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Hello little turtle and welcome to a new Cosplay Tutorial! Today I’ll show you how I made Astrid’s axe. I used a pretty handy method to save both foam and money. If you’re curious, keep reading this article…
BLUEPRINT AND FOAM
First, I draw the axe blueprint in Autocad and then print it on sheets of paper. I see you! You’re already starting to break into a cold sweat, but don’t worry! I’ve also prepared one for you, you can download it here (1).
I get myself a wooden stick and a PVC sleeve (2). I make the little skull at the base of the axe using Foam Clay, then I take the wooden stick, wrap it with cling film, and start sculpting the piece directly on top of it (3).
I go back to the template of the actual axe (4). As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I made the main part of the axe in a rather unusual way: normally, the most logical choice would be to cut out several blades, then layer, glue, and sand them. However, we can just as well use simple scraps of foam in various shapes and sizes to fill the blade itself. This not only helps reduce waste but also saves money — two birds with one stone, right? So, how do we proceed?
I cut the first blade (5) and glue the sleeve in the central area, making sure it’s perfectly straight (6).
I wait for the glue to dry and reinforce everything with duct tape (7). I glue not only the foam scraps but also reinforcing wire that covers the whole flat area (8). This way we’ll avoid ending up with a floppy, unstable prop at the end of the process.
I keep filling the blade with scraps (9). There’s no need to be precise here: what matters is leaving the sharpened part—the edge—free from any additional layers.
Basically, at the end of this process I need to glue the edge of the first layer to the last one (10). And here we have the base of our axe (11). I then smooth everything out using sandpaper and a Dremel, and finally apply a sealer to cover all the remaining gaps (12).
I transfer all the layers onto 2 mm foam to apply on the raw axe (13). I glue everything together and also use 1 mm thick foam strips to create the colored leather straps (14). Now I add some scratches and other signs of wear using a pyrograph (15).
PAINTING AND FINISHING
The second part of the Cosplay Tutorial is about painting and finishing the axe.
I start painting the wooden staff with a darker brown (16). There’s no need to apply primer on this type of material. Foam, on the other hand, must be covered with PlastiDip! (17) Three coats are more than enough. This kind of prop won’t be stressed much, unlike armor, so you can also save some money here by using a chrome-colored spray acrylic can for painting (18). I complete the axe handle by adding a strip of soft faux leather and some fur.
COSPLAY TUTORIAL: THE FINAL RESULT
Finishing the axe was much easier than expected! And the best part was making it using a lot of scraps that you would have otherwise had to throw away!
Now I ask you: For which upcoming project will you use your foam scraps? Leave me a comment with your answer. We’ll catch up in another article! Bye!
VIDEO TUTORIAL: ASTRID’S AXE – HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3
Not a fan of reading the Cosplay Tutorial article? Here’s the Video version of what’s covered on this page! I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful!
Cover photo of Sandro Aliano’s Cosplay Tutorial.