Rufus from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"

[Robert K S]

I'm in the early stages of research for a Rufus from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure costume and after much internet searching I'm realizing that I'm going to have to custom-machine some metal parts, such as the modernist abstract guitar brooch he wears at his neck, suit buttons, trench coat cufflinks, and earring stud. Also going to have to figure out how to fabricate his trench coat lapel brooch, which is solid, not cloth, but too lightweight to be solid metal. I have a lot of experience in costume and prop making but I've never done any metalwork and I'm lost about where to start. Does anyone have any CAD or CNC skills, or know someone that does, or otherwise have any advice that could help me get started? I'm on kind of a tight timeframe, I only have until the 17th of January 2025 to get this costume in order.

 

[drusselmeyer]

It looks like a piece of wood with a fake bullet in it. The wood looks like the kind used in playgrounds then painted. Natural cork or driftwood maybe?

 

[micahblake3]

If you do end up machining the brooch, I'd like to know how you did it. Or buy one from you lol.

 

[greenmachines]

I would suggest down and dirty with that short a time frame. Grab the clay and sit down and sculpt each piece. This is the kind of thing that requires a tight and strong non drying clay. Find a mold kit that works with your chosen clay (some don't) and make flexible molds for each and then do some resin kit replicas. Its fast and you can remake them or modify any errors that come out after with more resin or cutting into it. There is a ton of videos online for this process and all the materials are available at craft stores worldwide.

You can get some easily cut materials to whittle and carve each piece. The smooth one can then have a laquer coating applied but that neck one that looks like wood would work with just paint after carving.

I mention these methods only because shipping would take too long at this point but going in to a craft store is same day. I did all of my costume belt buckles with the clay method above.

Oh and don't mess around with clear resin, the fumes are illing. Use the quick set white and you will have multiple copies available for painting in the same afternoon.

I also used old school cement molds on one piece but it only works for flat objects so not possible here. The flexible molds are wonderful for small objects like these.

 

[Bloop]

I don't know how far along you are, but I took an Art Metal course in college (which was mostly jewelry making). I'd say the metal piece was cut from a piece of sheet metal - possibly sterling silver, but you could get by with regular sheet metal from your local hardware store. The cutting was probably done with a jewelers saw, but there's other options you could go with, since it's not too small - a coping saw or a dremmel should work.

If you're really running short on time and don't need it to last a long time, I've used metal tape to make metal bits for costumes, the kind of tape used for aluminum duct work. You can layer several pieces together to give it more strength and thinkness, and cut it with an xacto knife.