Creating Bethany Hawke's Staff of the Blighted Heartwood

I am not sure how I managed to get stuck in this vicious and never-ending cycle of paper mache, but it does seem to come in handy in times of need. Plus its free. I am also starting to wonder if we have a problem hoarding newspaper since that never seems to run out in my household; not so with flour cause I did run out of that half way though my project. I used my craft varnish as its replacement and boy, that is going to hurt my pocket later on.
Good news is that you can create this staff in a week or less, because that is the amount of time I had left to make a staff or go to the event without one. Since Isabella threatened my life if I didn't pitch with one, I opted for the week of stress and longer life. Can't play World of Warcraft without fingers, now can you?
Bad news is this staff design defies the laws of gravity so you will need a heck of a lot of reinforcements and adhesives to effectively spit right in gravity's face.

Materials Required

Thick Cardboard
Newspaper
Chop sticks and/or Plastic Cutlery
Flour Paste
Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Masking Tape
Broom Stick (Metal or Wooden)
Silver, Black and Brown Paint

Step 1

Sketch and cut out two pieces of the staff's head and the blade end from cardboard.
For some reason I struggled to sketch this outline as an eye. My hand found the pattern easier when I started picturing the shape as two stick men joined at the head.
Remember to add an extra piece to the staff head and blade end which will be used to attach them both onto the ends of your pole or staff grip.
Stick the two cardboard pieces together.

Step 2

Create your staff's definition by rolling pieces of newspaper together, folding them into triangles and gluing them along all along the central part of your staff head and blade end patterns using flour paste.
Leave to dry.
You may want to reinforce the central vertical line at this point for both pieces using chop sticks, since I only discovered my staff's problem with gravity after trying to attach the head to the grip.
Insert them carefully  at the top and bottom 'legs', move the along the 'torso', through the 'arms', along the 'neck' and through the 'head'.
Cut a chop stick in half and use each half to reinforce the outer edges of the 'head' as well.
Glue reinforcements into place
Apply a layer of mache over the staff's head and blade.
Leave to dry.

Step 3

Attach the Staff' Head and Blade to the ends of your broom pole.
Reinforce the attachments with chop sticks or cutlery handle, (you do not need the utensils bowl, so you may just break that off if you're using a spoon or fork).
Glue into place with your glue gun.
Use masking tape to cover up and keep your reinforce in place.

Step 4

Finally, paint your staff and leave to dry.