Wizardly Class Gift gets Sculpted at Woodridge

Here's a tongue twister: on Friday, a wizard with wood took a large chunk of a tree and fabricated a wood wizard in front of Woodridge Elementary School.

Home of the Wizards, Woodridge's sixth graders and their parents were trying to think of a good class gift to leave behind as they venture off to middle school.

One parent, Terrie Travieso, came up with the idea of the sculpture of the school's mascot.

So they hired Michael Higgins of The Magic Garden in Tivertown, who was at the school on Friday, using chainsaws and other tools to carve the sculpture during the course of the day. 

From a chunk of lumpy trunk, Higgins transformed the wood into a wizard standing on a pile of books, a pencil-wand in one hand, an owl in another. His robe is painted blue and adorned with yellow stars and moons — fresh paint that is now drying and will get a coat of varnish sometime next week.