Shinoa Hīragi scythe tutorial P2
The fact that I deleted my first draft of this/closed the tab for this astounds me... my stupidity level is over the roof LOL WELP HERE GOES P2 V2 BECAUSE I’M DUMB. //LIES DOWN AND CRIES (┳Д┳) I honestly don’t remember what I wrote so hopefully this all works out haha....
Cutting the scythe
Now that you’ve drafted your scythe pattern, it’s time to transfer it to your insulation foam! I used a sharpie to transfer the pattern because it won’t mark up the foam like a pencil or pen will. I was lucky mine JUST fit inside the edges of my foam. As you can see at the ends of the 2 main blade parts, I drew an extra inch or so. This is because the foam will end up wrapping itself around the PVC pipe and cover it, so you want there to be a bit more. Remember, you can always cut away some but you can’t / it’s very hard to add any back.
Once you’ve drawn it, it’s time to cut, cut, cut! Take your x-acto knife and begin cutting away at the edges of the foam. REMEMBER TO ALWAYS CUT AWAY FROM YOURSELF! Please don’t hurt yourself.
If you aren’t in a rush to make your scythe like I was, take your time cutting it out! I finished cutting and sanding it in less than 24 hours hours, causing extreme cramping and pain to my wrist, hand and shoulders. I was healing for the next few days and had trouble holding things;; so yeah please take your time and relax don’t be like me. It was also my first time cutting insulation foam, and it really surprised me how long it took to cut the foam and shapes out. Be patient and take your time cutting away. Whenever your blade gets dull, change blades or use a new knife. It makes the job so much easier when you have a sharp blade! ALSO BE CAREFUL CHANGING UR BLADES LOL.
As you can see in the picture below in the top right corner, there is a pointy thing. That’s the piece that ends up going at the very top of my scythe /the pole, and I explain how I carve it later on.
What I got done at the end of Saturday night.
Getting there! My x-acto knife is also pictured. As you can see on my long blade, I drew another blue line. That blue line is where I end up beveling my blade.
While I was switching my blades, the box of new x-acto knives opened very fast and I sliced my fingers on the edge of a few of them. The cuts weren’t deep, didn’t hurt and healed in 3 days, but please be careful when working with knives and don’t be like me... But as the saying goes, it’s not cosplay unless you bleed a little... right? RIGHT???
My suffering was finally complete but at the expense of arm rip
Beveling the edges
On my next picture, I labelled different edges of the scythe to show how I beveled everything. It really made a difference to the final look. I didn’t really decide a set amount I wanted to bevel on each edge except #3 and eyed it/estimated how much I shaved off.
#1: how I shaved every edge on the sword, both sides, except at #2 and #3.
#2: I made the top edge this shape, but it was steeper than #3.
#3: How I carved the blade. It got pretty low and was a smooth slope.
Carving the point
Like I said before, I didn’t know how to finish the tip of my scythe. Instead of doing some next level calculations to make cones and foam and whatnot, I decided to make it out of insulation foam as well.
I made the parts into square prisms put together. The end that goes into the scythe is a cylinder, it fits inside the PVC pipe. It took me a while to carve, and I accidentally broke off the top (because it’s so fragile). It was easily put back together with low temperature hot glue (don’t use high temp! It will melt the foam).
If I were to make this again, I’d suggest you take a skewer stick and stick it through~! It will make it more sturdy.
Sanding
Remember to always wear a proper mask or respirator when sanding! Gloves would be good too, but I was in a rush so didn’t. They probably would’ve been good, because I had a bit of irritation on my skin later on. Just to warn you, when you sand this stuff, it literally gets EVERYWHERE. Please do it outside, and a pair of glasses or goggles might even be good so you don’t get it in your eyes. I’d also suggest wearing some clothes that you won’t mind getting dirty, but in the end just make sure before entering the house to brush off as much of the insulation foam powder as you can, and putting the clothes you wore in the wash too!
For the sanding, I first used an electronic sander with a more coarse grit for areas of #2 and #3. I couldn’t use it at areas of #1 because it was so big and would just ruin them. After using the electronic sander, I used a thinner grit to sand more and smooth everything out, including the top skewer point. The hole in the center of the scythe was cut out as well, beveled and sanded with a thin grit. At this point I couldn’t feel my hand but dinner was calling so I had to get the job done, haha.
Bottom bulb of the scythe
At first, I was in such a rush that I also didn’t care about what the base of my scythe looked like, I decided I’d just leave the pipe as is. Then my perfectionist self decided it was ugly, so I made something anyways. Luckily I have lots of materials stored that I’ve never used, and I decided this would be a good time to use some of the Paperclay I have at home. This is what it looks like and you can buy it from Michaels in the clay section.
I took some out and molded a bulb to put at the bottom edge of the scythe. Like the top point, it has a cylinder thing that sticks into the PVC pipe. I also put a toothpick/skewer stick into the bulb to make it more sturdy. In the end, the bulb was hot glued into the pole.
