DIY Light-Up Wand Tutorial (for Harry Potter Cosplay!)

If you've had a look around Pinterest you know there are plenty of easy DIY wand tutorials out there, but John added a little something extra to ours, using stuff we already had around the house:

 They light up!

That's John's wand on top, and mine below. I wanted my light extra bright, so I had my LED stick out more. You can bury it like John's, though, for a more subtle look. (And it's still quite bright from straight on.)

And here are the finished wands:

We went for very different looks; I wanted mine more natural, while John was all about that dramatic red-and-black. (I should note it took John less than five minutes to paint his and make it gorgeous, while I've re-painted mine three times and am STILL not happy, so of course I have to hate him a little.)

I also made my wand shorter, since I'm a shorty myself and wanted it proportional.

For comparison, here are our wands next to the official Universal replica of Harry's wand:

Our handles are a bit bigger to account for the battery, but to be honest, they're a lot more comfortable to hold, and weigh about the same, since the official wands are surprisingly hefty. I also think ours look more "real" than the Universal ones, so when you throw in the fact that they only cost a few dollars to make *and* they light up *and* you can personalize them however you like, it's kind of no-brainer, right?

So, ready to make one??

Click through for the tutorial, since this thing got super photo-heavy. (What can I say? I'm THOROUGH.)

Ok! Here's what you'll need:

 - a thin wooden dowel
- 1 short section of 1/2" PVC tubing
- 1 1/2" PVC coupler
 - Epoxy putty (that's the SteelStik in my photo)
- Paper clay
- One LED light (these lights are sold in bags of 12 or 15 in the bridal aisle at JoAnn's, & come in all different colors)
- 2 AAA batteries
- Masking tape
- Electrical wire (20 gauge or smaller)
- A small electrical switch (Push button is best, but we used metal toggles since that's what we had.)
- a battery spring (check Radio Shack)
- Heat shrink tubing
- One small metal rivet (the 2-piece kind)
- basic craft tools (pliers, craft blade, etc)

I know electrical stuff is intimidating for most of us, but this is a great beginner's projects, since you can't shock yourself with such a weak battery. (WOOT!)

To begin, use a craft blade to shave down one end of your dowel into a rough point:

This is where your LED bulb will sit.

Open up the plastic casing of the LED and retrieve the bulb. You need to add enough wire to reach the opposite end of the wand, where the battery will be. (Err on the generous side, so cut off about two feet of wire.)

Start by separating the 2 ends of your electrical wire, and stripping the ends:

Cut off two small sections of heat shrink tubing (about an inch each), and slip those down the wires. We'll be using those in just a sec.

Bend the two wire ends into hooks, and hook the LED's 2 wires through them, twisting to secure:

Slide that heat shrink tubing up over the connections (you remembered those, right?), and use a hair dryer or heat gun to shrink the tubing in place.

(This is pre-shrunk. After you heat it, the tubing gets wrinkly & tight.)

Ok! Now you've got an LED with a long wire attached. Let's stick it on your wand:

Arrange the two wires on either side of your dowel, so the LED is centered. Then start wrapping it up with thin masking tape. (Don't use electrical tape because the clay has to stick to it later.)

Wrap the wires about halfway down your dowel:

Now's a good time to test your LED. Stick the ends of your wire on either side of the button cell battery your LED came with, and cross your fingers this happens:

Yay! Or if it doesn't work, try switching sides on the battery. That should do it.

Now let's add the battery. Wrap up the rest of the wand with your masking tape, and cut & strip one half of your wire:

Now here's where John got creative: he used a small metal rivet as the contact point for the batteries:

It works great, too! Just stick the stripped wire inside the body of the rivet, and squash it flat with pliers. Once the wire is secure, wrap the rivet with tape, too, so only the flat disc is poking out.

Here's how the battery assembly will fit in your handle:

So the batteries go inside the PVC tube, and the switch sits inside the coupler on the end.

Your second wire needs to reach the switch at the end, so make sure you keep that long for now.

To attach the PVC tube handle, mix up some epoxy putty and mold it around the end of the dowel, being careful not to cover your rivet head:

Then squish the PVC tube over the putty. Don't go down too far; just enough to hold it in place. (You need to leave room in the tube for your AAA batteries!)

Sadly, we didn't get any pictures of the next few steps, so now I'm going to hand this over to John and his mad diagram-drawing self. HIT IT, JOHN!

[sounds of awkward shuffling]

Uh, hi, john here. In the diagram below, you can see the basic layout of the wand's wiring.
 

The positive wire goes directly to the battery using the rivet. The other wire - the negative - goes inside the PVC beside the batteries and through the coupler to the switch. Remember, the coupler is the end cap.

Now, attach the end of the negative wire to one terminal on the switch (it doesn't matter which side) and attach another short wire (just a few inches long) to the opposite terminal. Finally, crimp your spring onto the end of that short wire.

Okay, here's the tricky part. You're going to squish enough epoxy into the coupler to set both the switch and the spring in place.

This is actually more difficult than it sounds. (Ok, so I was swearing like a trucker the first time, but the second wand was much easier.) You can't see my face but I'm smiling maniacally.

Now, when you push that coupler onto the PVC, the spring will make a connection with the negative side of the batteries. And, when you flip the switch, the light will go on! Hopefully.

Here's the wand all put together:

Jen already put some clay over the masking tape, but you can see how the coupler fits on and, if you look closely, you can see the switch sticking out of the end. At this point, you'll want to switch it on and off again several times whilst whacking it on various things to make sure everything works - 'cuz once you put the clay over the handle, there's no turning back.

Well, unless you want to sculpt your clay so the end coupler is separate and still removable, of course, which would be awesome for replacing batteries. (Once our batteries die, we're outta luck - although I might try cutting through the clay at that point to remove the coupler.)

Ok, hard part's done. Now for the fun stuff:

Take your paper clay and squish it onto everything. Roll the skinny shaft part on the table like a rolling pin to help get it even. We wanted our handles to look like natural wood, but if you're all artsy 'n stuff, you could make a "design" or "sculpt" it into something "pretty."

Bam! Natural.

(Jen used her fingernail to score light wood grain marks in hers, but I didn't bother. Oh, and she went back later and added a clay well around the toggle switch, so it wouldn't stick out so much.)

Once the clay is dry, give your wand a good sanding. Leave the deeper cracks and crevices on the handle, though, for character.

To make it look like wood, paint a base coat of yellow, beige, or light brown in a satin craft paint. (Make sure it's satin or gloss, not flat.) Then paint on some dark brown or black paint, and quickly wipe it off again with a rag. Done!

Or, if you're like Jen, paint it many, many times because you won't be happy until it looks like the worn handrails at Disneyland.

Now go show off your new wand to the cat. I promise she'll be impressed.

 *****

Thanks, John! And I hope you guys got all that! If not, ask your questions in the comments, and I'll make John answer them. ;)

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