Shinoa Hīragi scythe tutorial P1
Hello! This is my first ever tutorial and the first prop I’ve ever made! As a beginner prop maker, I searched high and low online for tutorials on how people made theirs, pictures etc. but they were all not to my liking, both in size and shape. Luckily, I found a way to make mine that in the shape I wanted, was sturdy AND was definitely easy to make for a beginner (practice for me this summer and all the props I have to make zzzzz).
It was a pain in the butt to lug around a super busy and crowded con (゜▽゜;) (I had to carry it above everyone so I didn’t hit anyone in the head), but it was well worth it for all the comments I got when I passed by people!! Lots of people were in awe and complimented me on it. It was also super big so it was a huge flag in the crowd to find me HAHA (￣▽￣)ノ
I hope I can be as clear as possible in this, and if you have any questions feel free to PM me on my Facebook page :)
Materials
3/4 inch PVC pipe
3/4 inch PVC pipe connectors: 135 and 90 degrees.
1 1/2 inch thick pink insulation foam from Home Depot
X-acto knife and changeable blades OR multiple cheap knives. I have a heavy duty one from the hardware store.
PVC pipe cutter
Heat gun
Painters tape
Patterning paper/something for your pattern
Sharpie
Gorilla glue
Low temp hot glue gun + glue sticks
Paperclay
Paint brushes
Elmer’s Carpenter’s Wood Glue (Interior)
Neon green paint/green paint of your choosing. I bought Craft Smart Premium Neon Green Acrylic paint from Michaels.
White acrylic paint
1 or 2 cans of black spray paint, depending if how much is wasted. 2 cans is always better to have on hand to be on the safe side.
*Optional* Spray paint can holder, to make it easier when spray painting
MAKING OF THE SCYTHE
Pole
Let’s start with the PVC pipe. I don’t have any exact measurements for the pipe and how long I made everything; everything was sketched and estimated based on my own height/ what I felt like making it. You can take a pattern of her scythe and make a to scale pattern if you’d like, but I just free-handed mine.
The main pole (labelled #1) was slightly bent with a heat gun. It was my first time using one. My boyfriend helped hold the heat gun while I rotated the pole/ moved the heat along the length of where I wanted it to bend. It’s a big area to bend, so be patient while heating it up, it will work. After it was warmed up enough, we both pressed in opposite directions to get it to bend, and it stayed well enough. It might take a few re-warms and you might have to hold it in the bend for a few moments. Be patient!
Part 2 the V is approximately 8 inches in one bend and like 7 in the other I think? (the half towards #1 is the longer side). Like I said, it’s up to you how long you’d like your pole to be/proportionate. You want the half of the “V” shape that’s towards #3 to be shorter than the side towards #1, because you want it to line up with 1 as much as you can to balance the weight of the scythe. I learned this all too well at Comiccon when my scythe was off balance all day at the con (flipping, hard to hold) until I looked over a photo of myself on my phone. I realized my scythe was off because my V was flipped (longer side was up and shorter bottom), and the weight was messed up, making it very difficult to bring around. Once I flipped it IT WAS SO EASY LOL I FELT SO DUMB BECAUSE I HAD IT THE WRONG WAY FOR LIKE 4 HOURS. ((´д｀))
To bend #2, I held the heat gun to the corner where I wanted to bend and rotated the pipe around the heat (so 360). When it was heated significantly, we started bending it. I didn’t think it would hold at first, but that was because the corner was still hot. Hold it in your bend until it cools and it will retain it’s shape. :)
Part 3 of the pole wasn’t bent so not much to say about that haha
Close up of the bend in #2
The 90 and 135 degree bends are also pictured in the diagram, you can figure out where they go~
What the 90 and 135 bends look like
PVC pipe cutter
Pattern drafting
I know there’s patterns of her scythe floating around out there online, but I decided to free-hand my own and draw it out. I just looked at some reference pictures and sketched it out based on proportions and how long I wanted the blade to be, etc. I was so lucky because it JUST fit into my insulation foam. I was afraid it wouldn’t!
My very light sketching
Pattern finished, gone over with blue sharpie to see better. For the long blade I did two lines on the pattern to show me what part I’d want to be carved/sharpened as the blade.
Not pictured, I ended up making another pattern for the little pointy thing Shinoa has at the top of her scythe because I didn’t know how to finish it otherwise. It will be shown on my insulation foam in the next part.