperus ashei has rich, spicy scent, even in the oldest branches I've found. Because of its natural resistance to rot, the wood remains hard long after other types of wood fall apart and disintegrate.

I've chosen this 20-inch branch of Juniper ashei cedar as my next wand. The branch is very close to straight and is 2 1/2-inches wide, so I can apply almost any design I can imagine. My plan had been to shape a fairly simple wand since my last handful of projects included complex spiral or twisting features, but I'm open to putting in the extra effort if the wood allows.

Here you can see the side of the branch that was facing the ground when I found it. The surface wood is more brown than the grey, sun-drenched side, but it's also slightly more decayed. The undersides of most of the branches that I find on the ground have begun crumpling into dirt, so that's Selection Question #2: is the underside credible? Selection Question #1 is: does the wood look it could be a wand?

I'll probably lose about an inch off the tip of this proto-wand. The wood at the tip is frayed where the branch was snapped apart. The lower end, shown above, is also frayed but I intend to keep as much of its shape as possible. An unfinished end sometimes adds character to the wand ... and sometimes it does not, so I'll keep the design of the hilt flexible.

While I was inspecting the branch and taking pictures, a tidal wave of small black birds rolled through the trees around me. This tall ash in my backyard neighbor's yard was suddenly filled with small grackle. The sound of them was like continuous, high-pitched thunder. The grackle don't usually move in such large flocks, and by large I mean there were hundreds, moving quickly through the branches. Unfortunately you can't see them in this picture. Hmm. Were they really there?

*eyes the proto-wand* The frayed end does look a bit like feathers, if they were made of wood, and not so feathery. *jots notes*

I've lost count of how many cedar wands I've made. I'll just call this one Cedar 107, for now.