eidylon
Active Member
My third piece I did was a request from a friend. She got herself an Asuna costume, from Sword Art Online, for NYCC 2013, and asked me if I could make her the Lambent Light sword which Asuna uses. I said sure, why not! and she sent me some pictures to get started from. I didn't have any real plans per se, but just worked from some measurements she gave me, and a bunch of reference photos. She asked me for it about a month before comic-con, and I only get to work on weekends, so this was completed in about 6-8 days. This was my first sword.
To start the build, I cut out a single layer that comprised both blade, guard mount and handle. Full tang construction here, nothing but quality!
I went with a 1/2" layer of MDF for the central layer. Figured it was thick enough to give the blade a good strength, without it being TOO thick and looking goofy for a sword.
I doubled up some 1/4" MDF on both sides of the grip to give it a square cross-section. With some work with the scroll saw and a lot of time finishing with the dremel, I had a nice round grip. Not perfect, the cross-sections wouldn't be perfect circles, but round enough to feel comfortable in the hand. I pinned the layers on with some doweling (3/8" IIRC) just to give the grip a little more strength.
The small detailing at the base of the blade was built up, again, with my FAVORITE thin wood... 1/8" wooden clipboard from Staples! I was a little concerned about cutting these out on the scroll saw given how thin they are, but I took it slow and steady, and it was no trouble. The little "leaf" things going up the blade were cut from Sintra and super-glued in place. The guard was a cut-down PVC coupler. I believe it was a 6" outer diameter (I don't have the sword by me right now, so I can't measure it).
For the little cross on the grip, the detailing on the guard (and some other small bits) I bought a sample-sized piece of Worbla, just for the sake of trying it out and seeing how it is to work with. It is a very intriguing and interesting material... the moldability of it is quite fascinating. The cross on the grip and the thin lines on the guard were just simple Worbla cut-outs heated and applied to form. The mounting shape around the stones was done by melting down scraps and molding and shaping them into the forms needed to hold the stones in place. (I did brush a little super-glue into the seams, just to be sure.)
Painting the grip and guard were pretty straight forward... some simple masking and that was it.
The squirrly bits around the base of the blade were a bit more troublesome. Primarily just because it required an awful lot of little tiny pieces of masking tape to get into all the little corners and crevices. Inside the little circle bit I didn't even bother trying to mask. I just included that all in the silver coat, and went back and hand-painted the turquoise afterwards.
On the grip, I put on 7 coats of Rustoleum's "Triple Thick Glaze". It's meant to give the look of glazed pottery with 3 or 4 coats. It does give a VERY nice look, that thick, clear look of a nice heavy glaze, and has a very nice, warm-to-the-touch feel that made it a comfortable surface for the grip. The only problem I found with it is that it is VERY soft, and it will easily dent with any significant pressure by a hard object.
The scabbard came out looking very nice, but was rather on the heavy side. (That was her only complaint, carrying it around all day at NYCC.) I was a little worried about the blade going in and out of the scabbard, and wearing its paint... so I lined the scabbard with a thin cotton batting. It worked well, until it got pushed down to the bottom of the scabbard. Should've affixed it in place, somehow. :unsure
For her to be able to hang it from her belt, I found a diagram on-line detailing how to do a leather-wrap scabbard hanger. I ran this through a couple of small D-rings, and ran two medium dog-collars through those. I put a small piece of the cotton batting underneath the back side of the leather, just to keep the D-rings from rubbing the paint off the scabbard.
It made a great showing at NYCC with her costume... and she got a LOT of photo requests. She did a little impromptu photo session with a guy cosplaying as Kirito too, unfortunately my phone had died by that point, so I didn't get any shots of it. Dang batteries!
The best part though, was when she found her picture, together with my Lambent Light, as the headlining image on NYOtaku's write-up for NYCC! I didn't get any kind of mention in the article, but it was just a great feeling to see it in the picture!
(There's no tag for SAO? Really? I saw a bunch of people cosplaying it... surprised no one's created a tag for it yet. lol )
To start the build, I cut out a single layer that comprised both blade, guard mount and handle. Full tang construction here, nothing but quality!
I went with a 1/2" layer of MDF for the central layer. Figured it was thick enough to give the blade a good strength, without it being TOO thick and looking goofy for a sword.I doubled up some 1/4" MDF on both sides of the grip to give it a square cross-section. With some work with the scroll saw and a lot of time finishing with the dremel, I had a nice round grip. Not perfect, the cross-sections wouldn't be perfect circles, but round enough to feel comfortable in the hand. I pinned the layers on with some doweling (3/8" IIRC) just to give the grip a little more strength.
The small detailing at the base of the blade was built up, again, with my FAVORITE thin wood... 1/8" wooden clipboard from Staples! I was a little concerned about cutting these out on the scroll saw given how thin they are, but I took it slow and steady, and it was no trouble. The little "leaf" things going up the blade were cut from Sintra and super-glued in place. The guard was a cut-down PVC coupler. I believe it was a 6" outer diameter (I don't have the sword by me right now, so I can't measure it).
For the little cross on the grip, the detailing on the guard (and some other small bits) I bought a sample-sized piece of Worbla, just for the sake of trying it out and seeing how it is to work with. It is a very intriguing and interesting material... the moldability of it is quite fascinating. The cross on the grip and the thin lines on the guard were just simple Worbla cut-outs heated and applied to form. The mounting shape around the stones was done by melting down scraps and molding and shaping them into the forms needed to hold the stones in place. (I did brush a little super-glue into the seams, just to be sure.)
Painting the grip and guard were pretty straight forward... some simple masking and that was it.
The squirrly bits around the base of the blade were a bit more troublesome. Primarily just because it required an awful lot of little tiny pieces of masking tape to get into all the little corners and crevices. Inside the little circle bit I didn't even bother trying to mask. I just included that all in the silver coat, and went back and hand-painted the turquoise afterwards.
On the grip, I put on 7 coats of Rustoleum's "Triple Thick Glaze". It's meant to give the look of glazed pottery with 3 or 4 coats. It does give a VERY nice look, that thick, clear look of a nice heavy glaze, and has a very nice, warm-to-the-touch feel that made it a comfortable surface for the grip. The only problem I found with it is that it is VERY soft, and it will easily dent with any significant pressure by a hard object.
The scabbard came out looking very nice, but was rather on the heavy side. (That was her only complaint, carrying it around all day at NYCC.) I was a little worried about the blade going in and out of the scabbard, and wearing its paint... so I lined the scabbard with a thin cotton batting. It worked well, until it got pushed down to the bottom of the scabbard. Should've affixed it in place, somehow. :unsure
For her to be able to hang it from her belt, I found a diagram on-line detailing how to do a leather-wrap scabbard hanger. I ran this through a couple of small D-rings, and ran two medium dog-collars through those. I put a small piece of the cotton batting underneath the back side of the leather, just to keep the D-rings from rubbing the paint off the scabbard.
It made a great showing at NYCC with her costume... and she got a LOT of photo requests. She did a little impromptu photo session with a guy cosplaying as Kirito too, unfortunately my phone had died by that point, so I didn't get any shots of it. Dang batteries!
The best part though, was when she found her picture, together with my Lambent Light, as the headlining image on NYOtaku's write-up for NYCC! I didn't get any kind of mention in the article, but it was just a great feeling to see it in the picture!
(There's no tag for SAO? Really? I saw a bunch of people cosplaying it... surprised no one's created a tag for it yet.
lol )
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