I'm going to the next Australian Discworld Convention! Yay! And for a variety of reasons, I decided to be a wizard. However, I was missing one of the most important elements- a staff.
Since there is very little call in my day to day life for a wizards staff, I had to aquire one. And since I did not want to spend a lot of money, I wanted to DIY one. Total cost I estimate (given I had many materials already) is around $10 in consumables and that could be less if you decide on a different knob (I did play with a few options before deciding on my final form).
Materials needed
- Thin sticks: NB I used reeds I already had. These are the home decor fancy reeds, about 1 metre long each, that I bought from the Reject Shop for a different project and I used 8-9 for my staff. Cost- $6 (but were leftovers)
- Masking Tape (Cost- $2 only because I only had a little left on the roll I already had so I had to buy more!)
- Hot Glue Gun and glue (Cost- $10 for the gun but I've wanted one for a while so this was an excuse, $5 for the glue and I had some left)
- Paint (Cost- already had, otherwise two or three shades of brown and one of a metal colour. I used a metalic copper pen)
- 1.25L soft drink bottle (Cost- nothing, pulled from recyling bin!)
- 'Knob' : I used a oval rechargable light that shifts through different colours. I bought it years ago so the cost was not a factor. If you don't have or want to buy one though, then my alternate option I was initially going to go with was a cheap plastic Christmas bauble.
- Knife/scissors/paint brushes and other misc supplies
The only thing I had to specifically buy to finish this project was some replacement masking and a hot glue gun that I wanted to get for general use anyway so I'm happy! But enough of my frugal gloating, on with the method.
First step was to lay the sticks out. Because individually they are relatively fragile, I used three or so bundled together for the length of the staff. Since they were shorter than my final length, I staggered them so that all together they would lie on the floor to the length that I wanted. Once I was happy there were no sections with multiple ends in the one place (which would create a weak point in my staff) I tapped them together with masking tape. Easiest way to do this is to first tape around the sticks in several sections to hold the multiple reeds together, then work from one end to the other, spiralling around and along the length of the staff.
Continue adding tape. Extra layers add strength and shape the piece so you end up with a slightly bumpy length that looks very much like a long stick. The advantage though is that your masking tape/stick construct will be much lighter than an equivalent length of solid wood.
Next step is the carving. This was very easy and rather fun- get your hot glue out and use the glue gun to make whatever mystic signs and symbols that take your fancy- I couldn't resist the urge to have my staff feature (among other things) a footnote!
Once you are happy, it's time to paint. For the most realistic look, start with a medium brown and give the whole thing a solid coat of paint. Once it is dry, go back with the darker brown and very roughly paint it. You want missing gaps and streaks. Finally, use a fine brush and with the light brown paint, paint thin lines or highlights. To make these subtle, you may even wish to use a cloth to wipe away and smear out the lighter colour.
Once you are happy with the wood look, you can go onto your mystic signs (the hot glue bits). I used a metallic copper coloured pen and I found the pen was really easy to use to apply to the raised hot glue bits.
Now you could stop here. However, at least in the Discworld universe, it is a well known fact that wizard's staffs have a knob on the end*. But how to put it on? I was going to tape it on and incorporate it in the initial construction but then I came up with my light idea. But there was a catch- I had to be able to take the light off to recharge it as needed so I couldn't permanently fix it.
So here is how to make a super simple and cheap knob holder (*snigger*). I got a 1.25 litre soft drink bottle and cut the top off. I then trimmed it to shape so that it would easily hold my light. The top of my staff was happily smaller than the opening of the drink bottle so all I had to do was hot glue it into place. Incidentally, yes, hot glue is now my new favourite costume creation tool. To somewhat disguise the bottle origins, I then put more hot glue on the outside to cover and blur the screw top ridges. Then the copper pen came out to paint the plastic and finish it off.
And here it is! Now I realise it isn't a perfect disguise- if I spent more time and added more glue I could make it look more realistic and natural. Alternatively, wrapping string or wire around the join would also improve the look but I suspect with the time I have left and the other elements I need to do, this might be enough for me.
Here's the finished staff- it's approximately the same height as me and, although surprisingly bendy, it is able to stand up under it's own weight while not being very heavy.
Next on the list is the beard and hat. And robes. And working out what to wear under the robes. Oh my...
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* And there is a well known country folk song that celebrates this fact
You may be happy with this but I found it a bit fake looking at this stage so I tried something sneaky. Permanent markers are alcohol inks. This means that the dye will dissolve in a non-polar solvent which in non chemistry speak means alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is isopropyl alcohol (C3H8O),a slightly bigger alcohol molecule to ethyl alcohol, the stuff people drink (C2H6O). This means you could in theory use a high proof spirit like vodka but it's easier and cheaper to use rubbing alcohol! I directly applied just enough to make the whole thing wet but not dripping (or it would take the pigment with the drips).
