#jinxfishbones

I've had a lot of interest in my Fish Bones after debuting my (unfinished) Jinx cosplay at Supanova...so for those wanting to make their own, or who just want to know how I made mine...here is what I did

First of all, you want to find as many reference pictures as I can. This was only one of many I found - and this one I used most as it was a great side profile of the weapon.

Up next, you want to create a blue print of sorts for yourself - using your reference pics, try and figure out how you would pull apart the prop as if it were a puzzle - as you can see, I pulled everything upwards and outwards. On your blue print, write what you might want to make each part out of. As you can see the main materials I have used are Poly Pipe and Wonderflex.

The next thing I did was grab some cardboard (from a box, not the real fine cardboard you get LOL) and started to draw myself up a template - I only did this for the head as I knew that would be the most involved piece to design. I then grabbed some tape and stuck it all together.

Once I was satisfied that the pieces were the correct size and fit together fairly well (doesn't have to be perfect lol), it was time to use my templates for the material I was actually going to use - Wonderflex! I traced my templates onto thin craft foam, put that on the Wonderflex and traced it around but with about 5mm or so extra space - reason being because I double sided the Wonderflex - meaning the foam was like the insides of a Wonderflex sandwich. The extra space traced on the Wonderflex is so the Wonderflex can adhere to itself when heated up. Each piece of the pattern consists of 2 pieces of Wonderflex (I stuck the rougher sides together as I wanted the outside smoother) and 1 piece of craft foam.

I then continued to construct the pieces in this way. The fin I did twice so it actually has 4 layers of Wonderflex and 2 of foam - with a bit of a gap between the two pieces so the under part of the fin could fit in (hard to explain LOL). Curved pieces I shaped over the Poly Pipe as it cooled - ensuring I moved it off the pipe regularly so it didn't stick to it - yet. The tail pieces I had to mould by hand as they curve in more than one direction. The thick ropey part of detailing was done in the same way, but the Wonderflex was folded over itself a few times - with the foam still inside. It gave it a thickness to it without having to layer up on the foam and Wonderflex. Edging was done with strips of Wonderflex folded in half and stuck to itself. I then began adding my newly made pieces to my base Poly Pipe piece.

Below you can see the pieces that are attached and those that are still unattached. The 2 shaped pieces (one with a hole in it) are poly pipe also - but with a larger diameter than the base poly pipe, The diameter would be about an inch wider than the base poly pipe.

Up next came the harder parts - and for this part I needed the assistance of my dad - namely because he is like MacGuyver LOL. The jaw was bolted on with bolts and washers so it didn't sit entirely flush against the poly pipe - one because it's meant to sit slightly away, two because it is wider than the pipe, and three because we wanted enough space for the bottom jaw to be able to move. The top jaw is bolted firm - so it can not move. The bottom jaw is bolted relatively stiff so it doesn't just flop open, but not so stiff that it's too hard to move. This will be trial and error - tighten the screws bit by bit until it's as tight as you want - remembering that it will settle and loosen slightly over time. After the jaw was on properly, the outer poly pipe pieces were attached. This was fiddly as the fin had to go through the top, and anchors of Wonderflex were stuck on the base poly pipe so the outer poly pipe had something to rest on and something that it could be bolted down with.

The handle was just an old spare handle we found laying around in the shed - this too was bolted on and then the edge heated up with a heat gun so it could be moulded to fit snugly around the poly pipe.

Up last - and perhaps the HARDEST part of all, was the shoulder rest. We found the perfect piece of hollow but solid round metal. It was cut in half (I believe it was a toilet roll holder LOL) to create the two stems and then bolted on. The shoulder rest itself was an off cut of the outer poly pipe. To get the pieces of metal to stay strong and secure, we had to find a long screw / bolt and bolt it down on the inside of the base poly pipe and under the shoulder rest. As this created 2 huge bolts right where it needed to sit on the shoulder, I added thick foam to the underside of the rest - thus creating a smooth, comfy, padded shoulder rest :D

Up last was the coat of paint - my amazing sister did this for me as I had ran out of time (I was at the Convention) and it needed time to try overnight. It was first painted with a base coat of black spray paint. This was then followed with a very light coat of silver spray paint, and up last was a clear coat to seal it all in. Black circles were painted to create the affect of the cooling holes, and the eyes were painted a greeny colour to give the appearance of lighting up (I finished off the little bits late at night LOL). I also painted the foam shoulder piece as it was pink and green...haha

Anyway, that is how I made Fish Bones. It's not yet complete as LED's will be added to the inside and to the eyes, but I was stoked with how it turned out - especially as this was the first proper prop I made out of something other than foam (and I've only ever made one out of foam LOL).

I hope this gives you some ideas for your own prop making, or helps out if you're wanting to make your own Fish Bones (I heard a few people saying they just wanted one - not for cosplay or the game, they just liked it LOL).

Fish Bones isn't the lightest of weapons - it would weigh a few kilos easily, so keep that in mind. I had hold of it all day and my arm was pretty sore at the end when I straightened it out, but that being said, it wasn't a burden carrying it around.

Cost of materials -

Large sheet of Wonderflex - approx $85 AUD

Base poly pipe - $9 AUD (it was a short piece, probably about a metre in length)

Outer poly pipe - $19 AUD (length was same as the base poly)

Craft foam - approx $7 AUD for a packet

Paint, thick foam etc I already had most of it, but thick foam is about $14 for a pack of 4 large mats (from Bunnings for those in Australia) and the spray paints are a few dollars each. I only used scraps of the thicker foam as I had scraps from Lara's climbing axe :)