Modesty's Costume Closet

 With the wide variety of tools and chemicals you can use when making a costume, I figured it might be advisable to create a general SAFETY FIRST type post.  Typically you'll want to be careful of:  Sharp Things Dust/Particles/Flying Debris Hot/Flammable Things Chemical/Fumes Electric Things Machines General Precautions - Research your Materials and Tools! Before using any material or tools, check for warning labels. If you find 'em, read 'em. Usually you can find these on the product itself if the warning is warranted. You can also do a little online research.  Common warnings are:  Flammable High Pressure High Temperature/Hot Hazardous Material Irritant Warning Skin Contact Warning Poison Just to name a few. - Be Alert and Focused One bit of advice I got from an online course is to never cut leather while upset or tired. You make a lot more mistakes if your brain doesn't have the capacity to focus and coordinate your movement. When handling sharp, hot, or dangerous it

  Three Finished Swords Took most of the weekend but I finished the work I wanted to do on the Demon Slayer Swords. I could do a tinge of touch up but I'll get to that later.  To see how these blades started see:  3D Printing Sword Adventures . I'll start with Tanjiro's blade as it took arguably the least amount of work.  Tanjiro's Sword Most of the sword is black in color with some silver trim and a touch of red. The whole thing was printed with black PLA. However, I still coated everything with the grey filler primer. Globbed on gesso and after sanding down the first coat, applied the 2nd coat of filler and sanded that down.  All the parts in black were sprayed with Rustoleum Glossy Black. I filled in the red handle decor with red color shift paint.  Used a bit of nail polish top coat as a base. The silver bits were sprayed with a lovely chrome spray paint. Very reflective! After things dried, I assembled the sword parts. Added a touch of glue and called it finished. 

 One of these days I'll return to writing about Kitsune costumes, but this is what you get with me. Moments of planning and sticking to a routine, then a few weeks of chaos where I write what I feel like writing! Today I'm starting yet another series of blog posts. This one is going to be about my 3D printing prop journey. I will plan and write more practical and advice-style posts later. (Sometimes I plan things like a proper writer. Most the time it's off the cuff though.)  Anyway, 3D printing has been THE method for me to create costume props ever since I decided to invest in one. In the past I have tried to recreate props out of EVA foam or clay or other things.  Swords I think have been the thing I commonly print as props so I'm going to focus in on that. Lets get into it! The First Blade Now the first prop sword that I seriously considered making was Prince Lotor's sword from Voltron: Legendary Defender. I was going to follow the steps I had in my making props

Prop making has always been kind of a challenge for me. The skills, tools, or materials are just a step or ten out of my comfort zone. So, what does one do if they want to add a prop to the costume? Here are some of my suggestions.  Purchase the Prop Commercially  Store bought Sword  The character or costume may be popular enough where the iconic prop is available commercially. They can come in different price ranges too which will affect the quality or final look.  Hire a Prop Maker Maybe hire someone who knows what they're doing... If the character or costume is a bit more obscure or niche, you can hire an artist/craftsman/Prop Maker to recreate it for you. Commissioning a prop from someone might be an unfamiliar process and knowing how to find a competent artist in your area can be a challenge. But at least we have the internet these days.  Some independent prop makers may have an online store which is kind of like purchasing the prop commercially.  Modify a Toy or other Closely