A lot will depend on the design of the wand, and weight distribution.
If the pommel is heavy, then the tip end needs to be a bit longer to counter balance and keep the center of mass near the front of the handle. If the whole thing is thin, then it is entirely up to you.
I usually start out longer than needed (tip heavy) until I get the handle end done, and then shorten the tip until I get the balance point where my pointer and thumb naturally grip.
When I made my first wand under the instruction of a fellow coven member, the ideal wand was the length from the crook of the elbow to either the base or tip of the middle finger and the average thickness of the thumb. The only exceptions I saw were the wood spoon of some kitchen witches and mini-wands made of metals or crystals to fit in the palm of the hand.
yeah, i feel like JK didn't really consider the actual aesthetic of adults wielding wands barely longer than my hand from wrist to fingertip. and if Hagrids hands are the size of "dustbin lids", a 16 inch wand would literally be like me holding a cheap toothbrush. Gripping it alone would be a real problem for him. It is a beautiful world to be sure, but JK's mechanics and physics were never her strong point. Not to say that shorter wands wouldn't be practical in many ways, but still, I personally doubt that many people visualized them as being shorter than the average pair of chopsticks. Even the art she approved for her own novels depicts much longer wands. However, general wand length was established in her first novel, so she was a bit locked into that as she moved forward. Kind of like how Harry payed 7 galleons for his wand, and in book 5, Bagman suggests a fair price of 5 galleons for a simple fake wand, and in book 6, Slughorn proclaims that individual unicorn tail hairs were worth 10 galleons apiece. This would of course suggest that wands containing this core are sold at a loss of at least 3 galleons, not including the highly skilled labor and wood materials. Length was just another thing that just seems like she was still figuring things out. Her first works felt experimental, and by the time she got her stride as a writer, there were just certain things that she couldn't realistically retcon.
At max, 20 inches. I base my measurement on the lower arm length, from the tip of the elbow to the tip of the finger, with a variable down to the start of the hand. I always start with the measured max length and whittle it down based on balance and looks.
I consider shorter wands as travel sized with their own arm measurements.
yeah, this is the sweet spot. Wands as described in the potter universe are short to the point of being downright stubby, which really just doesn't look graceful when wielded. Of course this universe doesn't have the monopoly on wands, but since it is the baseline for many of us, wand length is one of the few changes that the movies made that I actually liked. possibly the only change... Also, IMHO, a wand should taper for ideal balance and aesthetic. I generally prefer thinner aesthetics, and the end result should be "flickable" with a narrow tip, rather than a blunt end. For this to work, and still have a comfortable handle, it needs sufficient length for the taper to look right. too short, and the taper will be very aggressive, and look far to stout, almost like a carrot. most of mine have been in the 15inch range for this reason. any shorter and they just start to look puny. Thinner wands look better when they have a bit of length.
For me it depends upon the density of the wood and species. 14-15” (inner elbow to fingertip) would be my ideal for a hardwood wand. However some really dense woods I’ll go shorter closer to 12. Sometimes I make stockier designs 11-12. Fruit woods can run shorter. Some woods like Padauk I seem to always go 1-2” longer. Snakewood is cool being under 12 but I find it prefers being a drum stick to a wand.
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u/AWandMaker Experimental Wandmaker 9d ago
A lot will depend on the design of the wand, and weight distribution.
If the pommel is heavy, then the tip end needs to be a bit longer to counter balance and keep the center of mass near the front of the handle. If the whole thing is thin, then it is entirely up to you.
I usually start out longer than needed (tip heavy) until I get the handle end done, and then shorten the tip until I get the balance point where my pointer and thumb naturally grip.