Cosplay Tutorial 4:Magi-Kougyoku's Weapon

Hello again!This tutorial will be on Magi-Kougyoku's weapon.This is quite a challenging prop to make as it has a lot of components to be done.But its manageable so lets get started! :D

To get started you will need:

☆Hot glue Sticks
☆Mounting board
☆Jumping clay
☆Icy blue,dark blue,black,turquoise(optional) & white acrylic paint
☆Craft foam (2mm)
☆Eva Foam(5mm)
☆Insulation foam(blue foam)
☆White Glue
☆Ice-cream Sticks
☆Crafting accessories
☆Silver Tape
☆Icy blue & Gloss gold vinyl sticker
☆Brown Paper
☆Piece of wood(I used balsa wood)
☆12 cm Christmas Ornament ball
☆6cm Styrofoam ball(Optional)
☆20 sheets of A4 paper
☆Sandpaper
☆PVC pipes (20mm & 15mm) 
☆Gesso
☆Glass Paint (Turquoise)
☆E6000 (industrial glue)

Equipments:

☆Glue Gun

☆Paintbrush

☆Palette

☆Plastic Ruler [Those flexible ones]

☆Pottery tool-Scraper

☆Scissors

☆Penknife

☆Compass

☆Pocket Saw

☆Hand drill with a 1.5mm drill bit/Anything that is sharp enough to pierce a hole

☆Craft Knife

☆Heat Gun

We will be making hardened paper first as its a long process.Do check out my previous tutorial if you don't know how hardened paper is made.

http://its-about-cosplay.blogspot.sg/2013/11/cosplay-tutorial-3magi-kougyokus-hairpin.html

Moving on,we are going to start with carving out the circles.Please refer to the picture for details.

You will have to carve out 2x of each circle template(so you have 4 halves altogether).Ater that,you have to carve a hole in the middle of the circle such that it can pass through the 20mm pvc pipe.Once that is done,paste the whole carved circle with brown paper using white glue.Once dried,paint it with gesso.Then,hot glue it onto the 20mm pvc pipe. 

You should obtain something similar to this once you are done: 

PS:I was not done with painting gesso for the bottom circle.

Next,we will be doing the diamond part of the weapon.

Cut out what is written in the picture.For diamond Temp(1),cut out x4 pieces from eva foam for each part.

After that hot glue the parts onto the pvc pipe(A picture will be shown below on how it is glued) 

Once glued,you are going to glue a piece of craft foam onto the eva foam.(Craft foam covers the eva foam)

Once done,move on to making diamond Temp (2) 

Diamond Temp (1) looks like this.By now you should have the carved circles and diamond base done.

PS:Excluding diamond temp(2) as I haven't added it.Please ignore it OTL

When the previous step is done,hot glue Diamond Temp(2) onto the front and back of Diamond Temp(1).

The final result will be the one as shown in the picture.

(Dotted lines are the part to be hot glued)

Paint it over with gesso once the previous step is done.

Now lets move on to circle Template(2) :D -Preserve!- 

Cut out what is stated in the picture.

See the dotted lines?That is where jumping clay will be filled up to.(So that it gets the shape shown in the picture)Use a scraper or anything that is flat to smooth the surface out.

(The hole in the middle of the circle is where the 20mm pvc pipe goes through)

Hot glue it on top of the diamond and leave it to dry.

Here's what you should have now: 

PS:Also paint it over with gesso.I have not done it in this picture.Excludes diamond temp(2) as I haven't added it.Please ignore it OTL.

Moving on,the Christmas ornament ball. -Preserve! >.<- 

There is this hole at the top (the one where allows you to thread through it so that it can be hanged onto the tree) Ok.Whatever its called -w-  Break that part off.

I am putting a 6cm styrofoam ball in the ornament ball to give it more dimension.This part is optional.If you are doing this part,paint this styrofoam ball turquoise.(you have to carve a hole so that the ball can pass through the pvc pipe)

Using the heat gun heat the ornament ball till it softens and cut out a hole at the top and the bottom of it so that it fits the 20mm pvc pipe.

Paint using glass paint(Turquoise).

Leave it to dry completely.

Once done with the previous step,put the ornament ball and styrofoam ball on top of  circle(2) Hot glue the styrofoam ball down,and using E6000 glue the ornament ball down.Use your hands to hold the ornament ball tightly for at least 5-10mins for the glue to set.Leave it to dry completely.

By now you should have something similar to this: 

And now....the dragons!Many said that its the hardest part of all to make but its actually not that hard.

Prepare templates:

2xA(Craft foam) 

2xB (Craft foam)

4xC(out of 5mm eva foam ) 

1xD (Craft foam)

2xE and 1xF(Craft foam)

(The details stated here is only for one dragon)

This picture here is just an example on how the dragons are made.Please cut out these templates as per the details written above.

Firstly,hot glue 2 of template C onto template D.As you can see,template C is the smaller version of template D.See the red line at the edge of template D?Thats where the hot glue will go later on.

Hot glue one template E onto the (bottom) side of template D.then hot glue it down with ice-cream sticks()so that its stable) Afterwards,hot glue another piece of template E onto the (top) side of template D,covering the ice cream sticks.Next hot glue template A,covering template C and D(look at the parts being drawn red except the alphabets).Repeat these steps on the other side of the dragon as well.Take note that you only hot glue template A onto the edges of template D.Do not hot glue template C to A. 

See the red line drawn on template B?Hot glue template B onto template A(curved part of temp B) and another piece of template B on the other side, following the line drawn.The mouth will have a hole(not a really deep one.This makes it more dimensional)Stuff jumping clay into it to open up the hole.

Then, hot glue template F onto the back of the dragon/its neck.And there you have it,you are done with one dragon.Since we did not hot glue template C and A together,there will be a space between them and thats where we will connect it to the diamond.-Preserve! QAQ- 

So,cut a hole at the top and bottom part of the diamond.Hot glue 3 ice-cream sticks at the top and 2 at the bottom(Do this for the front and back)

and slid the dragon in.Hot glue this part well.

Once you have connected the two dragons,use jumping clay to shape the details of the dragon out.(The lines on its fins and wings)Paint it with gesso.

After that just simply cut 3 small circles of 4 cm and slot it to the top of the ornament ball.

As for the pvc pipe (the handle part/part where you hold the prop)Paste it over with Icy-blue vinyl sticker.

Make sure everything is painted with gesso,and then paint it over with icy blue paint.(mix it with white to achieve a lighter colour)For the details of the dragons,use a darker shade to paint its inner corners so that the details are emphasized.

Moving on,the hairpin.

Please refer to tutorial 3 on how the hairpin is made.Link is above.

Your hardened paper should be done now.

Hot glue the ice cream stick onto both sides of the base template,and then hot glue a piece of wood in between the ice cream stick.Once all the pieces are glued together,paint it.After wards, glue on the craft accessories and thread on the beading accessories. Slid the completed hairpin into the bottom of the 20mm pvc pipe.Hot glue it down,and fill up the hole with jumping clay.Leave it to dry before painting it over.

By now the prop should look like this:

Last part of the prop.-Like finally TwT- 

Make the sword out.Please refer to tutorial 1 on how to make it out.

http://its-about-cosplay.blogspot.sg/2013/11/blog-post.html

Cut out what is stated in curved Temp (1)

paste 2 pieces of eva foam together,covering the 15mm pvc pipe.Red line shows the part that needs to be hot glued.After that, hot glue craft foam over it.Get the sword and get it in to the pvc pipe.Hot glue it down.(As shown in the picture)Blue line shows the part that has already been glued.

Use silver tape to tape the sword.Use a flexible plastic ruler/cloth to help with pasting.

Cut out patterns from the gloss gold sticker and paste it onto the curved part.

You are done! :D (This is a detachable prop)