Tira soul caliber tutorial: Ring blade by Laurentea

Tira soul caliber tutorial: Ring blade by Laurentea

I've had one or two questions in the past and figured I had some pictures from when I was making it so I threw together a small tutorial. It's pretty basic but it gets the point across.

Any questions ask away!

HerMajestyVB Featured By Owner Aug 8, 2018 Hobbyist General Artist

Errr...so when you are cutting out the pieces, how do you dislodge them from the rest of the foam board? It's so thick, I'm having a rough time actually getting the individual pieces out.

lalala12347 Featured By Owner Oct 27, 2013

Hi, after I had cut out the foam pieces, they didn't seem to fit perfectly onto the hula hoop. Any suggestions on how to make them fit?

Laurentea Featured By Owner Oct 29, 2013 Hobbyist

I`d say cut out some small pieces of foam and glue them between the pieces. Get them as close as possible and then fill in any cracks with your glue and poly fil. If you sand it down and fill in everything enough you shouldn`t even be able to tell they didnt fit together

whatshurface Featured By Owner Apr 3, 2013

hey! i was wondering with the insulation board..did you just cut out 3 pieces and then just glued them around the hula hoop or did you cut out 6 and glued two together then glued it on the hoop??

Laurentea Featured By Owner Apr 3, 2013 Hobbyist

It was just made with 3 pieces

Spartan-Muffins Featured By Owner Jan 16, 2013 Hobbyist Artisan Crafter

Hey there, I have a few questions on this if you don't mind answering them.
I am planning on doing Tira's ring blade, however I am debating between whether to make it out of foam or pepakura it and then use fiberglass on it. I have a problem with pepakura as I have no idea what to put inside it to balance and give it weight so that's why I've been looking at your tutorial. I have never used insulation foam and so was wondering exactly how easy it is to work with? The tutorial makes it look simple but I was wondering if you could give me a little more information on your building process. Did you make the creases and dips in the foam around the spikes by sanding it and also did you have to put any resin on it to strengthen it and can it be painted with spray paint? Sorry if this seems like a lot of questions but I really have no idea on how to go about this. I would really appreciate it if you could help, thanks!

Laurentea Featured By Owner Jan 19, 2013 Hobbyist

To be honest I am very behind on all the new products that are out there for prop making so I have no idea what pepakeura is. Sorry about that. My response is always use what materials you are comfortable with. I have little space and not many power tools so I will always prefer foamboard. It's the easiest thing to use, I used it the first time when I was 17.
But back to the blade itself, I did just sand down the sides to create the bladed edges. Resin can be applied on top but it is so incredibly important to SEAL IT! A lot of materials like spray paint can eat away at the foam so it's huge to seal it. I use gesso and a couple layers of glue just to be sure. I didn't strengthen mine much and it did take a bit of a beating but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a bit of 'no more nails' which is a glue best used for foamboard. As long as you are treating it like a prop and not flinging it around and dropping it, a couple layers of glue and paint can hold it together quite well.

Also a little tip: If you get a bit rough with sanding on foamboard, chuncks can fall out. Polyfil is your best friend. It can make everything smooth and beautiful if you take the time. If you are more curios about foamboard, this FAQ an help you out a bunch.
[link]

I hope some of this helps

Spartan-Muffins Featured By Owner Jan 22, 2013 Hobbyist Artisan Crafter

Pepakura is paper modelling that you coat in fiberglass to strengthen it and then sand and paint. It's very fiddly.
Anyway, thanks for this, it has shed some more light on the problem and I'll take your advice on how to treat the material.
Thanks for replying and helping me with this

OtakuMuse Featured By Owner Sep 17, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

What would you estimate the cost of these supplies to be?

Laurentea Featured By Owner Sep 18, 2012 Hobbyist

Maybe 30$? It's been awhile but it's not all that expensive

Matthewaikenpie1 Featured By Owner Feb 20, 2012

question: how fragile is it?

Laurentea Featured By Owner Feb 20, 2012 Hobbyist

it took a bit of a beating the day I wore it and it was alright. Obviously the spikes were problem areas and caught on things or after a tricky time packing the car, snapped but it was an easy fix