DIY Harry Potter and Hermione Granger Wand

How to Make a DIY Harry Potter Wand and a Hermione Granger Wand

After reading all of the Harry Potter books and watching all of the Harry Potter movies, my daughter was using anything she could find as a wand.  I decided to step it up and make a DIY Harry Potter wand. What is a wand, after all? It’s a stick. That’s what Ollivander used, so that’s what I’d use. And while I was at it I went ahead and made a DIY Hermione Granger wand.

What you need:

  • A stick
  • Carving tool (I used a knife and a dremel tool)
  • Hot Glue
  • Paint
  • Phoenix Feather
  • Dragon Heartstring
  • A few hours

Step 1: Find Sticks

Approximately 14-inch sticks was what I was looking for. I didn’t care about being true to the movie. I just wanted to get close. So these are my sticks. I was a little picky in choosing my sticks. I wanted a natural taper and I wanted the handle end to have an natural knob look.

DIY Harry Potter Wand and DIY Hermione Granger Wand

 

Step 2: Whittle

It’s quite relaxing. I used photo reference to get the shape right. Harry’s wand has kind of a handle thing that I wanted to replicate in my version:

HarryPotterWand-reference

 

So I whittled them to a certain point to get the bark off and remove a lot of material, then I got out my Dremel and a sanding bit and tapered them down to look like this.

DIY Harry Potter Wand and DIY Hermione Granger Wand

 

Step 3: Bake

You can skip this step, but I wanted to add it in. I put my sticks in the toaster oven for a little bit in order to dry them out as best I could. I’m not sure you have to, but I figured the dry wood would hold up better than green wood that is bendy. Carry on.

Step 4: Stylize

I used hot glue to build up certain areas and to add detail.

DIY Harry Potter Wand and DIY Hermione Granger Wand

 

For example, Hermione’s wand has squiggly carvings all on it, almost like vines, but I wasn’t going to carve all that.

DIY Harry Potter Wand and DIY Hermione Granger Wand

So I squiggled with hot glue (knew it would all be painted anyway).

Nice.

DIY Harry Potter Wand and DIY Hermione Granger Wand

 

Step 5: Insert the cores

I used a Phoenix Feather for Harry’s wand and a Dragon Heartstring for Hermione’s wand. The hardest part of this step is not actually getting the cores, it’s inserting them. What you do is

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FDG98 LK3J4 345KJ 9FHJ6 DJF93
KJN45 POI67 ASD56 098JH 90844
KJH23 JHB65 SDF09 ERG98 234JH

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And that’s really all there is to it. I wish I had better photos of that step but it was hard to hold the camera and do the coring at the same time.

 

Step 6: Paint

I used a dark brown spray paint for the base coats.

DIY Harry Potter Wand and DIY Hermione Granger Wand

Once the base coat was dry I used a metallic gold spray paint for the detailing.

I did NOT spray it right on.

I used a scrap sheet of plastic vapor barrier I had lying around (newspaper would work too) and sprayed a bunch of paint onto the surface, then I took my wands and carefully rolled them on it so the second color would only get applied to the raised detail.

DIY Harry Potter Wand and DIY Hermione Granger Wand

 

DIY Harry Potter Wand and DIY Hermione Granger Wand

 

And that was it. My daughter’s head almost exploded when she saw the awesomeness. I’m serious. She practically carries one of them around with her at all times.

Now I need to make about 4 more because when her friends come over to play there’s sometimes drama over who gets “real” wands and who uses chopped up dowels from the basement.

 

DIY Harry Potter Wand and DIY Hermione Granger Wand

 

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