Four Wands and a Book I Wrote (part of)

These are the four wands I made in one weekend while writing the opening chapter to Making a Wizard's Wand, a Secret-Compartment Box, and More! I had already submitted the text but needed to provide photographs of the various instructions and techniques to the illustrator.

On the left is a small wand of plum wood that features a spherical node above the hilt. At only 8 inches long, the original convex curve of the grip didn't work for the short length. The clumsy grip made it feel like a letter opener. Carving the hilt into a convex grip changed the wand's entire aspect. Now it's ready for a stone setting in the base of the hilt and then oiling.

To the right of that, the wand of aged cedar was created to study the cube component. Of the four seen here, this is the only one that's still in rough draft mode. The entire hilt needs to be thinned and sanded. The added difficulty with this one was shaping the cube around a long scar along the midsection. A little bit of the scar still remains in one of the cube faces. I can either set single stones in each of the four faces or add four of the six dice pips (2-5). Can't decide which way to go.

Third from the left is the long plum wood I carved to photograph the process of creating the spiral. It turned out spectacular. I love this one, especially after adding a thick amethyst cabochon to the base of the hilt. She just needs a name.

The meaty wand on the right is Thrustros, which I've discussed here already. He's now for sale on Etsy.

I found my copy of Making a Wizard's Wand, a Secret-Compartment Box, and More! at the local Barnes&Noble, in the science section of the kid's area. See if you can find it in the photo below.

My name is on the cover (it's Lane Boyd, hi) but not on the online listing (still waiting for that to be updated). Credit due to Loyd, my brother-in-law, who wrote the rest of the book and also who invited me to participate, and to Mike Gray for the fun artwork.

In other news, I'm still waiting for my new Dremel to arrive from Amazon.