Wandmakers

Storytime!

My husband and I met initially in 2005, but then I left to serve a mission for my church and didn’t get back until June of 2007. When I did return, he was dating someone else at the time but he had learned how to ballroom dance *swoon* and I started crushing on him pretty quickly.

On the night of July 10th, 2007, a friend of mine called to say she had two extra tickets to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I definitely wanted to go, so I took my brother and we went.

At the same time, Husband was in the same building, different theater. While waiting for the movie to start, his girlfriend called and broke up with him. He describes this experience as really weird, because he’s usually very torn up by break-ups, but that night he felt calm. Afterward, we ran into each other outside. We talked about the movie, and I asked where his girlfriend was. He said they’d broken up, and I replied by saying he should call me sometime.

I walked away from that exchange feeling elated. He called me the next day and we met at a dance and went to Sonic afterward and sat and talked until about 2am. The following day we talked on the phone for a couple of hours, day three we went to lunch, and by that weekend we had decided to date each other exclusively.

The rest is history, but I tell this story so you understand the special place Harry Potter holds in our hearts. If it weren’t for that midnight showing, who knows whether we would’ve gotten together. We are pretty dedicated, to the point that we put together a Harry Potter party every year, we have a Harry Potter mantle in our kitchen, and we make wands.

This—the wandmaking—is probably my husband’s biggest hobby, but one that I absolutely love and fully support. He makes the wands, and I do some of the sanding, polishing, and finishing work when I can. We sell them at the movie releases, and via tumblr and etsy. It’s something we love to do, like my writing, and we love seeing people fall in love with the wands.

How did this start? Well, STORYTIME!

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In December of 2007, Husband and I were married. Fast forward about a year and a half later, and the next Harry Potter film is coming out. We obviously wanted to attend the midnight showing. My husband already had a character wand (Sirius Black’s) but I really wanted one too. So we saved our pennies and went to his parent’s house to order one (they had internet, we didn’t).

While we were looking and deciding which one to get, Husband’s dad came in to see what we were up to. And he scoffed at those character wands. He’s a carpenter, and he said he could easily make those wands and they’d be better.

When they arrived (we’d ordered Snape’s and Lupin’s) we gave all three to him to see if he could do it. A couple of days later, he came back with three beautiful replicas. Well, we decided to try our own hands at it, and went to his shop to use his tools and make our own wands.

By the time the movie came out, we had made a few, and so we took them with us. To our surprises, nearly all of them sold! And, well, the rest is history.

We took a big batch of wands to each of the Deathly Hallows releases, and just this month took some to the Fantastic Beasts showing as well. The moment when someone picks up the wand that is meant to be theirs? There’s this connection you can’t describe. Some people find their wand on the first try, others have to pick up five or six and wave them around before they really know. But when they know, they know. And that’s why we love making them so much.

Thanks for having me, RRHA, it’s been a blast!

We enjoyed having you, Darci! Thanks for sharing your stories and letting us get to know you!

Darci Cole writes fantasy novels for YA/MG readers, and is currently seeking representation for her work. She is a Gryffindor, a fangirl of many fandoms, and a wandmaker for Colevanders. She loves Dr Pepper, pepperoni-pineapple pizza, and stars.

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