On January 17, 2018, I started work on Mjolnir, what I figured would be the easiest or at least most forgiving part of a female Thor cosplay. In and around various other projects, I built an external framework, filled it with foam, and watched it explode awkwardly out badly-joined seams. On March 26, I gave it up as a bad idea.
Version 2 started off on May 27th, using a solid core this time: two yoga blocks. I carved a channel for the handle, used a butter knife blade to ensure it would all stay together (this was before I knew about contact cement), and filled in the gap with caulk and extra EVA foam strips.
One it was all dry, I marked and sawed off the edges to make it shaped correctly, and then sanded it mostly flat.
The yoga blocks didn't sand as well as the floor mats do, so it was a little fuzzy still, but a thick coat of Plasti-Dip covered it pretty well. I found a decent silver spray paint, coated it well, and put a clear coat over top to keep the paint from chipping.... only to realize that made it too rigid: the paint and clear coat shattered upon contact with anything.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time sanding off the paint, only to have a piece of the Plasti-Dip catch on the sander and tear itself off literally half of the hammer, so I pulled it all off and started over.
Another coat of Plasti-Dip, done a bit more smoothly, and some experimental work with an airbrush got me an uneven coat that looks not-too-horribly of battle-worn hammer material. The best part about the airbrush is that the acrylic paint sticks beautifully to the Plasti-Dip, and is thin enough that it doesn't crack when you bonk things... it's a fully usable (lightweight, harmless) hammer.
To ensure that the leather strap for carrying it was solid, I drilled a hole through the pvc handle, and glued two pvc spacers together (one wasn't wide enough) across the inside. The leather strap is a) real leather, b) contact cemented together, and c) sewn over the contact cement area, just in case. I'm pretty confident it's not going anywhere. The handle is two types of leather, painstakingly glued to the pvc pipe with contact cement.
The end cap, top cap, and extra bit around where the handle and hammer meet are all regular craft foam, glued with contact cement and airbrushed to match the hammer head. I may decide to add painted-on artwork later, but for now (finished December 8, 2018), it is a fully functional, pretty darn good-looking, dang solid start to a cosplay outfit.
I'm quite proud.
Version 2 started off on May 27th, using a solid core this time: two yoga blocks. I carved a channel for the handle, used a butter knife blade to ensure it would all stay together (this was before I knew about contact cement), and filled in the gap with caulk and extra EVA foam strips.
One it was all dry, I marked and sawed off the edges to make it shaped correctly, and then sanded it mostly flat.
The yoga blocks didn't sand as well as the floor mats do, so it was a little fuzzy still, but a thick coat of Plasti-Dip covered it pretty well. I found a decent silver spray paint, coated it well, and put a clear coat over top to keep the paint from chipping.... only to realize that made it too rigid: the paint and clear coat shattered upon contact with anything.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time sanding off the paint, only to have a piece of the Plasti-Dip catch on the sander and tear itself off literally half of the hammer, so I pulled it all off and started over.
Another coat of Plasti-Dip, done a bit more smoothly, and some experimental work with an airbrush got me an uneven coat that looks not-too-horribly of battle-worn hammer material. The best part about the airbrush is that the acrylic paint sticks beautifully to the Plasti-Dip, and is thin enough that it doesn't crack when you bonk things... it's a fully usable (lightweight, harmless) hammer.
To ensure that the leather strap for carrying it was solid, I drilled a hole through the pvc handle, and glued two pvc spacers together (one wasn't wide enough) across the inside. The leather strap is a) real leather, b) contact cemented together, and c) sewn over the contact cement area, just in case. I'm pretty confident it's not going anywhere. The handle is two types of leather, painstakingly glued to the pvc pipe with contact cement.
The end cap, top cap, and extra bit around where the handle and hammer meet are all regular craft foam, glued with contact cement and airbrushed to match the hammer head. I may decide to add painted-on artwork later, but for now (finished December 8, 2018), it is a fully functional, pretty darn good-looking, dang solid start to a cosplay outfit.
I'm quite proud.
No comments:
Post a Comment