To Make or Buy: How to Shop With a Pagan Eye
By Joanne Dunster
Ah props! Those wonderful tools, we all know we don’t really need but we love to have, to collect and cherish and pass on to our friends, family and students. We spend a lifetime amassing our magical treasures, hunting high and low. This workshop, as unlikely as it may seem, is all about the magical art of shopping for, and failing that, making the tools that enrich our craft. It will explore the pitfalls and secret bargains to be had when hunting for that perfect something.
Frustrations
Ever been frustrated that you just can’t find that certain object? Here’s a tip, you are probably looking in the wrong place. We often get bogged down in our own small community and never look beyond the local New Age or Pagan stores. My biggest piece of advice to truly becoming a creative shopper is to think outside the box. Expand your realm of enquiry in to other ‘crossover’ subcultures or areas of interest and you might just score a few gems. Just try searching for a “dagger” on eBay and see how many more hits you get than if you type “Athame”.
To Make
So at what point do you decide to make that magical tool rather than just look for one to buy? Well usually it is when you have assessed your abilities and feel you are able and willing. Surprisingly many people actually don’t bother to do this and never realise they have a greater level of skill than they thought. often people assume that you have to be ‘talented’ at certain crafts when learning to be thorough is often far more important than talent.
There are quite a number of items that the average person could quite happily make themselves and I have broken them up into three rather unsurprising categories. Easy, Intermediate and Challenging.
Easy items to make
These items use few or no tools and require a basic level of skill to make.
Tools required can be adapted from things around the house or easily and cheaply acquired from a hardware store.
•	Wand / Staff. You pretty much have to sand and decorate a stick, how easy is that!. See the Wand making workshop notes on the Applegrove website (http://www.applegroveonline.com/articles.asp) for lots of info on this.
•	Pentacles can be made out of glass platters, ceramic trivets, wooden rounds, chopping blocks or bees wax.
•	Cords. You can buy embroidery thread from a fabric shop and spin it yourself. Full instructions are in the notes for the Cord making workshop on the Applegrove website (http://www.applegroveonline.com/articles.asp).
•	Broom. Some carefully chosen twigs, a stout stick and some wire and you have yourself a simple broom.
•	Scrying Mirror. Get an piece of concave glass and spray the back with black enamel paint. You can get concave glass from old clock faces, picture frames or oil burner dishes. I once used a 1980s salad bowl from a garage sale.
•	Altar Cloths. Hem a pretty piece of fabric. Get fancy and sew tassels on!
Intermediate items to make
These items may require specialist tools or skills. However such tools are reasonably easy to learn to use and it is generally easy to find a friend or family member from which you can borrow them.
•	Costumes. Adapt second-hand clothing or make from bought patterns. If you are feeling clever you can invent your own patterns. Even if you have no sewing machine, simple items can be sewn by hand.
•	Jewellery (simple beaded). Beading stores offering classes are everywhere these days. They also often stock precious metal wires like sliver and gold plated.
•	Statuary (unfired). Get some air drying clay from a hobby store and practice or try your hand at making salt dough.
•	BOS. Take a bookbinding class or cover and decorate a binder. Spring back binders are hard to find but well worth the effort as they make brilliant BOS's that look like bound books but have removable pages. Keep an eye out on ebay for funky metal book corners or other decorative bits.You can also learn some calligraphy to help you fill it with beautiful writing.
•	Altar. Buy a simple raw pine side table and stain and varnish it. Decorate it with metal corners or other bits.
Challenging items to make
These require specialist tools and skills. You may need to either invest in such tools and learn to use them or find a crafts person to complete sections of the project for you. Undertaking these projects can mean acquiring a skill you may be able to put to further use.
•	Athame / Sword. Purchase a blank from a knife collectors / makers organisation or have one made. Join the S.C.A and learn to blacksmith. Some TAFEs also offer Blacksmith courses. Grind down a blank from other stock like a spanner or flat bar.
•	Statuary, plate ware, chalice (ceramic fired). Join a ceramic studio hobby class or look out for your local community college courses. Ceramic studios are fairly easy to find in the Yellow Pages.
•	Chalice (wood turned) altar or other furniture. Take a wood turning class or join a turners or wood workers guild. Find contacts in magazines or online. Once again your local community college is your friend.
•	Jewellery. There are a ton of community college courses that specialise in silver jewelery and they often progress up to fairly advanced levels. Look into precious metal ‘Art Clay’ classes as well, as art clay allows you to model really spectacular organic shapes in silver.
•	Altar. Take a wood working class and build the perfect altar with the correct sized draws for all the other bits you will make after this workshop. Don't forget those hidden drawers for all your secret stuff!
To Buy
Most of us will at some point come across an item that we just don’t have the skill or resources to make. 
Usually this happens when the Item you want is on the ‘challenging’ list or you have decided that it is beyond your abilities. At this point you may want to consider purchasing a pre-made item and decorating or altering it.
Sometimes we don’t make our own tools because the perfect item that you want just ‘happens’ to be available. How many stories have you heard of tools just turning up when they were most needed? It seems to happen all the time!
Of course not all our tools are rare or expensive pieces, sometimes the item you want is so abundant and of good quality that it would be pointless to try to make it yourself. Things like plates, cups and dishes for offerings or cakes and ale are one example of this.
Some things you just cannot make without extreme amounts of effort. Things like your average Cauldron require metal casting equipment and know-how that make it rather a pointless effort to try to make.
Items to buy and places to find them
•	Cauldron. At one point cauldron shaped brass and copper planters were all the rage (the 60’s and 70’s has a lot to answer for) they are reasonably easy to find in  good Junk shops, trash and treasure markets or the occasional garage sale. They can look surprisingly good once polished up and matched with some other brass items. For the more traditional cast iron Cauldron you can buy them online from overseas or via mail order from WITCHABILIA in South Australia (See details at the end of this article). However when ordering your cauldron be prepared to pay a fair amount for the postage and factor that in as they can be rather heavy.
•	Wand. A bit of hunting around within your local community will often turn up crafts persons who can make you a custom wand or sell you a pre-made one (Plug time here I actually make the occasional custom wand myself). If there is no one in your area check online for makers all over the world. Allivan’s is a web store that makes wands and brooms in the Harry Potter style. However the wands that they make are of real (and exotic) wood and are beautifully crafted. A little online searching will turn up dozens of makers.
•	Athame / Sword. Forget Pagan shops as they often have cheap and tacky fantasy knives that are of poor quality at highly inflated prices. For better quality real knives check places that do historical reproductions for the collectors or re-enactment market. There are absolutely tons of stores online for collectors. Search for “knife” or “dagger” not “athame”. Another advantage with reproduction and collectors knives is that often they are also cheaper. Be prepared to pay between $100-$300 for a good one, although simple daggers can be found for as low as $20.
•	Pentacle. As it is so specialist you will generally only find these via Pagan sources. However you can still get a wood turner or other crafts person to make you a round ‘blank’ that you finish your self. Dryad designs make some real beauties out of resin.
•	Scourge. I know it is weird but check good quality sex shops and online retailers as well as specialist leather and horse supplies shops. You don’t really want one that is too much like a big nasty whip so you may need to adapt something or have it specially made.
•	Robes / Costumes. Check hippy shops like Tree Of Life as they stock the occasional basic cloak. Once again check historical re-enactment sources online or via your local club. often their outfits are less garish than ‘Pagany’ stuff and are much better made. Maybe even theatrical supplies will have what you want. The Yellow Pages is your friend. Failing that, call a sympathetic aunt with a sewing machine.
•	Jewelery. For that special item why not have it custom made. Jewellers are easy to find in the Yellow Pages. I met one lady who had her wedding and engagement rings re-fashioned into a beautiful diamond studded pentacle after her divorce. For a nice simple pentacle once again try Tree Of Life. There are also specialist silver jewellery shops in many shopping centres as well as online. 
•	Chalices, Dishes and  Candle Holders etc. Homewares stores, junk shops, antique stores, ebay, garage sales and the back of the cupboard at Nanna's house are all fab places to find these items. Try gathering a collection of old fashioned brass items (which are ridiculously easy to find in every charity shop in the country) for a shiny altar set dedicated to the God. 
Activity: Encourage participants to speak about items they have obtained and ask about ones they are looking for.
Activity: Pass around arts and crafts books 
Shopping Resources
Most of these retailers are based in and around the Sydney area. Similar stores should be available in most major cities of Australia.
Art Clay - Precious Metal Clay
Metal Clay Australasia Workshops and Supplies
http://www.metalclay.com.au
Books
Basement Books
Shop 1, Henry Deane Plaza
2 Lee Street
Haymarket
(In the basement of Medina apts, Central Station, enter via pedestrian tunnel, Railway Square.)
phone: 02 9211 7726
fax: 02 9211 6973
Email: info@basementbooks.com.au 
http://www.basementbooks.com.au
Calligraphy Supplies
Wills Quills
1/166 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood
Tel (02) 9411 2500
Fax (02) 9419 6031
http://www.willsquills.com.au/
Cauldrons
Witchabilia
PO Box 224
Hahndorf SA 5245
(08) 8388 1011
E-mail: witchabilia@hotmail.com 
http://members.bettanet.net.au/~witchabilia/
Crystals
That Crystal Site
http://www.thatcrystalsite.com/
Also sells at Glebe Markets
Crystals Of The World (Wholesalers, need ABN)
283 Cleveland St
Surry Hills
NSW, 2010
(02) 9310 5500
http://www.crystalsoftheworld.com/
Herbs Oils, Jars and Bottles
Sydney Essential Oil Company
10 Fountain Street
Alexandria, NSW 2015
(02) 9565 2828
http://www.seoc.com.au
New Directions
47 Carrington Rd, 
Marrickville, NSW 2204
(02) 8577 5999
http://essentialoils-and-aromatherapy.com
http://shop.newdirections.com.au
General Craft
Spotlight
http://www.spotlight.com.au/
Hobby Supplies
HobbyCo
Shop 402, Gallery Level
Midcity Centre, Pitt St, Sydney NSW
(02) 9221 0666
http://www.hobbyco.com.au/
Jewellery
Dryad Design
http://www.dryaddesign.com/
Jewels on Broadway
Level 2 Broadway Shopping Centre
Phone: 9211 3932
Butterfly Silver
http://www.butterflysilver.com.au/
Knife Making Supplies
Australian Knife Collectors Club
PO Boz149 
Chidlow WA 6556
(08) 9572 7255
http://www.knivesaustralia.com.au/akc-homepage.html
Knife and Sword Retailers
Lawrence Ordinance
802 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 9212 5673
Fax: (02) 9212 6391
Museum Replicas
Huge range of swords, costumes, statues and period everything! 
http://www.museumreplicas.com
Leather
Birdsall Leather & Crafts
36 Chegwyn Street,
Botany NSW 2019
Sydney Australia
Phone: (02) 9316 6299
http://www.birdsall-leather.com.au/
Markets
Flemington Swap and Sell Second Hand Markets
The Sydney Swap & Sell Market is located under Carpark V at Sydney Markets, off Parramatta Road, Flemington.
Saturdays 6:00am - 2:00pm
http://www.paddysmarkets.com.au
Metal Merchant
Edcon Steel Store
Brookvale, Blacktown and Revesby
http://www.edconsteel.com.au/
PAN Pagan Friendly Businesses
Giant listing of Pagan businesses in Australia
http://www.paganawareness.net.au/pfb.html
Re-enactment Groups
The Society for Creative Anachronism Australia (SCA)
http://sca.org.au
Fröjel Gotlandica Viking Re-Enactment Society.
http://www.frojel.com
Stoccata School of Defence
German Long Sword, Sword and buckler, Sword and Shield, Italian Rapier, English Long Sword, Highland Broadsword, and Quarterstaff.
http://www.stoccata.org/
Statuary
Lunation
http://www.lunationonline.com
Dryad Design
http://www.dryaddesign.com/
Wands
Joanne Dunster Custom Wands
http://www.applegroveonline.com/wands.asp
Allivans (Harry Potter style but made of real wood)
http://www.alivans.com/welcome.htm
Wood and Wood Turning
Trend Timbers
Lot 1 Cunneen Street, 
Mulgrave, McGraths Hill (near Windsor) NSW
http://www.trendtimbers.com.au/
Sydney Woodturners Guild
http://www.sydneywoodturners.com.au/