WIP Harry Potter's "Ikea" Wand Build (Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets)

[PhantomForge]

Hello all!

In case the title didn't tip you off, my plan here is to build an accurate wand based on the ORIGINAL "Ikea" Harry Potter build, and not the one he used for the majority of the films.

I'm calling it this because the director of Azkaban reportedly called the original wands too "Ikea" for his tastes, and while I sort of agree with him (and I LOVE the new designs) I also have a huge appreciation for those original wands that launched us into the magical world of Harry Potter— there's a sort of elegance to them, and I love the fact they're based off of antique conductor's batons.

I've been trying to replicate this wand casually on and off for a couple years, and thought I'd post about it in here now that I have some better photos, questions, and elaborations I want to make.
Maybe I'll also expand this to be about the other wands as well, but we're going to focus on Harry's for now.

To start things off, here's photos from this video that inspired me to start this up again

And these come with some questions:
1) What types of woods/materials are those?
It's clearly not holly, one of the whitest woods out there. Or if it is, it's HEAVILY stained/painted. It's also clear that the handle and the shaft are two very different types of woods.
I have a strong feeling that the handle is zebra wood— matches the color and look.
Looking at the shaft of the wand, it's a sort of purplish red, and becomes darker down the shaft— perhaps charred? I love the look, and the first thing that comes to mind is that it's purpleheart wood— and looking up some other images of wands/pens made online from purple heart strengthens my suspicions.
Also, now that we have these HD photos, I noticed something that I missed the first time around:

That looks like a METAL end cap! At least those two gold specs make it seem so. It's definitely a different material from the zebra wood, but it transitions from the material seamlessly to the point where, looking at screenshots as well as crew gifts distributed by warner brothers (which would have been made cheeper), I thought it was just another charred bit of wood! I'm thinking it might be brass, maybe bronze? Just by those two little gold dots.
Yeesh, that might be hard to replicate, but I think the local maker space I'm eyeing has a metal lathe, so I should be covered.

2) What's the length of this wand?
Something that bugged me over the years is that the wands from the movies CLEARLY don't match the wand from the book. From the first time I tried to carve Harry's wand as a teenager, I noticed that 11 inches (the length described in the book) seemed TERRIBLY short and didn't match the movie at all (which, in 3-8, is roughly 14 inches.)
Now, this might have just been because JKR is TERRIBLE with measurements vs how something actually looks (her description of the length/width of a basilisk is sort of amusing), or because longer wands looked better on screen— but I actually have another idea.
I think since the handles of most of the wands from the first two are clearly different woods, the handle and the wand are supposed to be two different things/two different measurements, and can therefore stay true to the measurements from the books while looking good on screen.
To test this out, and plugging in the numbers, if the shaft of Harry's wand is supposed to be 11 inches, the handle would be around 3.75 inches, and the total length of the wand (14.75) roughly matches the measurements of Harry's later wands.
I also tested this out by modeling and printing a 3D-modeled wand— sculpted from the images above, refer below— at this length, and it feels right.

I honestly don't feel comfortable shrinking it down any further, so I feel sure that the handle not being included in the wand measurements given by Ollivander was the intention of the original wand maker.

THE PLAN:
I'd love to try and make a material-accurate version of this wand, though i might try and make a 3D printed/Resin casted version as well. At the very least, I'll be making an accurately-scaled 3D model to reference to while turning the woods on a lathe.
I might also try to reach out to the original prop maker, Pierre Bohanna about my suspicions on the wood/metal to see if I'm right/get more guidance. I hear he really enjoys people trying to replicate these props on the internet!

PROGRESS SO FAR:

This is from like... 4 years ago now? It was the first one I made (from oak), and I don't have the pictures, but I think I made a better one with a better stain/paint job and ratio for my father's birthday (he loves the movies, and made one for me as a kid. Full circle.) I might get him to send me the photos, but they might not be necessary to show off since I'm trying to move forward, not back.

Here's the 3D model I made, not TOTALLY accurate, but I whipped it up in an afternoon to see if it seemed the right size, as ratio of wand to handle/handle shapes should be, at the very least, accurate. I printed it at 14.75 inches to see how it would look, and I think I hit the right number. Gave it a quick and sloppy paint job for a better comparison to the screen used one.


Let me know what you all think about the wood types/end caps, can't wait to dig in more with this!

 

[calvinhobbs]

Good to see that I am not the only one obsessing over this version of Harrys WandJ

I think, to colour match the wood, you should go with the first picture where the wand is more at an angle then the second picture. It looks like there was a lot of light in the second picture. And I have not yet found an image in the movies where you can see the tip of the wand being lighter in colour to the rest of the shaft.

I am not quite sure that I see a metal end cap. I would say more of the same wood from the shaft. Those little spots could be either little dents in the wood where the light reflects differently or if the wand was not made from wood, then maybe just chipped paint. Does anybody know if the wands in the first two movies where made from wood?

I really like your 3D model but there are two thing that I would change. The groove right above the handle is a bit too deep. And the taper on the shaft happens around half way up the shaft and not straight out of the handle. There are a couple of centimetres where the shaft is just straight

 

[eethan]

this wood especially on the second photo, makes me think of Bocote or other close species. I don't think zebrawood, zebrawood is very yellow in hue.
good luck with your project

 

[PhantomForge]

I think, to colour match the wood, you should go with the first picture where the wand is more at an angle then the second picture. It looks like there was a lot of light in the second picture. And I have not yet found an image in the movies where you can see the tip of the wand being lighter in colour to the rest of the shaft.

I agree that the second image seems to have more light, but having more light is a good thing— it highlights things that you might not have seen in the dark. I'd also argue that the first picture definitely shows a change in color along the shaft as well, the base of the shaft is darker than the tip, but that might be the highly playing tricks on me! I'll look further into it.
As for images in the movies, i first noticed this look at screenshots and then felt my suspicion confirmed when I saw these two images of the props.
Especially in Ollivander's you can see the difference in color.

I am not quite sure that I see a metal end cap. I would say more of the same wood from the shaft. Those little spots could be either little dents in the wood where the light reflects differently or if the wand was not made from wood, then maybe just chipped paint. Does anybody know if the wands in the first two movies where made from wood?

Yeah, it's kind of up in the air for me with the metal until I can get more info (I'm going to try and contact Bohanna today to get some more info), but at the very least I believe it is a different material (or painted a different way) with how different it looks from the other two materials. I originally thought it was also the same material as the shaft until I saw these HD photos of the prop, notice that the reflections on the shaft of the wood (tip and base) vs the end cap:

It reminds me a lot of this old brass chair leg that hand a similar finish, but that was just gut instinct after I saw those two golden dots— but you are entirely correct that those dots could very well be chipped paint or a highlight!
I believe I read somewhere (or heard in behind the scenes videos) that a lot of the wands from the first couple films were made from a lathe, and you can actually see that these two pictures are slightly different in shape (the video talks about how they'd make several for different scenes, I'd assume for close up vs wide shots.) If it was just cast in resin, I think they would all look exactly the same, but especially with Ron's and Hermione's you see the differences between their two props.

I really like your 3D model but there are two thing that I would change. The groove right above the handle is a bit too deep. And the taper on the shaft happens around half way up the shaft and not straight out of the handle. There are a couple of centimetres where the shaft is just straight

Yeah, like I said it's not TOTALLY accurate, and especially with the shaft I just tried to make that the right length so that I could see if the scale felt right when printed out at 14.75 inches. As for the groove, it is too deep for the second image, but I was going for the groove in the first, which seems deeper to me! They're two different versions of the same wand, and the second one was made simpler for easier construction. As long as they get the basic shape for wide-shots, they're good to go!
Thanks for the input, hopefully we'll know more soon!

this wood especially on the second photo, makes me think of Bocote or other close species. I don't think zebrawood, zebrawood is very yellow in hue.
good luck with your project

Oh, bocote looks like a GREAT match! I'm still putting some attention on zebrawood, as I've seen some finished zebrawood pens that can be darker like that, but my suspicions have definitely been turned to bocote for the handle.



And here's some CGI shots of the wand for your enjoyment.

They won't help me find the proper materials, as they're far too light, but they do provide a nice reference for shape I suppose.

 

[calvinhobbs]

Yeah fingers crossed you get an answer

I went through my collection of wood pen blanks but I could not really match anything to the colours from the pictures. Mahogany for the shaft?

And I think your measurements are really close. I compared the thickness of your model with a length of 14.75 to Draco’s Wand from the Noble Collection and both are about the same width.

In Chambers the shaft looks a lot darker.

 

[witchcraftbyt]

Looks great! I hope you get an answer from Pierre Bohanna. If it works out, would you sell any of these?

 

[witchcraftbyt]

Just realised you made an interest post which I already commented on aha! Also, just a thought, but it would be so cool if it came with a screen accurate replica of the original box. I’m not sure the exact one used for Harry but perhaps something like this:

 

[PhantomForge]

Looks great! I hope you get an answer from Pierre Bohanna. If it works out, would you sell any of these?

I'd think about it!
It will depend how much work goes into it, how much the wood costs, etc, but I'll keep folks updated! Would totally get that kind of box if I can as well.

 

[ArborlyMink]

The wand was made of Holly wood from what I’ve seen

 

[chibobber]

Just a thought.. Look at cocobolo for the handle. Used for grips on Smith and Wesson revolvers for years.

 

[PhantomForge]

The wand was made of Holly wood from what I’ve seen

I thought you were making a joke ("Holly wood" like Hollywood, as in movies...) before I remembered that in the book, Harry's wand is made from holly. Look up holly, it's a very white wood and doesn't match the colors used in the movie, unless it was stained! It's certainly possible with the color variation we see. But I don't believe any of the wands in the first two movies are actually created using the woods they are supposed to.
If this is a joke about movies/hollywood, good one! If it's not, sorry about the laugh emoji.

Just a thought.. Look at cocobolo for the handle. Used for grips on Smith and Wesson revolvers for years.

Fantastic suggestion, and a great look.