Wand 8 - Heka.
My second commission wand! This one is for my friend Gabe, as a gift for his girlfriend Ashley. She is a big fan of Egyptian mythology, so I was tasked with designing a wand that had an Egyptian style. Of the five designs, the hook-handled wand was her favorite. It’s based on one of the Pharaoh’s two scepters, the crook and the flail. Heka is the Egyptian name for the crook.
Heka was largely handcarved from a piece of Oak. I turned him on the lathe first to get the initial rounded dowel portion, while leaving the part where the hook would be untouched. From there, I whittled the rest of it down. It was a challenge getting the hook shaped right, especially on such a large piece of wood, but between my father’s saw and my knife and chisels, the form finally emerged.
Heka is 11” long, and stained with Ebony, then Jacobean. The ebony did not stain the wand as dark as I wanted, so the Jacobean was added for some extra darkness. It may be hard to see from the picture, but above where her hand will grip the wand, there is a ring of scarab beetles woodburned, and coated with gold leaf paint. Not a lot, but enough to make it look like the wand had been dug out the sand after many years. Lastly, I applied satin polyurethane.
The box is colored features a new option; metal corners! It adds some class and fanciness to the whole thing! The yellow is chosen for the new owner’s house of Hufflepuff (yay!), and gave me a chance to use the new rolls of craft paper I ordered.