"Magic" Wand

     Need a wand for a Halloween costume or cosplay prop?  Here's an easy and inexpensive technique.

Materials:
*Wooden chopstick or dowel
*Sandpaper (optional)
*Hot glue gun
*Hot glue sticks
*Paint
*Beads, marbles, or other embellishments.

Directions:
*If desired, sand down the end of your chopstick or dowel to give it a pointed appearance.  This is a purely aesthetic choice and if you're happy with a wider end, feel free to skip this step.

*Glue a bead or marble to the flat end of your wand.
*Layer on the hot glue to create a handle with your wand.  I went did this by creating a ring of hot glue around the end, letting it drip for a moment, and then starting another ring of glue below it, repeating the process until the handle was long enough for my liking.

*Once the glue is cool and solid, add paint.  For the black wand, I painted the handle gold and then brushed black over it.  For the purple wand, I painted the handle silver and then brushed purple over it.  I didn't like the way that looked, so I mixed in some black to get that darker silver color.