Alm's Blade Walkthrough
Was not expecting to make a walkthrough/tutorial/step by step thing, until much later, so excuse the lack of photos at the beginning of the process.
Overall Summary Making the Alm's Blade using foam board as a base. This is my first time making any sword prop, so it's not the best thing in the world, but it's decent. Before even getting the materials Please figure out the desired proportions/size of the sword you'd like. Do multiple print outs and attach them to a long stick or ruler and continue tweaking until desired proportions/size is achieved. Here's a scan of the Concept art of the Alm's Blade (600dpi), here.
Materials
Foam board** - (1 or 2 sheets) (20x30 or larger) I used 1 and a half sheets of 20x30 foam board. Easy to cut sheet of wood, Large Box cutter & X-Acto Knife Hot Glue Gun Gesso Sand Paper Rope (It's an iffy list, because some things are up to you, but these are definitely needed, more materials will be listed as you go on.)
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STEP ONE: BASE CUT OUT- FOAM & WOOD
So you trace your large print-out onto the foam board, the foam board wasn't large enough for it to be a one piece cut out so I cut two pieces and pasted them together, whichever you decide to do is up to you.
If you do one whole large sheet, the sword with definetly be straighter. If you go with the two pieces I do not recommend cutting it off at the blade, the final piece will look slightly crooked /single tear.
Cut out two foam sword shapes, but do not paste them together yet. Before you paste them, take your sheet of wood and cut out the shape. This will keep the blade sturdy and it also gives it a bit of weight. (I did not add the wood til later so do not follow my example, your sword should look like a foam-wood-foam sandwich.) Your choice of adhesive: You can use your Hot Glue Gun or an Adhesive spray. Both are fine. I used a spray because it covers more area but hot glue is fine too. (WEAR A MEDICAL MASK WHEN USING SPRAY) Also, do not throw away your leftover wood sheets, you may need them later, you'll see.
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STEP 1.5 - HILT DECOR CUT OUT.
For the hilt, you'll have to think of them in layers in terms of height, I recommend using tracing paper to figure what should go on top of each other. **I followed the concept art, but I should've followed the official Morgan art for reference because it's more clearer** Make sure to round out each piece before pasting them on to each other or onto the base sword. To round it out take your X-Acto knife and start digging into your foam at an angle. Example below.
If you find that the layer of paper on the foam board is in the way, feel free to peel it off. You can use a box cutter, but I found an X-Acto way easier. ------------------------------ STEP 2: ROUND THINGS OUT/SHAVE Okay step two is to use the shaving method from the previous step to the whole sword to round out edges to make them look more believable. You also have to shave out the edges of the blade, trace out the flat plain onto the sword and start shaving at an angle from the traced line to the center wood. And this should be the result,
I ran the X-Acto into my finger, remember to be careful!!
Oh! I just remembered, so at the tip of the blade, I glued two little planks of wood to give the blade a sturdy point, but I don't think you'll need that if you have the center wood. Once you have everything glued and carved down, this should be the how the sword looks at this point.
I also used pieces of wood for the decor in the hilt
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STEP THREE: PAPIER MACHE
This should be done on its on day, because it is time consuming and messy. Okay so you'll need...
Ripped Newspaper or ripped magazines. (Best to use short thin sheets for the little detaily sections Neutral pH Adhesive. Bowls, Paint brushes
Well actually the materials you'll need will depend on how you want to make your papier mache glue. Here are three options
So take your time, don't feel the need to do all sections at once, because then it'll be hard to dry, unless you've got a way to levitate this thing for an hour. Don't leave any holes! Those'll be hard to paint. And...
...Done! I actually am not a fan of papier mache, because of the texture it makes and it shows in the final piece. I'm okay with it on the hilt but not a big fan of it on the blade, next time I might use presentation paper in cut it down and glue it for a smoother surface.
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STEP FOUR: GESSO Now that you have your papier mache done and dried, it's time to apply the gesso. The Gesso will create a surface that will allow you to apply your paint easier and it gives a nice clean white base.
Again take your time, it needs to dry. THE DIRECTION YOU'RE PAINTING HERE DOES MATTER, the direction you paint in will create the grain direction. I recommend a vertical direction. 1-2 coatings.
All clean and ready for paintin--- not yet. Get your sandpaper and sand it down until you get the desired look. After you're done sanding, wipe it down with a wet cloth to get all the leftover powder off.
---------------------------------------------- STEP FIVE: PAINTING TIME! The Paints I used were,
GOLDEN- Iridescent Bronze (Fine) Acrylic GOLDEN- Iridescent Stainless Steel (Coarse) Acrylic
I'm not crazy about the colors I chose, I wish I had found a bronze that was a bit closer to a gold color. For the steel, the best option would be to get a silver spray to get to amazing shine, but I have no where to use the spray to I stuck with Acrylic.
So there's the paint job. For the edge of the sword I mixed the silver with some Titanium White acrylic (the paint does lose it's shine when mixed with non-iridescent paints) Again 2 coats would be best. I'll explain the rope later.
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STEP SIX: THE HANDLE And now's later, okay so with the handle, if you look at the artwork you'll see it has this coil thing going on, so to recreate it, I got some rope and wrapped it around the base handle. I already has this rope in my closet so I used it, but I think you can get this at a local hardware store. So after you wrapped it, hot glue the ends down so they stay and don't fray. Now we paint it,
May or may not need to varnish so that it doesn't flake off, (I'm currently waiting for it to dry so check back for a final answer on that)
And here's the finished piece!! Kinda crooked.
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STEP SEVEN: GEMS
You could buy actual fake gems, but buy them ahead of time so you have your shape and size for the holes on the hilt.
Here I used Sculpey oven-baked clay and painted them red and coated them with gloss varnish to give them a nice shine. But it's up to you. Then you just glue them on. /insert holy music. And that's the end of this walkthrough, I hope I covered everything. I really didn't plan for a walkthrough so some things are probably confusing. Thank you for reading, and hopefully this was helpful in some way.
