Harry Potter wand tutorial + costume snapshots

I started with these — A paintbrush, a hot glue/gluegun stick, some tape, a brown paper bag, and some foil. Paintbrushes are very good bases for wands because of the shape and material. This once I particularly fancied because of the beautiful color and finish of the handle.


The brush was too short by itself, so I had to extend the other end somehow. Feeling very silly, I stuck the hot glue stick into the head of the brush, right in the middle of the bristles, and taped it into place. Sadly I did not get a photo of how it looked then. I tore of a bit of the brown paper bag and wrapped it around the glue stick for added stability, and taped that into place as well. (You can still see a bit of the glue stick poking out of one end.)


Next, I looked for images of Harry's actual wand and used foil to mold the basic shape as advised by Miguel merkymerx. I intended to put air-dry clay on top of it, but I put the foil first to conserve the clay and keep the weight a little light. It's especially appropriate for the texture of Harry's wand handle because it's supposed to look rough and organic.


This is the clay I used. It's an air-dry clay that's very easy to work with. (It's made for kids, after all.) Trouble is, it's not very sturdy when it dries. The final consistency is sort of like rubber foam, unlike the very hard finish of Sculpey. I'd have wanted to use Sculpey but I felt like I didn't have enough of it at the time.


This is how it looked when I coated the foil with Model Magic. I did my best to give it a wood-like texture.


Once the Model Magic had set and hardened, I coated it with gesso to prime it for painting, and also to add more texture. So sorry, I did not get to take pictures of the wand at this stage, but it pretty much looked like the previous photo, only the handle was white instead of blue.


I then painted over it with acrylic paints, adding more texture with it as well, and here is a close-up of the finished wand. I recommend going with acrylics if you're making props, as opposed to poster paints, and especially not watercolors. Acrylics won't run or easily rub off once they dry, so it's okay if your prop gets a little wet (or if you touch it when your hands are sweaty). They're water-based too so it's easy to clean it off skin and brushes. Don't get it on your clothes, though! It's tough to wash off of fabric.


I kept the paintbrush the way it was, because I really liked its original color and luster.


When I used this wand for an event, I had several people asking how I had made it, and they thought the handle was actually made of wood. I painted it from dark to light to emphasize the texture.


I felt quite happy to say I had made it myself, when people asked where I had gotten it. I should have joked that I had taken lessons with Mr. Ollivander.


And there we have my Harry Potter wand, made with stuff I had lying around the house!

I gave my pet lovebird Mango a little pat as usual before heading out.



Cheeky little thing. I wish I could have him send things to and from my friends with him like wizard's owls, hahah.



I then met up with Kat and Sammy , and we had lunch at Café Mary Grace in Serendra.



We were already partially dressed in our Hogwarts uniforms. Even though we didn't have our cardigans or robes on yet, we guessed that some people could tell we were on our way to watch Harry Potter, hahah.



The cafe had a really pretty, cozy interior



This was my lunch. Chicken Inasal Pandesal (the filling was accompanied by their own salsa and sauce) with a side of fresh potato chips and a creamy garlic dip. It was excellent!



Peach iced tea! My favorite kind. The Café Mary Grace tea really tastes like fresh peaches!
I apologize — I was looking forward to devouring my lunch so I was not able to take photos of Kat's and Sammy's food, but they each gave me a bite and everything was delicious.

We went to Cupcakes by Sonja to have some dessert. That's where we shot this.


I got a Vanilla Sunshine cupcake with chocolate frosting. I don't know what it is about this particular chocolate frosting but it's got me hooked. It tastes like there's actual molten milk chocolate in there.



Sammy got the Lemon Drop, which is also one of my favorite cupcakes.
We then went on a search for grey cardigans as part of our Hogwarts uniforms. I had been looking all around Ayala for them and came up with nothing. It didn't help that cardigans and sweaters are out of season nowadays. But that day, somehow, we got just what we needed! Happy with our fruitful search, we headed over to Greenbelt.

After slipping into our robes, we went around to pass the time since it was still early. It was funny how some people looked like they were trying very hard to pretend we weren't there. Hahaha! We were just quietly going about our business, eating gelato, looking around stores. Others called out to us, or tried to speak to me with a British accent. Others just smiled and waved, and we greeted them back. Some kids looked at us wide-eyed, and on one instance I put my finger to my lips and said "shhh" and winked at the little boy.


We went into this shop full of curious things, where I could not help snapping a photo of Sammy and Kat because it almost looks like it could be a store in Diagon Alley.



I dressed up as Harry. We were mostly going by the character descriptions in the book rather than the way they looked in the movie. (I am no Dan Radcliffe!) That is why I had these thick frames on at first, and why I chose jet black instead of Dan's dark brown hair.


Kat dressed up as Luna Lovegood since she loves Luna and has always felt she belongs to Ravenclaw. Kat had just used one of the wigs she had at home at the time, but we found one that was more appropriate about a week after, hahah.

We were wearing appropriate colored contacts but they aren't really visible here, hahah. We also need our patches and wands… There'll be a chance for that later! When we wore our robes again for a recent event, we made some upgrades. I'll post more about that soon!


Sammy was Parvati Patil, my fellow Gryffindor at heart. (Look at that fox behind Kat)

We went to the back of the store, nearly pressed our faces against the glass case of vintage spectacles, and we saw it — a pair of perfectly round frames! I hurried to a saleslady and asked her to please open the glass case so I could take a look. I picked them up carefully and admired them before putting them on. Then I turned around to show Kat and Sammy, and raised my eyebrows while I asked them how I looked. They said together, "YOU HAVE TO GET THEM"


And so I did. The size and fit felt just right on me. I just need to color the circular rims black somehow to get them to be a bit more accurate. Will do that for next time! (Also I am holding a paintbrush here because I hadn't started on my wand at the time HAHA)

We bought a pack of tissues, met up with the rest of our friends, and walked into the theater for the final movie of the series that has become such a significant part of our lives. Near the refreshment area, we saw a group of people who were partially dressed up and it seemed both our groups were kind of eyeing each other and wanting to say hi and ask for a picture, but our shyness got to all of us ahahaha.

I won't say much right now as a courtesy to those who have yet to watch it. It was just heartwarming and amazing to be in a huge room full of people who knew just how we felt. Even though we were strangers to most of the people there, we all laughed and cheered and cried and applauded together.

As the end credits rolled on we said, "Mischief managed!"

Still caught in a whirlwind of emotions, we made our way out of the theater. There was another group of people who dressed up for the occasion. We didn't miss our chance for photos this time. A lot of them turned out blurry. Perhaps Myk was still laughing at us for joining in with the sobbing during the screening.



Gotta hand it to the Quidditch guy for the dedication with the broom and all inside a mall!

After my friends and I parted ways, I got to watch again with Miguel :iconmerkymerkx: who had followed after dinnertime. The popcorn lady was very amused with me, and asked Miguel if he was Ron. Haha! My heart went on another ride and welled up with emotion all over again, but I was very thankful for it.


And here is a random webcam pic with my pet budgie, who is trying his very best to be Hedwig (although he is obviously far too small and too green, hahah)


Also, here's a photo of my Harry Potter costume with a few small upgrades.