Author Topic: Wizarding wands  (Read 1262 times)

Offline oldfern

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Wizarding wands
« on: March 24, 2021, 11:15:51 AM »
Good fun to make, allowing a play with spiralling, pyrography and carving techniques on a small scale.
These are based on those belonging to characters in a well known film series featuring wizards and witches, and were made for my granddaughters who are big fans. Best not to mention which characters they belong to,  in case the film company checks out this forum. The two outside wands were experiments with hazel branches. 

Offline willstewart

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2021, 01:17:39 PM »
Fun & I have made a number of these for local & family kids.  FYI I have used elder wood for a number of them - a fairly featureless white wood but works fine and if you are familiar with Potter you will know that elder wands are significant...

Offline bodrighywood

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2021, 02:31:05 PM »
Love the  variety of these.

Pete
Turners don't make mistakes, they have design opportunities

Offline Bill21

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2021, 05:38:01 PM »
Very nice. Before the franchise you’d have trouble thinking of things to make with twigs and other tiny scraps!  ;D

Offline oldfern

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2021, 07:03:33 PM »
Will
Regarding using elder for wands - what did you do with the soft centre? Small elder branches can be almost like straws.

Offline willstewart

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2021, 08:27:00 AM »
oldfern - removed it.  The original piece of elder is >50mm diameter so this is halved and reduced to remove the hollow core.  Then I glued the two halves back together with a few layers of red/yellow stained veneer between (standing in for the phoenix feather core!) before turning.  This worked fine - see pic.  In the pic most of the wand (including the dark stained handle) was overcoated with blue iridescent paint - which I sanded off later as looking better without it (except on the handle).  In the pic the near tip is representative of the final look.

Offline oldfern

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2021, 10:17:30 AM »
Will
A good solution to getting rid of the elder pith, though a bit more work involved compared to turning a length of walnut, which is what I used mainly (I picked up some cheap offcuts from British Hardwoods last year).  Some of the wands do actually have feathers as a core, though probably pigeon rather than phoenix. And dragon heartstrings, or perhaps these were rubber bands. And unicorn hair, but perhaps it was horse rather than unicorn. I drilled down from the top of the handle, then inserted the core, then plugged the hole, sometimes to match, sometimes to deliberately contrast.

Offline willstewart

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2021, 10:23:13 AM »
Yes - phoenixes really do not stay still while you pull their feathers!  I think I put this up before but I have tried drilling and inserting a gold-metal-foil-coated dowel which looks quite good.

Offline bodrighywood

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2021, 01:58:14 PM »
Yes - phoenixes really do not stay still while you pull their feathers!  I think I put this up before but I have tried drilling and inserting a gold-metal-foil-coated dowel which looks quite good.
They react a bit like dragons but from the rear end . Need to be careful. Bet time to collect feathers is when they moult about 6 weeks after they rebirth from the flames.

Pete
Turners don't make mistakes, they have design opportunities

Offline oldfern

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2021, 10:16:30 AM »
Here's another batch of wizarding wands. My younger granddaughters have a rack each.  Don't tell Warner Brothers or The Noble collection.

Offline willstewart

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2021, 10:27:27 AM »
Spectacular!  Do they have parties for all these people?!

Offline bodrighywood

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2021, 10:46:10 AM »
Be careful with the names you have there. The film companies are fanatical about copyright.

Pete
Turners don't make mistakes, they have design opportunities

Offline oldfern

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #12 on: March 26, 2021, 12:53:59 PM »
Pete
Thanks for the advice regarding copyright. I have had a nagging doubt about this for some time. Not just Harry Potter, I have also made a few Thomas the Tank Engine pyrographed stools.  In the light of your warning,  I have removed all references to Harry Potter and characters from the stories from my website. Has anyone ever had a problem with copyright such as this, or know of any cases?

Offline bodrighywood

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Re: Wizarding wands
« Reply #13 on: March 26, 2021, 02:11:23 PM »
Not personally but a company I have had dealings with took another company to court forinfringement of design rightd and won a 6 figure sum. Disney in particular has a reputation ofr being very strong on copyright and taking even the little people to court. Just to complicate matters some of Disney characters are now out of copyright and can be used but you need to be very careful and do your research if you intend to use them. I believe the copyright lasts for the life of the designer + 70 years so anything from Harry Potter is still in copyright.

Pete
Turners don't make mistakes, they have design opportunities