Hello!
Here comes the Build Log for Black Gold Saw! Featuring my largest prop to date, and it was made back in 2013. I'm a huge fan of the Black Rock Shooter anime, and I'm very pleased with my cosplay of Black Gold Saw. I still have it stashed in my storage somewhere, and some of these costume pieces have been worn when I've gone out partying, heh.
I don't have a ton of photos about the build, so it won't be super long. It was my first time working with Styrofoam and Worbla, with the guidance of Tennyo (Twice crowned the Swedish Champion in the SCC).
To start with, I got the shoes (surprise surprise, this is going to be a reoccuring thing with like all my builds). I then got a -second- pair of shoes, slaughtered the soles off and glued them onto my base shoes to add height.
Glued together, waiting for them to dry
After they had dried, I carved out the shape
I then moved onto the clothes. All of the clothes had to be handstitched since they're made with pvc fabric which didn't cooperate with my sewing machine.
Taking out the base shape, pinned together and then later on when they were sewn together and had the edges pinned
Testing out the foam belt after sewing everything including edges, and adding the white zipper in front
Making the little jacket and tiny bikini-top
The jacket is made in one single piece, except the sleeves that are separate. The tiny bikini-top is made out of a stretch pvc fabric and is tied together around the neck and back.
That's about all the photos I have for the clothes. What I did next was to shorten the jacket sleeves, stitch the hem and glue the white stripes and stars onto it, cut from white pvc fabric. The tiny bikini-top got the middle piece added in worbla, and the belt was covered in white pvc fabric and got a worbla buckle. The belt is fastened using tiny pressure snap buttons.
Next up is the wig! I was super lucky to find a wig in black with dark red fibers. In my opinion BGS doesn't have pure black hair, but rather a slight red tint. So I was very happy that Ebay didn't send something entirely other than what the photo showed.
Testing it out, straight out of the package
As I'm a sucker for making big horns, the ones for BGS were a breeze. I made them out of expanding foam, covered with newspaper and actual store bought paperclay this time around.
Taking out the cardboard shapes, and testing the scale
Cardboard all covered in expanding foam. Expanding foam always looks so strange in this state.
Testing the scale
Carving them, taping them and then covering with newspaper
After covering them with paperclay and doing a light sanding
Adding the paint. I went with a matte black paint and then a shiny red for the tips
Testing the wig after sewing the horns in. I added a felt bottom pad to these to be able to sew them into the wig.
As aforementioned this was my first time around working with Worbla, and I used it primarily for the claws and leg parts (and shoes). Sadly I don't have any WIP of the leg parts, but they're made out of a single layer of worbla. I didn't prime any of the worbla parts before painting, because I simply didn't know that was a thing you were supposed to do.
Claws in progress. I bought a pair of black satin gloves and glued the claws and top-hand bits onto them.
Now for what you all have been waiting for, the gigantic sword (King Saw).
I started out making a pattern in cardboard
I then transferred the pattern onto XPS foam (pink high density styrofoam), and glued all the foam together with an added wooden core.
However, I had no idea that you were supposed to use a specific type of glue for styrofoam, so I just went ahead with contact glue which ate through some parts of the foam. I only noticed this when I started carving the rest of the shape out.
You can see here how the glue has eroded away the foam from the inside.
But not to worry! At this point I went over to Tennyo's place and got guidance on how to add the additional parts with proper styrofoam glue, and working with Plasticréte. Plasticréte is a two-component plastic resin that is very user friendly. It has one liquid and one powder part that you mix together to make a plastic paste. You then paint this paste onto your desired object and it will make it very solid. It's important to have a layer of fabric on the surface you're adding the Plasticréte onto, so it has something to stick to.
Taking out the shapes
Adding the Plasticréte when I was happy with the base shapes
I used an electronic sander to sand down all the edges after the Plasticréte layers were done. I intentionally did not sand anything that wasn't going to be painted in gold, because I liked the rougher texture.
Here you can see the difference in texture
And here is the blade close to being finished painting. You can also see one shoe being covered in worbla somewhere in the mess.
That's all the photos I have, so as usual here's some additional text for the rest.
The skull on the sword is a solid chunk of sculpted worbla. None of the worbla in this costume is primed, only painted with acrylics. I didn't manage to make proper fastenings for the back part of the lower leg armour, so when I've worn it I have just taped it together discreetely with black duct tape.
Overall, this costume was fun to make and looks incredibly impressive mostly thanks to the sword. It encouraged me to make more large props (this was my first prop), and I'm sure no one is really surprised that my choice of characters usually have some type of weird or large prop. Or horns.
You can find the full album of Black Gold Saw here !
Comentários