Paint (usually a brown, red, green, black, silver and/or gold
Begin by rolling paper into a narrow funnel. You want one end to be just a bit wider than the other.
Stick the tip of the glue gun into the narrow end of the wand first. You are going to fill the entire tube with glue. This part can be tricky. Don't miss any sections. The wand will be too flimsy. Squirt glue into the gun until you can see it at about 2/3 - 3/4 of the way full through the entire tube. Now is a good time to add any elements you want your want to be infused with: herbs, hair, horn....before adding glue.
Allow to cool for a moment.
Fill the remainder of the way, through the wider end and allow to cool completely. Tube should be entirely full. When cooled it will be solid and darn near unbreakable.
Each wand will take approx. 3-4 hot glue sticks.
Squeeze a small bead of glue on the top or narrow end of the wand. This will give the wand a nice rounded finish on top.
When that cools, flip the wand over, cut the paper and glue level, if needed.
Once the wand is completely cooled, using a sponge brush, lightly brush your base paint layer. We used brown. For a darker look you can also use black.
For your second coat skim a layer of maroon or green (or whatever color you choose) over the top of the brown.
The paint dries very quickly. When it is completely dry, use the hot glue gun to carefully draw designs on your wand with the glue. We did vines with flowers, "knots" like wood, spirals, snakes, anything! Get creative!
I tipped the wand vertically and squirted a bit of hot glue on the top and let it drizzle messily around the tip. Then, holding it upside down did the same, just a bit thicker, so it sort of ran down like candle wax-ish.
Now mix a little bit of the base color and the second coat color together and paint over the glue once it is completely dry.
Then, using your finger, apply the metallic color wherever you want. Allowing it to really make the design of the glue stand out.
Optional: I brushed a light coat of Mod Podge over the top to seal it all together. I like the silky texture it gave it. It made it look polished, not glossy.