A Wizard’s Guide to Shopping for Your Wand

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We present our roundup of the internet’s best handmade wands and officially licensed replicas from the films.

Perhaps like me, you took the Sorting Ceremony test on Pottermore to find your House (I’m a Ravenclaw!), followed by the quiz wherein your wand chose you, then found yourself similarly falling down a hole of wandlore and wand coveting. Wandlore is one of those beautifully rich side details of the Potterverse. Wands are themselves an essential and mighty force in magic, with Dumbledore’s über-powerful (and elegantly crafted) Elder Wand tied into the final conflict.

For those witches and wizards who want a wand of their very own for the full wizarding experience (or just a great collectible art piece), may we present some of the best places to acquire them outside of Ollivanders. Whether you want to incorporate your Pottermore-assigned wand into a family crest, use it to stage wand duels, create an expensive but fabulous set of hair sticks, or just display your favorite replicas in your common room, these shops have your every wand desire covered.

The Official Film Replicas

Want the wand wielded by Harry Potter? Have a hankering for Hermione’s subtly ornamental wand, or the raw skeletal beauty of Lord Voldemort’s? Visit one of these three sites.

NobleCollection.com

– The officially licensed manufacturer of Harry Potter wands, Noble Collection’s website features over 80 different wand-related collectibles from pretty much every character in the films ever shown with a wand. The selection is expansive, including everyone from Ginny to Neville to Slughorn to Parvati Patil’s beautiful

dragon wing wand

. As the direct producer, Noble Collection’s prices seem to be the lowest. Other products of note:

Kingsley Shacklebolt’s wand

(is that a giant squid?), and the

Harry Potter Remote Control Wand

, for those who want to control their infrared devices via swish and flick.

www.noblecollection.com

  • HarryPotterShop.com – This site is an official distributor of Noble Collection with about half the products, but has the incentive of free shipping if you order over $100 (which is damn easy to do if you order two or more wands or any of the collections!) The site also lets you in on the key piece of information that these wands are made of resin, not wood. They are therefore much more delicate and “may break if treated roughly.” Duel at your own risk!
  • HarryPotterPlatform934.com – For those in the UK, an even smaller collection can be found at The Harry Potter Shop at Platform 9 ¾. This site has wands only, no displays or collections, but has the best web design by far.
  • Handmade and Custom

    Crave a wand made from actual wood? What about metal, or polymer clay? Many of these artisans make Harry Potter replica wands as well as their own unique and original designs. Here you will also find sites to make your Pottermore-assigned wand a reality. The selection is nigh endless so the list below is an alphabetical sampling of some of the best web and Etsy shops.

    More from Culturess

    Alivan’s

    : Probably the best known site, Alivan’s boasts five collections of carved wooden wands, though many of the wands shown don’t seem to be available. This could be easily resolved by visiting their

    Custom Wands

    section and ordering a wand based on a sold-out design you love. In custom orders they’ll create whatever you can imagine, or make your Pottermore wand. Most of their wands are understated and sophisticated, like the

    Twisted Cut Mahogany

    below, but there are a few showy exceptions.

    www.alivans.com

  • Art’s Magic Shop: If you’re looking for a simple, uncomplicated design, Art’s Magic Shop makes affordable and stylish wands ranging from $13-$20 each. These wands retain the raw natural shape of the branches from which they were taken. Some designs even have the bark featured in the handle. The wands feel authentic — I think even Ollivander would be impressed.
  • Chimera Magic Supply: Although this shop only showcases three wand options, they are actually three levels of customization with separate price points for the wand to choose the wizard. Choose Tier 1-3, take their wand-personality quiz, and Chimera delivers an intricate wood-carved wand created just for you.
  • DarkWood Arts: High quality wooden replicas of the film wands, and a custom order invitation from artist Ron Karl promising he can make anything you can dream up. His four original designs are quite lovely.
  • Dynamic Alley

    : These wands are made from wooden dowels, then decorated with polymer clay or thermoplastic adhesive and painted to perfection in a myriad of colors. Except for a handful of film-inspired varieties, these are original designs. These are the

    party favor wands

    and very much resemble crayons!

    www.dynamicalley.etsy.com

  • Fairy Me Shop: If you’re looking for something slightly more bedazzled, Fairy Me makes sparkly swizzle stick-style wands, some of which look like they were stolen right from Queen Titania. Made from wood, they look more like painted glass. The two moss-covered driftwood wands are particularly beautiful and fairy-like (and just a little bit Lord of the Rings).
  • Just Another Level: With only a few offerings, artist Amanda Zamorano demonstrates keen skill and a flair for sculpting polymer clay that make her custom order option quite tempting. Be sure to check out her non-wand offerings in the form of adorably geeky 8-bit trinkets and décor.
  • The Little Windigo

    : For the serious witch or wizard. Artist Heather Luethy makes charming and one-of-a-kind creations out of wood, fake flowers, feathers, paint and hot glue. It may sound like a mishmash but these humble ingredients add up to some incredibly impressive art pieces that just scream magic. This is the “

    Shadow Bone wand

    .”

    www.LittleWindigo.etsy.com

  • MountainForest Wands: Each of these wands is made from a hand-polished branch, set with miniature accent stones. They look very organic and innately magical.
  • Orchard Works

    :  Exotic materials, exquisite designs. They carry all possible permutations to create your Pottermore wand, specializing in rare woods. Make no mistake, this is a wand they tailor to you. Their seven guideline questions focus your ideas into a concrete vision for the wand of your dreams. Their designs sport meticulous detail and customization. (Full disclosure: This is where Ani Bundel bought her Pottermore wand!) Images from

    custom orders

    below.

    www.orchardworks.etsy.com

  • Osbornes Wand Shop: Although the typos and misspellings here plague me, there is no denying that artist Isaac Atkinson has some serious wood-carving prowess. In addition to film replicas he offers the design-your-own wand option, the Pottermore wand option, and the randomizer “The Wand Chooses the Wizard” option, wherein a wand will “choose” you after you take the artist’s not-unlike-Pottermore quiz.
  • Spade Wands by TheWandMakersSecret: First glance at the gallery of these wooden wands makes them seem almost too simple. But when you view the individual product photos, they reveal complicated and elaborate designs, all polished to a high shine. All the wands are worth a closer inspection, but check out “Upsteam,” “Transficious,” and the “Amethyst Meteor” in particular.
  • Where Magic Begins

    : This shop has what seems to be the only metal wands on the web. Each design incorporates a quartz crystal and the mostly pewter wands have delicate embellishments in the metal. More elaborate (and expensive) pieces are featured on the artist’s other website, www.magicwandstore.com. Below is the “

    Soulmate magic wand

    .”

    www.Queenie88.etsy.com

  • The Woodland Wandolier: This shop specializes in bulk wand buying for use as wedding and birthday party favors. These ornate wooden wands come in a variety of bright, bold colors and feature a glass gem or similar embellishment at one end. Like the Fairy Me shop, these remind me of swizzle sticks.
  • Next: Harry Potter Book Night Reveals World's Favorite Spell

    What kind of wand did Pottermore assign you? Which wand will you choose? Do you need to have your Pottermore wand, or would you prefer to design your own–or covet having the one your favorite character once wielded on screen? Sound off in the comment below!