I've been asked by some people I met at MCM Birmingham and at the Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden when I went about my wand which I had for my Ravenclaw student cosplay. I was cosplaying an original character ("OC") generic Ravenclaw student, and so I couldn't realistic go around with a replica wand, as the replica wands are for individual characters (remember what Garrick Ollivander said, "The wand chooses the wizard."), and so I couldn't really go about being an OC with someone else's wand.
So...how did I make my own wand? Now some of you actually refused to believe me when I told you this, so I'm going to show you with some pictures too!
The core of the wand is just a long chopstick. (not the whole dragonheart string, phoenix feather, unicorn hair sadly). Wands in the Potter world are usually around 10 to 15 inches long, so I figured I needed quite a long one to begin with, and then I can simply file/saw it down to size. The chopstick I started with was around 18 inches long. You could technically use anything that can form a core, like a dowel, although it doesn't even have to be round. Sirius Black's wand, I believe, actually had a square cross section!
The end was nicely tapered and so I decided to have the tapered end as the working end of the wand. If I remember correctly, I chose the core to be around 11 to 12 inches, although feel free to go crazy with what length you want your wand to be.
Once you have the core length, it's time to create the handle. There are various ways you can create the handle, such as wrapping it in twine or string, but if you do that, I'd recommend using some adhesive along with it so it is secure.
Another way which I have seen and which I kinda liked is the hot glue handle. It's easy to do and not very time consuming at all. I've seen some people hold the core point down, and simply drip glue onto the core to form the handle. If hot enough, the glue will just run down and start solidifying. I tried this and wasn't too keen on this as I found the glue tended to clump up at the very end of the handle due to the viscosity and it's unwillingness (at least for me) to run.
I instead held my core by the point near horizontal, and started at the end of the handle, putting hot glue onto the core and rotating it, as I moved the glue gun towards the point, stopping when I got the right handle length.
The sheer amount of glue you're putting on should mean that heat is not dissipated very efficiently, which is great as it gives you time to work the shape. I used the hot end of the glue gun to keep it fluid to continue working it. Let it set when you're happy with the shape.
Mine ended up having a bit of a ergonomic handle with contours of the handle just right for where the fingers should be when holding the wand. It was actually a happy accident, so don't ask how I managed it!
So when the hot glue is set, you'll end up with something which looks a bit like this. It looks really weird at the moment, and yes, the texture of the handle will be really odd, but don't worry. This is where the real magic begins!
I used some acrylic paint mixed with some water and started painting it onto the wand (acrylic paint is touch dry pretty quickly, so you should be able to cover the wand quite quickly). You'll have to give it a few layers depending on the opacity of the paint. For the handle, you want a bit of a coarse haired brush so that the acrylic paint will show the marks of the paint brush, and you'll want to paint straight down the handle in parallel strokes all around. This will eventually give you a texture like the grain of the wood.
Once you put enough layers of relatively viscous but still workable acrylics onto the wand (on the handle especially), the texture of the whole thing should be pretty similar, if not the same, and so you won't even have to worry about the odd hot glue rubbery texture any more.
From there, you can then add any other design you wish, or even clear varnish it to give it a glossy / matte sheen if you want. Be aware though that some varnishes can leave the wand feeling clammy / sticky, so it may be best to experiment with different varnishes before coating your wand.
Alternatively, if you don't like it, simply paint over with another few layers of paint.
The whole wand took me maybe about an hour and a half to make and paint. Not quite an Ollivander's wand, but it'll have to do!
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