My daughter was having nightmares and feared monsters, so I made her a "sleep sword". The whole thing is non-toxic and the gems glow in the dark. This is where my love of Discworld and LARPing intersect with parenthood.
'But Mrs Robertson told me that her Emma was going round the house looking for monsters in the cupboards! And up until now she's always been afraid of them!'
'Did she have a stick?' said Susan.
'She had her father's sword!'
'Good for her.'
~ Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
Process detailed below
Materials:
Camp pad
Marker
Kite spar
Epoxy or carpet glue
Box cutter or craft knife
Drywall knife or serrated kitchen knife
Duct tape collection
Board to evenly smoosh
Cord for the handle
Nerf glow-in-the-dark discs for the gems
Foil to back gems
Thin craft foam for the hilt if your cat bites the camp pad all to hell
Doodle of sword
Child
Doodle the sword
Measure the child's arm from shoulder to fingertip.
Cut Kite Spar to length if child's arm. Sand the edges. I used a dremmel.
Draw the outline of the sword three times on the camp pad. Total length should be approx. child arm + 2 inches. You can draw the outline on cardboard and then trace if you prefer.
Cut the sword blanks out. They won't be perfect.
Stack the blanks in different orders to determine which sword blank is biggest. This one will go in the center.
Cut a channel in the center blank to hold the kitespar snugly, with at least one inch of padding on all sides.
Place the bottom blank on a hard surface.
Spread glue
Add center blank
Glue into channel
Kite spar into channel
More glue
Top blank
Board
Weight
Wait for glue to set. Again, it won't be perfect.
Use the serrated knife to shape the blade
Use the box cutter to delineate the hilt
Take a photo and get out your duct tape collection.
Make multiple mockups using only colors you actually have.
Allow child to select color for the hilt
Peel the stickers off the nerf discs
Crumple foil and place inside the disc. I liked the effect better than flat foil or glittery paper, but you do you
Attach gems to hilt - I used little strips of duct tape on the very edges
If necessary, cut two hilt shapes out of craft foam and attach to camp pad. Stuff the gaps in the camp pad created by cat attack with the shrapnel. Tape hilt foam together as you go to hold the shrapnel in place. Rember to cut holes for the gems before attaching the craft foam.
Duct tape all the things in appropriate colors. Cut little slits to smooth around curves.
