Background

When growing up I had always been around costuming and props, weather it was for school plays or for renaissance festivals. I seemed to always enjoy being in the workshop environment. So when I entered high-school I began to take interest in cosplay after having a longstanding interest in Japanese animation. From there I began to make prop swords for myself and sold some to others. At first I primarily focused on an anime called Bleach and began to move outward from there.

To date, I have made 12+ prop swords for either myself or to be sold to others in the cosplay community.

The First (Kyōka Suigetsu)

The first sword that I fabricated was for the main villain of Bleach, Sōsuke Aizen, Kyōka Suigetsu. Since this was the first time that I had ever built form the ground up, this blade took a while to make. I started with a basic cardboard template for the curve of the sheath which would also determine the curve of both the blade and handle, since the handle is cut from one end of the two pieces of wood that make the sheath. After cutting everything to fit and shaping the edges of all the piece I moved on to painting the piece. I knew that I wanted to make the blade look as close to a true metal finish as possible, so I took an extra effort to put multiple coats of base primer and sand, then repeat several times over.

I later used the sword in a craftsmanship competition at Colossalcon 2009 (Sandusky, Ohio) and took home a judge's award for best prop.

Los Lobos

Los Lobos is another sword that come form the Japanese animation and manga Bleach. The character that welds this sword is an Espada name Coyote Starrk, who is a high ranking villain in a later arc of the the series. 

The sword was made in the same process that I made Kyōka Suigetsu. I started with three pieces of wood, channel the two to make the sheath and handle, then finally cut the blade. You can see more of the process in the gallery.

This sword was actually built once, sold, built in an updated version and sold again, after winning best prop and Erie Anime Experience in 2009.

The Trio

This set of swords are also form the Japanese animation and manga Bleach. The three swords are Murcielago (Green), Pantera (Blue), and Senbonzakura (Purple). Two of these three have been made (Senbonzakura & Pantera), for requests to sell them.

The process to making the swords are is the same as the previous katana styled blades that I have made of the last several years. They all three started with a base of three pieces of wood in which two 3/4 inch pieces are hallowed and made into the sheath and handle, while the smaller 1/4 inch piece is turned into the blade of the prop.

For painting I color match the swords' images to basic household Krylon spray paints. The silver and gold on the blades are all made from multiple coats of white primer followed buy several light coats of Krylon metallic silver or gold.

Soma's Kitchen Knife

This kitchen knife was made for a cosplay from the Japanese animation and manga, Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma. I had done a costume of the lead character Soma Yukihira, who is a prodigy chef, who is sent to a world renowned culinary school in Japan.

The construction of this prop was very simple in the fact that it was built from only one piece of 1/4 inch thick piece of wood. I first cut the main blade and handle shape out of the wood and ground the blade profile with a disk sander. I then cut two pieces of wood to form the handle's grip and glued them to the main piece. I went on to shape these pieces to the point that they felt good in the hand.

I finished the piece with a quick black, silver, and brown paint-job. I then added rivet heads to pre-drilled hold in the handle to give it a finished look.