Do you love RPG grinding?
Do you love it sooo much you want to 
bring that grind out of the game
and into the physical realm too?
Well you're in the right place
I now have a set of hunter armor...
but what good is hunter armor 
if you don't also have a pair of
huge knives on a stick with which to bother
 larger-than-average lizards?
useless
I mainly use the insect glaive, 
a) because you get to do flips and
b) because you get to have a giant 
coleopteran strapped to your forearm
that you can throw at dinosaurs.
Why the hell would I pick LITERALLY anything else?
before we dive in though we need to
identify the constraints we're working with.
Number One: the RPG proportion problem.
Now I'm about 5'2", so it's not hard to make a prop 
that looks comically large next to me.
But since this thing has to travel on an airplane, 
and the largest dimension of my suitcase
is 28 inches on the diagonal, 
it needs to break down.
I decided on a modular design where the biggest piece,
in this case the larger of the two blades, 
was just under 28 inches long.
This helped to determine the scale for the rest of it, 
since I had something to compare against.
Number Two: I have to carry this 
thing around all day,
and I don't want to have to worry
about overweight baggage fees.
There are a multitude of ways to construct a prop 
weapon, but in this case the easiest and
lightest option was for me to use EVA
foam and PVC pipe.
3/4 inch for the grip, 1/2 inch for the blades, 
and reducer bushings to fit them
into a 3/4 inch unthreaded schedule 40 coupling.
These costs practically nothing at the hardware store, 
so go nuts.
Number Three: lights.
The Blooming Glaive has some kind of 
glowing crystal embedded in one of the blades.
This means that the blade has to be hollow 
to accommodate a light source of some kind
and it needs a convenient power source.
For simplicity I went with a remote-controlled 
RGB LED strip, and a rechargeable 12 volt power bank.
This is great because it means I don't have to worry
 about lugging around spare batteries all the time.
also it has USB out so this sword does 
technically double as a phone charger.
the remote can cycle through color modes if I decide
I want a different elemental effect 
for a photo or something.
It also fits neatly into-
it also fits neatly into one of my belt pouches.
I started with a pattern. For me dremeling EVA foam 
is a personal sensory hellscape.
I hate the feeling of having the requisite
mask and goggles on my face,
I hate the disgusting sensation of the 
foam dust when it inevitably
works its way into your skin hair and clothes, 
and I hate the mess it makes
no matter how hard you try to control it.
Soooo I like to avoid it
when I can. I opted to fit flat pieces
together as seamlessly as possible to
make a 3d form instead of suffering
within a nightmare of my own creation. 
As I cut them out, I beveled the edges
according to the angle at which I wanted
to fit the pieces together.
I don't know how else to explain it so...
...hope this diagram makes sense!
I then carefully fit the pieces together 
using contact cement, making sure
to insert and secure the PVC cores, 
as well as mount the LED strips,
before closing them completely.
I also made a basic pattern for the scaly bit 
at the base of the big blade.
I drew on the scale texture
 and used a wood burner to engrave the surface.
Do this in a well-ventilated area.
I've never actually used a wood burner, 
but the foam does tend
to cake up on the tip. So I went
with soldering iron rules and
periodically wiped it off on a wet
sponge.
I then added spiky details with foam clay 
and heat sealed everything.
I cut out some long foam rectangles for
the straps.
To make the leather texture, I crumpled up 
some aluminum foil
and, after several unsuccessful attempts, 
uncrumpled it,
laid it over top of the foam,
and ironed like a delicious cosplay panini.
I glued everything together,
brushed on a few coats of Mod Podge,
and sealed it with Plasti Dip. 
The buckle is just a foam rectangle,
and the studs are googly eyes. 
Cosplayers' greatest hits.
Now the fun part. I painted the blades 
with some pewter metallic paint.
I kind of dabbed it on with a rag. 
If you do too even of a job,
it won't look convincing, so use this 
opportunity to reject order in your life.
I just made sure to leave the
bits that would naturally be dulled or
recessed a little darker.
For dimension I took some silver rub 'n buff and
applied it on highlight points to bring
them forward a little.
For the scaly base, I took some of the powdered 
iridescent pigment from my last video
and mixed it into some clear gloss medium.
I didn't use the airbrush method 
because I didn't really want an even application.
Also I ran out of masking tape and didn't feel like 
leaving the house to get more.
I switched gears to make the glowing gem.
I could have done this fancier, like
casting one out of resin, but at this
point my flight was in about 24 hours
and I was not gonna try to cure a mold
and cast one in that amount of time. So
instead I made a faceted pattern and cut
the pieces out of plastazote, once again
beveling the edges to make them join at an angle.
Sometimes spray-paint melts the sh*t out of 
foamy stuff with alarming efficiency.
I have no idea if this is the case for plastazote, 
and I was not trying to find out.
So I painted it with a few layers 
of Mod Podge before spraying it
with a clear finishing glaze, 
and then I glued it into place.
Now I am NOT an advocate 
of the con crunch.
running yourself mind, body, and soul 
through a gauntlet of suffering in the name of cosplay
does not make you cool or hardcore.
over the years I have,
 in general, gotten much better about
loving myself & knowing when to call it.
That being said, it was at this point
that I ran out of time after being awake
for 24 hours and I had to cram
everything into a suitcase & haul my
sleep-deprived ass to the airport
At Butts A.M.....
...to finish everything in the hotel room.
And when you've reached the point of desperation 
that you're finishing props in your hotel room,
you have no choice but to lose yourself 
to your most iniquitous impulses and commit...
atrocities.
Thus began my late-night frame-perfect
speed-run of gluing and painting
the feathers until they looked... close enough.
During this ordeal,
I also took some superficial damage 
that I probably deserved.
Last night, in a feat of buffoonery
unprecedented even for me,
I sat on my plugged in hot glue gun
and burnt a hole in my own a**.
Casualties aside,
I then proceeded to enjoy the rest of my
DragonCon, hoping nobody noticed there
was an outlaw in their midst.
But you can't stay on the run forever.
When you get back from the con 
you have to face the music...
...and bring your own sorry ass to justice.
I drew up a list of charges against myself.
First of all I wrapped a piece of foam around 
the grip to make it... girthier.
It's hellishly crooked and covered in hot glue crust.
Second I cut out a raggedy
pleather strip and wrapped it in a very
pathetic looking braid.
Third, I made a sorry excuse 
for a base on the smaller blade.
I promptly ripped it off when I
retired to the hotel on Saturday and
yeeted it into the garbage, so I don't
even have a video to show you.
Here it is ruining a bunch of otherwise lovely
photos over the course of Dragon Con.
I redid the foam grip to be less
disgusting.
For the braiding, I cut out some long strips of pleather,
folded the edges over, and secured them with clips
instead of pins.
then I remembered it's
hard to maneuver such a narrow seam
allowance through my machine with clips,
so I pulled them all off again in topstitched
free handing the folding as I went
instead. You can sharpie some
guidelines on the back of your straps to 
make this easier if you want
I braided this much nicer looking strap around the grip.
Something about it looked a little flat
so, I added some shading to the seams
with my airbrush.
For the leather blade detail, 
I made another eva foam panini and
made embellishments from 
more foam and googly eyes.
I know not everyone has a fancy airbrush ,
so I did the leathery weathering 
the old-fashioned way for this part.
I dabbed on a dark brown base
coat and then dabbed on
some lighter browns to make it look more natural.
I also painted some light tan on the edges
to match the weathering on the game model.
I brushed rub 'n buff on the bits
that are supposed to look like metal.
Then I sealed everything with some 
satin clear coat.
At this point I was probably just being nitpicky,
but I wasn't completely happy 
with how I painted the feathers.
So I went back through and did some touch-ups
in acrylic paint where it seemed necessary,
followed by more details with iridescent
pigment mixed into an acrylic medium.
and with that,
we can call this thing done
for realsies this time.
The next logical step is, of course, 
the kinsect,
and I haven't decided 
which one I'm doing yet
because they're all so cute, 
so if you have a favorite one
let me know in the comments. 
Maybe it'll help me decide.
Thanks for following me on
this gear grinding mission.
I'm gonna go take a f*cking nap.
