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The Red Maple

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EDIT 2/26/18

For sure the bead is NOT Jade or quartz, but I'm now very unsure what it is. As stated in the description below, the bead came from a jewelry grabbag, and there wasn't any info on the items that came in said bag. I'm wondering if it is Amazonite or Agate; it's the only stone that holds the most similarities, but I'm still so unsure. If anyone has any experience in identifying, or knows someone who can identify, the bead stone, PLEASE let me know! QwQ

End EDIT

So, some of you may know that I am of an explorative Pagan belief/spirituality. And for the past few years, I've been trying to get my hands on a wand of my own for meditation and visualization practice, but, unsurprisingly, it's been difficult. Number one, a lot of wands are very expensive since they are either A, made from some damn top notch material, B, they're usually from the UK and other European areas, C, the craftsmanship alone is worth its mother tree's weight in payment, or D, all of the above. And as many other Pagans would agree, it's hard to just buy something that is supposed to aid you on some belief level. It feels so impersonal, but you may feel helpless making your own when you have ZERO experience in making an item. ^^;
It doesn't help that my birth tree is Hazel, and due to the tree's general scarcity, AND the fact it generally grows in shrubs and not full trees, I have had almost no luck in finding a branch to possibly work with. I've even contacted people primarily in the UK and even Ireland who may have Hazel locally or partnered to them for their wares, but all results came back the same; the shrubs don't always produce thick enough branches for carving, and those that do are collected hastily, priced very high, and sold VERY quickly. 

However, about a year ago, I was working in our yard trimming and tending our trees - no one fucking touches our trees but me, or unless dad needs to get up the ladder and do some higher trimming - and after collecting the trimmings from our Red Maple, I had one of those silly moments thinking this one particular cutting was interesting, and decided to keep it from becoming fire-pit kindling. We've all done it as a kid; find a rock, a stick, or some nameless item in the wild, and it's the most fascinating thing in the world, so we keep it and find it hiding in a drawer years later. 

It's been sitting drying and moving from shelf to shelf since, and I kept contemplating trying carving on it for any one reason. I even planned to make it a flute, but found after it dried, it shrunk to a too narrow size to split properly. Thankfully, research allowed me to find out that Maple was an extremely soft wood, just above the softness of Balsa, so it's perfect for carving. And it wasn't until yesterday, frustrated and unsure of a school assignment, I basically said 'fuck it', got out my Xacto knife, grabbed the branch, and began carving its handle and tip.

I was honestly shocked at how smooth and (relatively) easy it was to carve due to its dryness and soft wood. The night before, I had been looking at high-grade carving knives on Amazon, but it turns out I only needed my Xacto knife. It was a rather soothing venture; granted I did slip on one occasion and accidently cut the side of my left index finger. Nothing serious, just irritating. 

Fast forward a bit, and I consult my box of odd jewelry bits I ordered over the past couple weeks from VintageJewlerySupplies.com. The pieces I got were from random grab bags, so I had a small collection of really interesting pieces; three seen on the wand!

Brass jewelers wire, a brass feather/leaf/tassel charm, and a stone bead I suspect to be Jade, or a green quartz. It came from a grab bag as I said, so there's no way to tell its name, and searching the bead section of the site has not helped, oddly. It's a genuine stone though, as evident by the imperfections; pits, some cracks, its different shades, shine and transparency, etc. No idea for an exact name though, I'm just guessing Jade or quartz. 

Anyways, with some seriously dumb luck, winding and twisting, and some creative initiative, it gets done today! 

I'm contemplating adding more on, but I think it may be just fine as is. I had a ton of fun just whittling away at the tip and handle, and testing out the bead and charm with the wire. It feels very right to me, especially the stone bead with the wood itself. I'm quite proud of this wand too! I haven't carved anything since I was a kid, and back then I had only my mom's poor kitchen knives to use. Sorry, mom. ^^; 

Let me know what you guys think! Here's to hoping I can find a Hazel branch at some point, and maybe make more wands for friends! 

Materials: Red Maple wood (grown and harvested in my front yard), stone bead (suspected to be Jade or quartz), brass jewelers wire, feather/leaf charm (matching brass/gold). 

Made 2/11/18 - 2/12/18 (branch harvested sometime last year, exact date unknown)

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~S~
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PaperGirlInPaperTown's avatar
Looks awesome my dude! Good luck with the whole spiritual journey thing and finding the Hazel wood