Here's what I started out with, a pair of long dowels and a PVC pipe about 2-1/2 feet long..
I laid down the edge of the pipe onto some .030" thick styrene and drew out the shape of the sword...
I cut out the shape, and in this crappy picture, you can see me tracing it out into some more .030 styrene:
I then cut that out so I have two identical sword shapes. I then take the PVC pipe and hotglue it to one of the shapes (using small strips of styrene glued perpendicularly to anchor it in place as shown:)
I then attach the two dowels to the shape to provide structure and stability for the blade of the sword...
Now, to create the organic-looking hilt of the sword, I start by laying down a 1" thick line of 6mm craft foam around the edge, like so:
Then I fill it in with some pink insulation foam and stabilize it as best I can with some scrap styrene...
I then build up a 1" thick layer of craft foam around the outer edge of the sword blade...
That done, I then hotglue the second plastic sword shape over the first, making sure they line up exactly.
That done, I take a marker and mark off where I want the details of the sword to go. (ie: the webbing of the wing, and the segments of the hilt.)
And here's what we've got so far...
I wasn't as diligent about taking pictures of the last part of the process as I was the first part of it. Still, I'll post what I have and try to explain it as best I can...
By the time this next picture had been shot, I had added a "gemstone" to the hilt (actually, a plastic 2-1/2" Christmas ornament cut in half). I also laid down a thin layer of 3mm craft foam...
Why did I bother to do that? Because the next step involves laying down Paperclay, a moldable, shape-able type of paper mache...
I want to create a 1/4" shell around the hilt, and by putting a layer of craft foam down first, I can get away with using less of the Paperclay when it comes to achieving the desired thickness.
I spread the Paperclay over the hilt and let it dry overnight. The next day, there were all sorts of cracks in the surface, which I then filled with more Paperclay.
After a cycle of building up, smoothing, and drying, I had something like this:
At some point I had to create the "dragon claw" part of the wing. This I did by shaping Sculpey into a curved cone and inserting a thick wire into the middle of it. After baking it dry, I stuck the wire into the hilt of the sword and hotglued the claw into position. I then painted the claw and all the foam surfaces with alternating layers of gesso and clear acrylic varnish. After sanding the hilt surface smooth and adding even more layers of gesso and varnish, I finally had it finished to the point where I could start applying the paint.
Oh, and at some point I made the hilt too. (Sorry, I have no pictures of this part of the process. The main reason being that it was such a hideous struggle trying to figure out HOW to weave the layers of craft foam and styrene together to make a convincing wrapped sword effect, that I just didn't THINK to record the process. All I can say is that it was very time-consuming and frustrating and NO, I don't have any tips on how to do it - you'll just have to muck through it and figure it out like I had to...)
At any rate, when the time came to paint the sword, I wound up using metallic blue acrylic for the hilt, veins and dragon claw (and metallic red acrylic for the other side of the hilt.)
Oh, here's a shot of the pointy pommel, which I made from craft foam covered with styrene (yeah, sorry, no pictures of THAT part of the project either...)-_-
Back to the painting. I used acrylic for the hilt and veins because testor's would have flaked or cracked off of the gesso/foam. I DID use testor's metallic paint for the rest of the sword (the handle, pommel, and fins of the sword. And the little white sticky-out things on the hilt which I forgot to metnion until now. Oh well, I have no picture of myself making THOSE either so it really doesn't matter, I guess...)
Welp, that's it for now. I'm sorry I played fast and loose with the description at the end. (I'll try to be more meticulous in the future...)
Questions? Comments? Leave 'em below or e-mail me at dietzt@cloudnet.com!
That is so cool! You are really awesome at this and it's just...WOW! You're so creative.
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