I thought I was doing so well. And then it broke.
I’m taking like 5 steps back on this blade.
But this time, she’s getting an upgrade. The blade will now be even more impressive and badass.
Better that it breaks now than at the con, right?
Why. I was getting close to starting painting.
⭐ This Week’s Focus
Challenge Item - Ears
Other - Blade of the Black Empire (BotBE)
🧵 Shit I Did
- Printed and glued the spikes in place.
- Glued and wired the noods in place.
- Glued the halves of the handle, blade, and curved part.
- Tested the fit and adhesion of the ears with the wig and no headband.
- Broke the wire that connects the blade half to the other half. It is unfixable.
🔮 Thoughts for Future Work
- Even without the headband and just the wire, the ears seem to stay in place, but could use more experimenting with where to use the Prosaide.
- I expected that I would be upset after breaking the blade wire. I felt more disillusioned than anything.
- Give extra slack in wires.
- Don’t solder wires at a point where they will receive stress. I did put heat shrink tubing, but it probably wasn’t tight enough. The wires inside broke, but they were very thin.
- Thin wires were good for the Dark Heart, but the blade could/should have used thicker wires.
📋 TODO — Next Week
- I ordered some coutil fabric so work on the corset that I will wear underneath everything.
- Take the laser cutting class at the makerspace and cut out fabric for the dress decorative pieces and the 2mm foam.
- Think about the blade but don’t work on it.
📸 Photo Dump
It looks funky but apparently this is what’s needed to make the wires connect.
Maybe overengineered, but I don’t care. I made tabs and rods so there’s no way they are coming out. Plus, I don’t need to align them when gluing them in.
I used school glue to sandwich the nood between two pieces of parchment paper. It works and that’s all that matters.
I’ve got a holder for the board and space for the nood to sit and not get messed up. The engineer in me strikes again.
Do I need this many clamps? Probably not. But I do feel better about it drying straight.
I will need to figure out a solution to this. Not acceptable.
The wig pretty much works, as long as I get the hair parted in the correct spot. Having a helper will allow me to get this right.