Paul Kerns calls himself the “wizards’ representative.”
Although he is no wizard himself, Paul has been facilitating the magic in others for several years by hand carving and selling magic wands at the Starbrick Cooperative Gallery, 21 W. Columbus St., in Nelsonville.
“I chose to (make wands) because I like to make them, and I was surprised that they were so accepted,” he said.
Paul took up wand making after retiring from a 38-year career in advertising photography. He said while he worked, he made historical-inspired furniture as a hobby. When his wife started selling her work at the Starbrick Gallery, Paul decided to join her.
“When I was getting ready to retire, I had been playing with these sticks and (making)…furniture using crazy sticks,” he said. “So I joined the gallery and decided to make these crazy things.”
And people loved those crazy sticks. Paul said most people who buy them are fans of wizard-related stories like the Harry Potter series. The wands typically cost about $20.
Jim Shirey, who is also an artist who sells his work at Starbrick Gallery, spends a few days each month running the gallery and working as a cashier there. He said Paul’s wands are very popular pieces.
“Quite a number of people (are interested in them),” he said. “When the Harry Potter movies were out, he was selling them as fast as he could make them.”
Shirey said he thinks the interest in the wands has continued long after the Harry Potter movies were premiered because they are both beautiful and easily carried.
“Each one is different and they’re very well made,” he said. “If you’re interested in a work of art that’s easily portable and is just a good conversation piece, the wand would be a great thing to get.”
But Paul said there are others who buy the wands to use for more serious purposes.
“There are serious people who use (the wands) in their ceremonies,” he said. “I happen to know some people who are Wiccan and pagan and people that are interested in fairies. That surprised me. I was unaware of how many there were out there doing that.”
One of those people who use his wands for religious purposes is his daughter, •rixie Kerns. Trixie is pagan and uses the wands as tools when she performs rituals.
“I use them for focusing energy to create a safe and sacred space,” she said. “We are made up of energy ... and when we want to use that energy ... we can hack into that, utilizing tools such as a wand, and use that to focus the energy to create a safe and sacred space where we want to work.”
But Trixie said she also appreciates the wands as beautiful pieces of art, and others may use and appreciate them for reasons other than religious ones.
“People want to believe in something magical but they may not know how to utilize it,” she said. “But they know it’s there and they subconsciously want to connect to it and the wand is that connection. That’s part of the allure of them."
When Paul realized how well people were responding to his wands, he decided to do a little more research on the subject. He scoured the internet for information on the magical properties of different woods and cores, and he provides this information for people so they may choose the best wand for them.
His wands are made from a variety of wood, such as oak, which he noted was the wood of the wand Merlin carried. Some pieces are very simple, he said, and take him very little time to create. Others take more time, like a particular wand he described which bore a handle made from a deer’s antler. Some wands also contain feathers from animals such as crows and hummingbirds, which he said are especially popular among those who take their magic a bit more seriously.
But Paul isn’t only a wand maker. He has made over 300 wooden Appalachian Mountain dulcimers, which is a musical instrument made by strumming or plucking various strings. His other creations displayed and sold at Starbrick Gallery include hanging wooden dragons, wooden puzzles of various mythical creatures and hand-crafted canes. A recent project of his was the making of a “wizard’s potion cabinet” which was the gallery’s featured piece at Nelsonville’s Final Friday event Sept. 30.
Paul said has never done custom work and never plans to. He practices his craft only to please himself, but said he is often the hardest person to please.
“I do this for me,” he said. “I spent a lifetime working for others and doing their wishes and now, this entertains me. It’s just all silliness to some people, but it’s just fun. It’s an imaginary world I can play in and I don’t have to answer to anybody.”
