At the moment I am stuck on my current cosplay, I am hopefully going to Amecon 08 as Asuma Sarutobi from Naruto.



I have the bulk of the outfit done and thanks to hair dye I won't be needing a wig ( am allergic to most wigs which makes some cosplays a problem), but I am having trouble making his trench knives, anyone have any advice on what to use? or failing that where I could buy a set, I can only find US sites which mean the knives (wooden not real) are around $10 - $15 but the shipping is anywhere from $50 - $150 which is way to expensive for me.

Cheers for any help you can pass onto me.

how about balsa wood and acrylic paint? you can get some really good metallic colours for about £1-2

i use foam board. it's super light weight and it's pretty strong (used for bulding model airplanes) and easy to paint with acryllic paints. ^^ you can buy it in A4 sized sheets (maybe bigger, not sure) from model aicraft places. hope that helps.

I'd second foamboard. You could use cardboard if you were careful, but it would be very easy to damage. Whatever you use, remember to prime it with a layer of pva glue before painting.

Haven't thought of using foam board, might be easier to shape than balsa wood.

Painting is easy as I have access to a full paint shop but the materials is where I was getting stumped. Will look into foam and see how much I need.

A BIG THANKYOU TO YOU ALL

You can also get foamboard/polyboard in most art craft shops as it's a popular backing material for poster displays. I've also seen it in Staples so try office supply stores too

you can cut it with a craft/stanley knife ^^

but yeah you can get it in craft shops too. people use it for mounting work onto displays and stooff.

i say two layers of cardboard paper mache them with PVA and tissue paper, then leave to dry and add another layer PVA

after would add a layer a white acrylic and once cried paint then actual colours on! and for the roped hand part wrap with shoe lace or ever even scrap string and then paint back lol

using tissue paper should make the weapon light and easy to carry round yet at the same time STRONG enough to to whack with out coursing dents into the weapon! lol

No not the evil Papier Mache, I have no luck with that stuff everytime I have tried it it has gone so wrong, plus one time my cat did a nose dive into the bucket and the mess was not pretty

oh my maybe not the paper mache then lol

you could just seal the cardboard edges using a glue gun and then flatten it with your finger lol and then just paint haha be less strong but will still hold lol

good luck with your knives! cant wait to see them!


ps- poor cat! what happened after wards!!!

Will post up pics of the knives, I spent yesterday at work sketching out the design and making a scale drawing so I can transfer it straight onto the foam board.



Afterwards I got very very wet trying to give kitty a bath, I though he was small before I washed him, but whent he water hit his furr he pretty much shrank.