Wand Selection (an abridged excerpt from Magic With Wands Volume 1)

Choosing a wand to represent your magic while being fully functional and performance ready requires consideration of several factors. Design, size, and color influence what magic a wand can do. For example, the best wand for Ring on Wand may not be suitable for the Striking Vanish.

Design:
    Design refers to the material and shape of the wand, or whether the wand screws together in the center like a pool cue, is made in one piece, or has contrasting “tips”.
    Throughout history, magic wands have been made of ivory, bones, woods, plastics, and metals. They’ve been covered with tape and leather, embedded with gems, capped with bullet casings, and scorched with electricity. For cups and balls magicians who need a heavy durable wand that doesn’t damage cups, a good wooden wand is best for longevity.
    Many occult or “Harry Potter”-style wands have distinct handles and tips. Like the scepter or club, the precursors to wands, the shafts often taper. They have elements of the mysterious, exotic, and shamanic, and can feel more “real” than a conjurer’s straighter rod, but do not work well with much magic involving sleight of hand with the wand itself. A balanced, symmetrical baton style wand is the easiest to work with for the street magician.
    Two piece wands feel classy and provide time for exposition while they’re being screwed together. For special shows, they are beautiful and artistic. Screwing together at the center has downsides, however. The joint is necessarily weak, so such wands can’t be used as a “thumper”— to make noise by tapping it on the ground or table to draw attention. The ability to come apart also makes magic involving solid through solid, like the ring on wand, less impossible.
    Wand tips— making the last two inches or so on one or both ends of a wand different from the shaft— are iconic and easily recognizable. Occult wands have been made with contrasting colors, crystals, metals, and lodestones to represent polarity. The classic modern tips are the white ends on a black shaft. Many wands sold on the market go for this look. They do so in 3 ways: capping the ends, joining the ends, or engraving. Metal capped ends have the same issue as solid metal wands— they damage cups upon impact. Tips that are glued or screwed on have the same compromised durability as two-piece wands. Distinct tips allow for the possibility for gimmicks, however. The Tarbell Course, Lesson 21 describes many prepared wands using tips. Some single-piece wands imply tips with engravings. They look nice and are as durable as plain street wands.

Size:
    Magic wands vary in size from the comic extremes of a couple inches to large enough to cross a small stage, for children’s comedy acts. For performing most street magic, the popular length ranges from 8-14 inches, with a thickness of 3/8”-3/4”.
    The ideal size wand for street magic is about 11-12”x1/2”. For most people, this is just long enough for flipstick while being as long as possible. Much longer and the end of the wand will flash. 1/2” is thick enough to be durable, while being thin enough for most finger rings to slip over. Most hardwoods at this size are heavy enough for wand spinning moves.
    For strolling magic, shorter wands ranging from 6-10” long are also popular, since they can fit in a variety of pockets more easily. Spinning moves become more challenging with shorter wands, but they’re better for sleights along the lines of David Williamson’s striking vanish.

Color:
    Wands are available in all colors. There are even transparent wands. Wands can also be shiny or dull. For practical consideration, we can categorize them as flashy or subdued.
    Flashy wands have brighter colors and/or shiny finishes. A white metallic wand, for example, would be flashy. For our purposes, even if only the tips are flashy, e.g. white tips on a black wand, the wand will be considered flashy.
    Subdued wands are the opposite. Darker colors with matte or no finish. Many wands are painted or anodized black, or are made of ebonies.
    There are tricks that benefit from either a flashy or subdued wand. The striking vanish, wand spin, any sort of levitation or suspension or the wand itself, for example, benefit from the wand being clearly visible. Subdued wands are better for flip stick work and its variations, where the wand itself is being hidden. A flashy wand can leave a visual streak as it vanishes, whereas a subdued wand might seem to pop out of existence.