A wand never leaves a wizard's or witch's side.
Kenny Sprinkle, senior art education major, has taken this philosophy into the muggle world.
Sprinkle makes his own wands out of paper, wood, glue and a handful of other materials. He said his inspiration comes from the Harry Potter series.
"My friends at home and I have always been big Harry Potter fans," Sprinkle said. "We just decided to have a party, and my contribution was the wands."
He said the party was his first foray into wand-making, but he continues to make wands for his own enjoyment.
"The first ones were for the party. After that, I started to experiment with different materials," Sprinkle said.
When he started making wands, he said he used computer paper but had problems with durability.
"The first ones were flimsy in the middle because it was just paper," he said.
After using paper, he started using cardstock. The new wands are much sturdier due to the thickness of the paper.
Making the wand structure from paper or cardstock is fairly basic, he said.
"You roll it from one corner to the other, diagonally. Then you fill the ends with hot glue. Your goal is to make it round on the ends."
A paper wand takes about six hours to make, but he often makes more than one at a time. On Wednesday night, he said he was working on four new wands.
To be effient, he uses an assembly line approach.
"First, I roll the paper for a few, then I glue them, and so on," he said.
Recently, Sprinkle has started using wooden dowel rods.
"I haven't made too many with wood, but I like them. It's a different experience."
To make a wand out of dowel rods, he first has to carve them down. From start to finish, it normally takes him eight hours to make a wand out of wood.
"Carving it is the most time-consuming part," Sprinkle said.
Once the wand structure is finished, Sprinkle designs the exterior with hot glue, acrylic paint and other decorative elements.
"My favorite part is trying different designs," he said. "I used hot glue to make leaves and vines on a wand the other day. I'm going to make one with thorns ... soon."
He also uses silver or gold leaf on the wands to give them a metallic finish.
Sprinkle said if he had to choose, he'd say he likes making wooden wands better.
As for the end of the Harry Potter series, Sprinkle said he has mixed emotions.
It will be bittersweet, but he's still looking forward to the movie finale.
"We already bought our tickets," he said. "We're planning on getting to the theater at 8 at the latest."
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