The only "process" I have is to cut a 5.5" x 1" blank from a 1"x6"x12" piece of hardwood, true it up for perpendicularity, drill a 3/8" hole in the center, insert a temporary wand-shaft, and then carve the handle into the desired shape using a hand held Dremel tool with various cutting bits. Then I do the same for the wand-shaft using 3/8"x3/8"x13" hardwood stock. The end of the shaft that goes into the handle is bored out using a 5/32" hand held drill bit to accept the core artifacts which, (believe it or not) are from real animals.
No stains are used so the wood is naturally bare. However I have found that Holly is so susceptible to soiling and scuffs that I have started giving this very white wood a coat of clear UV acrylic. The wands are all sanded and polished by hand. The core is added and the wand shaft glued into the handle.Everything is "eyeballed" so nothing is perfect. The closest wand I have to a perfect carving job is the Dark Apprentice, which was my first attempt with Ebony. I know that this is the hard way to do things, but I have never run a lathe before and I tend to be accident prone.
