Inside the Calgary-area workshop that created 10,000 wands for the release of ‘Wicked’

Ever wonder where magic wands come from? You may be surprised to know some of the most unique custom-crafted spellcasters come from southern Alberta.

If magic ever needed a Canadian address, it might be a modest backyard workshop near downtown Okotoks.

That’s where Fantasy by Numbers is carving out a global niche, making handcrafted magic wands one order at a time – some for individual everyday fans, and thousands more for a recent blockbuster film release.

Inside the small shop, rows of wooden wands line the walls, each one shaped by a mix of digital design, machine precision and careful hand finishing.

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Fantasy by Numbers blends modern manufacturing with traditional woodworking to create custom magic wands that are shipped around the world.

For Brendan Rose, the process – and the magic – begins long before a piece of wood is ever carved.

“There weren’t any commercially available machines that could do what we needed,” Rose said. “Everything out there was designed to mass-produce identical pieces.”

Rose built his own milling machines from scratch, designing them to carve fully customized wands where no two designs are the same.

He also wrote much of the custom software that converts each customer’s design into machine code.

“All of our software is custom made,” he said. “Finding something off the shelf that would work for what we needed just wasn’t happening.”

Once the carving is finished, the work becomes far more hands-on.

Co-founder Jared Codd is responsible for much of the sanding, staining and finishing that turns a carved blank into a finished wand.

“I sand the whole thing to get a nice smooth surface,” Codd said. “After that, we stain them all, and then they get a bath in oil to give them a nice shine.”

Customers can also choose finishes that change how a wand looks and feels.

“Some people will choose a weathered finish,” Codd said. “We lightly sand off some of the colour in high-contact areas, so it looks like the wand has been around for a while.”

Wood choice is another key part of the process.

“Different woods all have different lore through a bunch of cultures worldwide,” Codd said. “Ash trees are always very revered, and cedar is very protective.”

That attention to detail was tested last year, when Fantasy by Numbers was asked to produce 10,000 wands for U.S. movie theatre chain Cinemark as part of a promotion tied to the theatrical release of Wicked.

The company wanted 100 wands for each of 100 theatres across the U.S.

“We had to average close to 250 to 300 wands a day in order to hit the target,” Rose said.

Meeting that deadline meant marathon days in the shop.

“It was up to 18-hour days toward the end,” Rose said. “We had friends and family helping out just to keep everything moving.”

While the carving itself was automated, much of the work that followed was still manual.

“If you timed it right, you might get about 60 seconds to sit down or grab a drink,” Rose said. “Most of the time, you were jumping between machines.”

The pressure was compounded by the fact the company continued filling regular customer orders during the movie run.

“We didn’t put the shop into vacation mode,” Rose said. “We were still making the regular ones at the same time.”

The project also carried financial risk.

“There were some nights going to bed thinking, ‘What have I done?’” Rose said. “It was very high risk, but it did pay off in the end.”

In the end, the order was completed on time, and the experience reshaped how the company sees its own capabilities.

“It really pushed us to ramp up what we were capable of,” Rose said. “Now we know what we could do differently if we ever had to do it again.”

Through it all, Codd continued overseeing finishing work and quality control.

“Between the wood types and the design options, we’re well over a billion different possible combinations,” Codd said. “We still care about how each one turns out.”

For Codd, one of the most satisfying moments comes at the very end of the process where every wand is photographed before being sent out.

“Taking those finished photos is very rewarding,” he said. “You get to see the result of all the work that’s gone into it.”

That satisfaction carries over to medieval fairs and fantasy events.

“I’ll see one of our wands walking down the street and think, ‘I know where you got that,’” Codd said. “Our designs are distinctive enough that I can recognize them.”

Fantasy by Numbers does not operate a traditional storefront, but its wands are sold online, through select local retailers and at festivals across the region.

The company is also behind Enchanted Okotoks, an annual interactive fantasy event designed to bring that same sense of wonder into the town’s streets.

Codd says he doesn’t have a favourite wand because it changes daily.

“I make one, and that becomes my favourite,” he said. “Then I make another one, and that’s my new favourite.”

With the 10,000-wand sprint behind them, Rose is now turning his engineering and electronics background toward what he calls the next evolution of the craft; he’s developing “smart” wands that could eventually be programmed to do more than look the part — using gesture recognition and wireless controls to cast a spell and open a garage door, turn lights on and off, or even remotely start a car, all while keeping the feel and finish of a traditional wooden wand.

For a company that began by asking people to imagine a little magic in their everyday lives, the idea feels like a natural next step.

In their Okotoks shop it appears, the line between fantasy and function is getting thinner all the time.