Is the pen really mightier? – Prop Sword Tutorial

first

The first prop I needed to make was a lightweight sword. It had to be a short sword (so the double handed sword I bought at my first DC was out) and it had to be me-sized. So smaller.

full

I went to Michael’s one day to scope out the small plywood situation, and ended up with Basswood, I think with the dimensions 24″ by 4″ by either an 1/8 or 1/16″ but I’m not sure which. I also purchased an 1/8″ diameter dowel, which gave the sword it’s structure. That was the cheapest Michael’s trip ever, because with a coupon, the main part of the sword cost $2.50. Craft stores never work out that well for me, so I definitely gave myself a pat on the back for a good job. Or rather, I took myself out to see the Incredibles 2 (this was late July/early August. It was still in theaters.

I’m pretty sure I cut the basswood in half lengthwise, then I cut the pointy bit out, and tried to match on both sides. Most of this was done at night, so cue the bad phone pic here:

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I then taped the dowel to one of the sword pieces. Then I applied wood glue around the edge of the sword outline, and used every single clamp and binder clip I own to keep the pieces together.

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Then I left it for a few days, even though it probably only needed one.

I used a laser cutter to cut out pieces for the hilt from 1/8″ plywood that would slide onto the wooden dowel for stability, and I aimed for a hand and a half length. In the end I got a stacked result, then used wood filler to fill it in and round it slightly. It worked pretty well, though it might’ve worked better if my filler was wetter. It has gotten rather gummy over time. Regardless there was a lot of back and forth between gooping and sanding. Using cardboard would work pretty much just the same way, if you cut some layers and used wood filler and glue and tape to hide the corrugated edges!

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Then came painting and sanding. I painted up the “blade” with white acrylic first, then with Lumiere Jacquard paint in silver. Then it was too shiny, so I sanded it. Repeat once more to see if anything changed. Add the line down the center (kinda… don’t look too close) and then sand again to blend that in.

For the hilt I first painted everything brown, then painted it with Lumiere Jacquard paint in bright gold.

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And the jewel. Still the biggest pain in the butt of this project. When I was designing the laser cut part of the hilt I made pieces for the end that would allow the jewel to nestle in.

Then I tried hot glue, then superglue twice, and now E6000. It’s sticking for now.

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So that’s how I made my prop lightweight sword!

Stormy Grey Flint Trousers

grey flint - frontsmile

As of yet, the only garments I’ve made from the Flint trouser pattern by Megan Nielsen have been grey… Like flint.

Coincidence? Yeah. Funny? Probably only to me.

I’ve found myself lacking interest in fabric shopping. **gasp** When I have something to make and already know what kind of fabric I want to use, it won’t be at the (big chain) fabric store when I need it, and the hours at my (more expensive) local fabric store are inconvenient now.

grey flint - wide

But since i know how to dye fabric I’m choosing that option more and more!

For fabric i used this linen cotton blend from Dharma Trading and used their fiber reactive dye in 150 GUN METAL GRAY.

grey flint - sidewide

I bought 6 yards of the fabric for my stash, and probably used just over 2 yards for these trousers. Then came the evening when I spent two hours leaning over the tub and the paint bucket I use to dye the fabric. When the fabric came out of the bucket I was convinced I let it sit too long since it was almost black, but after putting it through the wash it turned up as this lovely stormy charcoal blue grey.

grey flint - pocketses

As for the pattern, I made a few alterations. First the same ones that I used for the shorts I made last year, cutting out about two inches from the rise. Then I lengthened it to full length by adding about 8 inches to the hem.

grey flint - front

I interrupt this broadcast to remind you that this is a linen cotton blend. This is to say, naturally relatively wrinkly, and also this is the third wear since it was last washed, and although it’s been hung up in between, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t being wrinkled… It happens. This public service announcement has been brought to you by “Jess just looked through the pictures for this post and grew concerned for her sanity.”

grey flint - back

I was banking on the hopes that the weird crotch and butt wrinkles I got with the shorts would be smoothed by the weight of the extra fabric. I think I was mostly right. There’s a bit of room for improvement there. I’m pretty sure I made a curved waistband.

When the trousers came together, though, the waistband still needed to be taken in, like with the shorts.

grey flint - buttons

I found these really cool plastic buttons in my stash, and I’m pretty sure they were bought in NYC at one of the shops that specializes in notions.

grey flint - bias binding
Can we pretend you don’t see any loose threads?

Oh, and did I forget to mention that I bound every seam with bias binding? I want these suckers to last!

Swishing around in these makes me so happy!

grey flint - neighbors

Soon, I’ll share what costume these trousers were made for!