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The Staff of Elysium

Hand carved diamond willow staffs

By Andrew LaBreePublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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The Staff of Elysium

The saga of a diamond willow wizard staff begins where it is meant to begin, and ends when the staff tells me it’s complete. Inspiration can come from a stone that catches my eye at the rock shop, or a character drama that unfolds during a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Once the idea of a particular staff has embedded itself in my cortex, the only way to dislodge it is to complete the task; to make the staff a reality. It begins with the hunt.

Hunting for diamond willow is an adventure in itself, and often times, the conditions surrounding the hunt flavor the final outcome of the staff. Was it a frigid, overcast day tromping through snow, or was it like last week, hot and steamy, with so many mosquitoes and flies that I opted for full pants and hoodie for protection instead of bug repellent. Since diamond willow typically grows near swamps, I concede that most hunts will be more like the later. I keep my eyes focused for the telltale diamond. Although many willows are afflicted with the cursed infection that creates the desired diamond-shaped segments, the severity of the fungal attack is both the blessing and the curse, for the greater the affliction, the more stark the effect and the more desirable the specimen. The less afflicted get to live on, continuing to battle the canker-causing fungus, while those most devastated are chosen for greatness, to be transformed for eternity ( or for however long an organic, handmade hiking/wizard staff can be reasonably expected to last with routine maintenance and care).

Diamond willows tend to grow in clumps, with lots of branches extending up from a cohesive base; they’re somewhere between a tree and a shrub. Since offshoot limbs exit the main trunk at unpredictable angles and lengths, the first criteria for selection for a staff is to ensure that there is at least a six feet section that is reasonably straight. Most of the severest diamonds tend to be near the base, so where to cut the limb becomes a decisive compromise between getting the most of the diamond-pattern, while considering the additional weight that the wizard (hiker) will need to carry. I typically use one of a variety of hand saws, but when time is of the essence, and the bugs are the most pestilent, I opt for a battery-powered reciprocating saw. I make the necessary incision, and forever separate the specimen from its brethren. Now cutting a tree down, or a portion of a tree, should never be taken lightly. If the limb isn’t already dead, which it often isn’t, then I must emotionally and spiritually grapple with the reality that I am killing an organic life-form. After years of crafting diamond willow, this reality is still a tremendous burden to consider, and one that I have not become complacent to. I accept that the energy of the living tree will be transferred through my creative process of transforming the branch into a staff, and will ultimately be transferred into the wielder who will benefit from the energy, hopefully doing good and not evil, but truthfully, would we know the one without the other.

Once the limb is cut down, I remove it from its environment and typically take it to a clearing. At this point, it still pretty much just looks like a tree limb with lots of branches and twigs. The first step in shaping begins now, with my Fiskars pruning shears. I start to clear away all the branches and twigs that have no part of the staff. The majority of the time, all are cleared off. I would need to be making a very intentional design choice to leave a particular branch on the final staff. It’s this stage of the process where the character of the staff really begins to emerge, as the overall shape of the final staff starts to come into focus. Now is where I can turn the staff upright, start to feel the staff for where some natural handholds may be, how heavy it will ultimately be, where a diamond could be hollowed out to make a place for a stone. The design possibilities really start to flow here; I shape the ideas and cocoon them for later, for now is the time to transport the piece back to storage to begin drying. Whether more experienced diamond willow carvers will say that I’m wrong or not, I leave the bark on for drying, presumably to slow the drying process and minimize the potential for cracking due to rapid moisture loss.

I come back to the piece typically when inspiration strikes. Although I’d like to say that all my attention is devoted to a particular piece at a time, efficiency and expediency sometimes rule the day. Usually I end up working on multiple staffs at a time, although I know that batch processing is probably violating my lean manufacturing training. Let’s face it, debarking diamond willow is no easy feat, so when I get into a rhythm with my razor-blade like draw knife, I like to stick with it. Once all the bark is removed from a staff, another critical design choice must be made, and that is how much of the inner bark to remove. The heartwood of a diamond willow is typically very light in color, with the exception of a starker reddish hue that comes from the diamonds. The choice to leave or remove inner bark is determined by how dark or light I want the end staff to look. One staff that I made for a friend years ago took on a very sinister appearance after I left a large proportion of inner bark intact. This choice can also be heavily mood-dependent. While I’m creating the staff, I’m also considering the stories of those who have used the staff in the past, and who will come to use it in the future. Was it used to subdue a great evil at overwhelming odds? Was its power selfishly squandered to attain riches by unsavory means? Will it come to symbolize the hope of a people who are left with nothing but hope to cling to?

Once the shape is complete, the sanding and protective finish is applied in customary woodworking fashion. Accoutrements are added to accentuate the wood, as well as embellish the story. Dragon agates are installed in the Staff of Fire. Hand grips can be burned, carved, or wrapped. And animal bones, feathers, or hides connect the user to a particular spirit creature.

The shaping of the staff with myriad carving tools is both a practical exercise in woodcraft, and a narrative exercise in storytelling. This is why I love creating these staffs from diamond willow; the wood itself provides the personality-laden canvas from which a fantasy can come to life.

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About the Creator

Andrew LaBree

As a creator, I typically work with wood, carving and crafting handmade objects and furniture that are practical, seasonal, or fantastical. Professionally I am a field service engineer. This is my first endeavor in writing creatively.

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