The hot glue sticks to her fingers as she puts the final touches on the wand. She inspects it closely and knows perfection has been achieved.
Holly Brown, sophomore theater education and math education major, is a wand maker— making Harry Potter-like wands in her free time.
"If I'm just bored and I don't have anything to do for homework, instead of sitting down and watching TV or playing mindless games on the Internet, I will make a couple more wands," she said.
Interest
"I was really interested just before the latest Harry Potter craze," she said. "I wanted a wand, but I didn't want to pay for the wands that you get online."
Brown searched the Internet and came across a website that teaches how to make a wand out of paper. Intrigue got the best of her and then she made her first wand.
"The first one I made was surprisingly really good, and so I made a couple more until I got one that I really liked," she said. "It was just before Halloween and I wanted to be a Harry Potter character."
Supplies
To make a wand, Brown said the supplies are: paper, double sided tape, hot glue, latex paint and acrylic paint.
She has spent around $40 so far, and has made more than 10 wands.
The hot glue gun is $10 and the latex paint has to be bought in big tubs that run $15. Each bottle of acrylic paint is $1 and the double-sided tape is $5 a piece.
Time to make a wand
"[The technique] depends on the type of wand," she said. "Just a wand with a basic design, hot glue and swirls takes around two hours."
Brown's least favorite part of the wand making process is the drying time of the latex paint.
"It's a very necessary step to put on the latex paint before the acrylic, because it gives the paper a paper-mache type effect," she said. "The latex paint takes about four times longer to dry than the acrylic paint."
"So you'll sit there and put on a coat of latex and go get some supper and come back and it will still be a little wet, watch some TV, make a different wand, then it's dry," she said.
Selling
Brown's friends can be credited with the start of her wand selling. She made one for herself and also her best friend made one to start off with.
"My roommate and some of her friends saw the wands and were like ‘those are really cool, you should totally sell them,'" she said. "I made a few more and my friends were like ‘seriously I'll pay money to buy a wand.'"
Moneymaking
Brown charges between $10 and $20 per wand she makes.
"It sort of depends on the wand," she said. "A simpler wand like the ones that take only two hours, I'll charge around $10 and the more complicated ones or anything with a handle is at least $20, because the handle takes so much more time to make."
The complicated ones she has made for her friends as birthday or Christmas presents.
She sold 10 or so during the last Harry Potter premier and has made around $150 on her wands.
Brown markets herself on Facebook by posting some photos of her wands. Some of her friends have commented that they want one. She's also thinking of making a Facebook group to publicize herself.
She plans to sell more wands during the next Harry Potter premier and continue to sell them.
Wands for others
Brown is making colorful wands for the upcoming Sleeping Beauty show for another theater education major (like herself) who is directing the show.
The show needs six colorful wands and four plain white ones.
"I'm not charging for the ones for the play, because I have compassion for the situation of theater people and their beg-borrow kind of concept, like try to avoid spending money as much as possible and stuff that you don't really need," she said.
Wand buyers
Justin Habben, sophomore musical theater, bought a wand made by Brown when she mentioned she made them.
"I thought it would just be cool to have one," he said. "Mine is black with bronze layering and with silver swirling that goes all the way up."
Meghan Conley, sophomore musical theater, purchased one for the Harry Potter movie.
"Mine is light brown with dark brown accents and a winding vine that goes up the wand," she said. "I just like how it looks and the fact that I have a wand."
Habben recommends buying a wand from Brown.
"It is unique and worth it," he said. "Holly takes time to make a beautiful product that is custom made for you."
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