One thing leads to another ....
With four magic wands in one household there's naturally a need for some place to put them when they're not magicing (is there such a word?). I'd made several chisel racks so the basics of the idea of how the magic wands would be held was a no brainer - a horizontal element with holes in it and a spreader to keep the sides parallel. A simple idea - two "H"s stacked one above the other. Four pieces of wood, four holes - what could be simpler?
And then, once again, the design began taking on a life of its own. Magic wands need a magic rack. Ovals began appearing as design elements - one of birdseye maple ply, two of claro walnut. And the vertical sides needed something to cap off both ends. Given that this was going to be a Magic Wands rack, there had to be an acorn somewhere in the design, the idea being the "large oak trees from little acorns grow" - the potential in the seed of belief that can grow into who knows what. So the lower "finials" (?) idea was done. The upper finials needed something different - but still magical. Another turned piece. More noodling to scale in SuperPaint and the idea evolved (see below) , this time topped with a small "crystal" ball (actually they're plastic but they play with light like a crystal ball does.
A little design work in Aldus SuperPaint, a full scale drawing for cutting the parts and here's where I was going and the idea in wood.
Some shaping of the verticals on the bandsaw, a little round over routing, 1/4" holes drilled in the vertical ends for the finials (and whatever you call the acorn ended turnings at the bottom), about 10 coats of wiped on shellac, notching the verticals for the birdseye maple oval, making some special loose tenons out of some walnut and it's ready for glue up. Still have to decide what kind of stone to cut for the center of the bottom walnut oval. Also need to decide on how this thing's going to be hung on the wall.
And here's the finished piece with the wands which are about 12 inches long to give you an idea of the scale.
The upper loose tenons have one inch holes in them for some test tube type flower holders. The one inch holes in the bottom loose tenons can be used to hang feathers and beads or whatever.
Another "little" project that used most of my power tools, some of my "too precious to throw away" scraps and, with luck, some nice memories for the new owners. Many of the ideas in this piece will be part of some future picture frames, a mirror frame and a shelf unit for some small collector plates. Fun this woodworking thing.