Wandcraft: Making and Using a Magic Wand (Judge Gary Brown)

An excellent primer on making and using wands, covering the hows and the whys

Overview

Like many people, I've usually dismissed a wand as something that belongs to the stereotypical magician of yesteryear, and as an outdated accessory that goes along with his top hat and coat-tails. In other words, something that is largely obsolete and irrelevant for the modern magician.  In his book Wandcraft: Making and Using a Magic Wand, Judge Gary Brown has set himself the tough goal of convincing us that we should set aside our misgivings about the wand, and discover its benefits, which are more than just serving as a dusty symbol to represent the art of magic.

In my case anyway, he's succeeded, and I'm much more prepared to take a magic wand seriously, and realize how it can actually hold a magician in good stead.  And with Brown's help, this book has also taught me how to make my own magic wand, and given me half a dozen solid routines that use one.



I admit that when I first picked up Wandcraft, I had almost as many misgivings about it as I did about wands.  After all, what can you expect from a book authored by someone whose first name is "Judge"?  But then with the help of Wikipedia I discovered that the author is in fact a real life United States District Judge, who just happens to have a serious interest in magic.  Not only is Gary Brown respected for his judicial achievements, but he's authored books on magic, delivered magic lectures, created magic effects, and even won a magic award.  I beg your pardon Judge, and I apologize for mis-judging you.  You now you have my full attention, and I'm ready to take you and your book seriously. And maybe even wands seriously!

To add to the credibility of this work is the fact that it's published by Lawrence Hass's Theory and Art of Magic Press, an outfit that has the goal of publishing books and routines by leading performers and teachers in order to advance the art of magic.  The dust-cover jacket also comes with endorsements from some big names like Jeff McBride, Steve Cohen, and George Schindler.  At the very least, I had to give this book a closer look.



Contents

Between an introductory section about the utility of wands (Ch. 1 "Words About Wands"), and a concluding section about wands you can purchase (Ch. 7 "Don't Try This at Home"), there are two main topics that make up the bulk of the book in terms of content:

● Making wands: Instructions for how to construct five different wands (The Pex Wand, The Painted or Stained Wand, The Willard the Wizard Bullet Wand, The Deco Wand, and The Rolled Card Wand), along with tips to keep in mind during construction (Wandwork Parts 1-5).

● Using wands: Six routines that employ a wand (The Twenty-First Century Anti-Gravity Wand, The Heartbroken Wand, The Basic Wand Routine, Touchless Okito, Wandrous, and Photo Finish).

If I had a criticism here, it would be about the organization of the content.  Rather than have separate sections of the book about making wands, and about using wands, these are all interspersed together.  In other words, first you might get a description of how to make a particular wand, then some general tips about wand making, and then a routine; then instructions about making a different kind of wand, and so on.  To me it seems more sensible to put the sections with similar content together, i.e. first tell us how to make five different wands, then give us some general art-and-craft tips, and then give us all the routines.  This would have been a more natural way of organizing the material, rather than feeling somewhat like an omelette where everything has been mixed together.



Wand Theory

Judge Brown is certainly endeavouring hard to make a case for the wand as an important instrument for a magician given its many practical advantages.  He even likens it to a physician armed with a stethoscope.  Probably the most important chapter is the first one: Words About Wands.  This could easily published as an essay in its own right, and even if you don't read anything else in the book, this is well worth reading.

Among other things, in this chapter Brown explains no less than ten benefits of an ungimmicked wand:
● Summon: to strengthen the summoning of objects using audible resonance.
● Flourish: to add visual grace and elegance in order to establish your mastery.
● Direct/misdirect: to strategically draw attention of your audience towards or away from areas.
● Conceal: to help you hide an object in your hand naturally.
● Transfer: to help you easily transfer an object between your hands by transferring the wand.
● Prove: to act as a convincer about the reality of an object such as by striking it.
● Load/ditch: to cover the act of retrieving or dropping an object.
● Isolate: to emphasize distance in time or space between objects that have already been manipulated.
● Symbolize: to function as a visible image of your ability to perform magic.
● Empower: to enhance your own confidence and give you something natural to do with your hands.

The chapter concludes with an overview of some of the literature about wands, and some sections about what a wand really is and how to source one.  As the book notes in one of the later chapters, if anything the public interest in Harry Potter should only make it easier for us to justify the use of a wand, and find natural ways to use it to connect with our audience, such as by making reference to J.K. Rowling's books, characters, and storylines.



Making Wands

Many magicians might identify a wand as a gimmicked object that helps accomplish part of the method.  But Brown wants us to see the benefits of an ungimmicked wand.  So rather than send us out to our favourite magic shop to buy one, he sets out to explain several ways we can make our own: using plastic pipe, or wood, or even using playing cards.

Here's a list of all the wands that Judge Brown teaches us to make:
1. The Pex Wand: an inexpensive and easy-to-make wand made out of white pex tubing and duct tape.
2. The Painted or Stained Wand: another inexpensive wand constructed from wooden dowel, and then painted or stained.
3. The Willard the Wizard Bullet Wand: a more impressive dowel wand that uses bullet casings as ends.
4. The Deco Wand: a unique and beautiful wand finished with decoupage using printed matter such as playing card artwork.
5. The Rolled Card Wand: another simple wand constructed from a rolled playing card, with ends that use bullet casings or lip balm tube caps.

I especially loved the Deco Wand, which creatively uses decoupage, a technique I've long wanted to try.



In addition there are some "Wandwork" sections, which give DIY tips about things like safety, different kinds of woods, paints and other products to use, and how to get a glossy finish:
● Part 1. Warnings: very basic safety information (e.g. be careful with power tools and knives, read directions) that is mostly self-evident.
● Part 2. Notes On Wood Finishing: a brief overview of different finishes like paint, stain, ink, sealer, and polyurethane.
● Part 3. Some Sticky Notes on Adhesive: how to use superglue, gorilla glue, or two-part epoxy to affix hardware like a bullet casing to your wand.
● Part 4. Rare Tips and Exotic Woods: some suggestions for unique custom tips and special woods.
● Part 5. Adding Some Weight: a few ideas for adding weight to the ends of wands.

Really all these sections really function as an elementary DIY manual for magicians, with basic information about the arts and crafts involved in constructing a wand.  Much of this material can undoubtedly be found on hobbyist woodworking sites, and will already be common sense to those who have some experience with crafting.  But it was nice to have this all brought together in one place for magicians wanting to make a wand.

One drawback of the sections about making wands is that this is especially geared to American readers.  Imperial measurements are used throughout, and specific product names (e.g. Mod Podge) are referenced.  This may make these projects substantially more difficult for many readers in other parts of the world.  Judge Brown also appears to enjoy hunting as a hobby besides magic, because several of the projects require items like bullet casings, and in one instance even the center section of a shotgun cleaning rod is used.  Sourcing material associated with firearms may be commonplace for a member of American law enforcement or a member of the judiciary, and I'm sure I'm not the only reader who wouldn't have a clue where to obtain things like this.



Using Wands

For me, routines that employ magic wands were always going to be more interesting to read about than instructions about how to make them.

Judge Brown carefully teaches us the following half a dozen effects in detail:
1. The Anti-Gravity Wand: This is a fairly well-known idea, and can even be attempted with a pencil or pen, so nobody has an excuse not to give this visual trick a go.
2. The Heartbroken Wand: This is a broken-and restored wand effect, and you'll need multiple wands because each performance will require you to destroy one. 
3. The Basic Wand Routine: This involves some basic sleight of hand moves (e.g. false transfer) to illustrat the versatility of the wand, which you use to produce to produce and then vanish a bill.
4. Touchless Okito: This takes its name from the famous Okito Box (which you'll need to supply to do this), as you use your wand to vanish a coin and make it magically reappears in what was clearly an empty box.
5. Wandrous: This is an excellent lesson in basic equivoque, where your spectator uses a wand to eliminate cards in stages until he ends up with the Queen of Spades, which turns out to be the card wand in his hand.
6. Photo Finish: This is really more of a promotion idea than a magic trick, and explains how you can take a selfie where "lens flare" makes it seem that light is coming out of your wand.

As a fan of card magic, I particularly enjoyed the presentational ideas for "Wandrous".  The added section from publisher Lawrence Hass with an alternative approach to the equivoque used in this trick is especially good, and I recommend his approach.  Involving a wand as Brown describes really enhances the presentation, and gives a lot of possibilities for creatively adding story to the effect. His suggested script is an excellent starting point for you to work with.  The idea of having a spectator unknowingly hold the forced card in their hand all along as a "card wand" is especially terrific.   This reminds me of some "card to Sharpie" tricks, notably the recent release "Summit" by The Other Brothers.  I plan to combine the presentational ideas of "Wandrous" and "Summit" by using a permanent marker as a wand, placing a double-ended court card (as suggested by Hass) inside the Sharpie for the final reveal.

The written instructions helpfully give a full script for all except the last routine.   In terms of the difficulty level, everything is fairly easy, to the point that an experienced magician might be disappointed at the content and be hoping for more. But this is perfectly suited to intermediate magicians.  An ability with elementary skills like palming a crumpled note or executing a French drop with a coin is assumed, but little more is needed.  And while wands are used in all the routines, the value here isn't simply about wand use: actually what you learn here has application and usefulness (e.g. equivoque) even if you never use a wand.



Format

The book is a slender hard cover volume that consists of just under 100 pages.  It has a good table of contents, clear headings, easy-to-read print, and a select bibliography.  The style is easy to read, and the material is such that you can readily browse to sections that are of particular interest. 

While Wandcraft is pleasant to read, as mentioned earlier, I'd have preferred that the chapters had been organized like this review above, rather than mingling the DIY sections and Performance sections throughout.  I can understand the reasons why the material has been organized as it has, since many of the routines employ a specific wand whose construction has just been described.  Even so I think that separating the material would have been more logical and clear.

There's quite a number of footnotes throughout the book, which is well referenced and sourced.  You can even download a free bookmark from Judge Brown's website with QR codes for the web resources mentioned in the book.  My only concern here is that in numerous instances the book makes reference to specific websites or youtube videos, and that many of these links may become defunct or obsolete over time, limiting the long-term usefulness of these sources.

Where appropriate, the text is accompanied by occasional helpful black-and-white photographs and illustrations.  I do wish that there were more illustrations in places, especially since the sections describing the construction of your own wands really benefit from visual guides.  For example, the section describing how to make the Willard the Wizard Bullet Wand (ch. 4) had no accompanying pictures whatsoever, leaving you a bit on your own to figure things out, although in most instances the necessary images are supplied.  While not mentioned in the book, it's worth noting here that Gary Brown has since produced some online materials to supplement the book.  His personal youtube channel has some helpful videos, including a performance of the basic wand routine, and a fun field goal flourish (also seen here) to conclude an Okito Box routine.



Final Thoughts

Contrary to what I was expecting, Wandcraft isn't a manual featuring advanced wand techniques for expert magicians.  It's more of an introductory work for intermediate magicians that is very accessible and readable.  In fact, Judge Brown's book will be of real interest to every magician, in that it gives a good survey about how wands can be used, some basic tricks, and of course how to have make the wands themselves.

The fact that half of the book is about the practical arts and crafts involved in creating your own wand will be less useful to some readers, particularly so if you're unfamiliar with imperial measurements or don't have ready access to items like bullet casings. On the other hand, you might just surprise yourself and find yourself branching out into an area of magic and into a DIY project that you'd never previously considered trying.

The other half of the book has some good reading about the history and theory of wands.  But it's the six routines included that are the feature pieces here.  However it should be noted that while the book is advertised as having "six fully-scripted routines", this isn't quite accurate.  The last last of these ("Photo Finish") is more of a presentational gimmick, and even though it offers a lovely idea for giving your spectator a unique souvenir, it isn't really a magic routine, and doesn't have any script.  And if you are like me and don't have the Okito Box needed for the fourth routine, that leaves you with just four routines you can actually use.  But these are all quite straight forward, offer good variety, and in the process will get you working with different aspects of magic,like sleight of hand and equivoque. 

Even though I'm not ready to add a wand as a standard feature of my performing persona just yet, I'm still very glad to have read this book.  I have gained a new appreciation for how useful wands can be, and I can see that especially when doing sleight of hand with small objects, a wand can prove a wonderful ally and essential assistant.  My personal area of interest and focus is card magic, which is a genre of magic that doesn't typically see a lot of wand use. But even for my card magic, the presentational ideas I got from the "Wandrous" routine alone made this book well worthwhile.   This trick deserves special praise, and I look forward to experimenting further with its ideas, either by using a card wand, or by placing a card inside a Sharpie for the final reveal, and giving my spectator the Sharpie to use as a magic wand.



Recommendation

So what's the final verdict, Judge?  In the end, Wandcraft is a book that deserves to be read by all magicians, not just those who already love or use wands.

Wandcraft will help you appreciate their importance and utility, and especially the initial chapter about this is a good and important read.  The book gives you all the information you need to make your own wand, and even if this doesn't motivate you to get busy with art and crafts, you'll enjoy learning about the different kinds of wands that you can make, and their possibilities.  And there's some very good and fully scripted routines you are taught that demonstrate that any effort you do put into making a wand is well worthwhile.  For me, the presentational possibilities offered by "Wandrous" single-handedly made it worth the price.

After reading this book, you might just find yourself revising your opinion about using a wand, and perhaps even thinking about making your own.  The fact that Judge Gary Brown has even made me consider doing this, already proves that he's won me over with his book.  Judge, I rest my case.



Where to get it? Wandcraft is available from your favorite Murphy's Magic retailer .