Finally time to start painting this project, btw, the axe always looks bigger when on my work top..because my work space is so small lol. It has been made as a slightly exaggerated Axe..as is common in cosplay ( so I’m told ) but yes..my work space is tiny, but I have achieved a lot in the space I have.
I wanted to make the central section of the handle that won’t be wrapped look similar to the handle on this small Battle Axe, a wood grain effect. ( check out the cute ‘pups’ keeping me company.)
So, using a soldering iron (These get extremely hot..be warned if you have never used one and go gently at first..maybe practice on some scrap foam as you can quickly ruin your project if you get things too hot for more than a few seconds..so be careful. ) You will also need a Heat gun..’not’ a Hair dryer as those won’t heat the foam to the temperatures needed. Again, remember that the heat will open any slits in the foam, which is great for effect..unless you open something you didn’t mean too. ( Yup ya sussed me..I did do that again, but sorted it. )
I used a scrap piece of foam to test the colors before using a brush to ‘flick’ ..’across’..the grain trying not to fill the newly melted grain lines with the paint.shown in pic is the start of what was to become x3 layers as I added other tints to achieve a look I could live with.
after I got to this color I re-used the soldering Iron to open the grain lines to stand out more.
I just need to paint the Axe head next and the skull, then wrap the handle and we should be almost done. Once all dried I just need to fix the whole thing with an acrylic lacquer. I’ll put up more pics tomorrow showing how the Axe head painting goes, having fun so far. More to come. Hope you can join me for the last few days to see the outcome of this ‘Astrid’ character Axe.
