How I make unique 'Harry Potter' style wands

A little while ago I started making replicas of wands from the Harry Potter movies for my 2 children who are massive fans (... I should point out that I'm also a massive fan of Harry Potter!)

The photo above shows (from left to right) replicas of 'The Elder Wand', Voldemort's wand and lastly Hermione's.

My kids already each own an official Harry Potter wand which cost a ridiculous amount of money.

The boys loved these wands I made them, and started to refer to me as Olivander, the wand maker. From here it was a simple step for them to decide they wanted me to make unique wands from my imagination which would be just for us.

My boys love them and we spend a lot of time fighting off death eaters and practicing duelling together.

But then I showed my brother who's wife is expecting their first child. He loved them and suggested that one day he'd like me to make them wands also. So it occurred to me that a much more personal birth present for his daughter will be her very own unique magic wand.

My brother and his wife live in Barcelona, and I visited there not too long ago and was blown away by the architecture of Gaudi. For this reason I decided to make his daughters wand taking inspiration from Gaudi with saline detailing and gradual changes in ocean colours.
Below are a series of photos detailing how I made it. I hope you enjoy.

1. The wand is made of dowel, I used colouring pens, and 3d details are created using Sugru (which is a rubberised glue which sets hard over a 24 hour period)
   

2. I colour in the wand shaft
   

3. and then use a damp cloth and wipe the colours into one another to create a gentler graduation. The Sugru comes in small portions of various colours
   

4. I then moulded the various colours into shapes and attach it to the wand. The octopus is made of a main body piece and obviously 8 thin long tentacles. Each tentacle is actually 2 pieces of equal length (one orange, one pink) to try and replicate the difference between the top of the tentacle and bottom area (the part with suckers).
   

1. My brothers daughter's initials will be MM so I lightly inscribed these onto the 'head' of the octopus
   

2. and then I used a thin screwdriver to push the pink area of the tentacles against the wand shaft, in such a way that it looks like the suckers are clinging on.
   

3. I then let this cure for 24 hours so as not to damage any detail whilst working on the wand further.

4. Once dry I added extra details.
   I placed on surge for the octopuses eyes, moulded ammonites and fish to add to the shaft, and also made small sea turtles.
   

I hope you've enjoyed reading this blog. It's longer and more detailed than my usual ones. If you liked it please consider splicing or re steeming :)