How I made my Rondo, Megurine Luka’s Rapier

Hi guys, I’m here with a simple blog entry to share with you guys how I made my rapier for Megurine Luka’s outfit in the song “Rondo of the Sun & Moon”.

Check out the rest of my Rondo Luka photo-shoots here and here.

*  Click on the images to view larger

Materials Used:

1. Pen Knife
2. Wood cutter
3. Epoxy Putty
4. Aluminium Bending Wires (6mm width). For this particular type or wire, there is actually a layer of plastic wrapped around it.
   
   
5. Cup Cover
   
   
6. Skipping Rope
   
   
7. Glass Beads/ Marbles as required
8. Thick cardboard
9. A Dowel
10. Shiny Gold sticky tape
11. Gold Spray Paint
12. Super Glue
13. Fishing thread
14. Paper clay or any sort of clay
15. Masking tape or duct tapes

 

Making the blade

I made the blade with mounting board, dowel , aluminium tape and golden spray paint. Using the method described in the video below.

I actually bought 2 different dowels for the blade but ended up using the 3rd one because they were too thick >.<;;; The first was a wooden dowel that broke halfway because the width of the sword blade was too small, meaning to say the space for the dowel to slide into was too tight. The 2nd dowel I bought was made of fiberglass but it turned out to be even thicker than my wooden dowel so I didn’t used it. I eventually used this clear pvc dowel from ArtFriend. Because of it’s diameter and material, it made the sword less stable than the wood and fiberglass….but I guess I have no choice =\

Making the Hilt

The handle of the rapier is actually the handle of a skipping rope and the hilt is actually a turned over cup cover. I bought the skipping rope and Aluminium wires from Daiso, banzai to cheap props!

I managed to find a skipping rope that has handles that comes apart like the 2nd picture. Basically what I did was screw them apart to separate the rope from it.

Next, I use a penknife to cut the bottom of the handle away. In the 3rd picture above, you see the ‘cut-ed’ handle with a black duct tape wrapped around where it was cut. You don’t have to stick the duct tape around it but I did it just to reinforce the strength of the plastic handle.

  

The tip/handle part of the cup cover has to be sawed off to allow the dowel to go through.

You then get something like this. That is the base skeleton of the handle and hilt.

Then using paper clay (which is the red thing in the photo above), I moulded a stopper sort of thing to fill up the gaps around the dowel.

Next come the intricate knuckle guard that is signature of the rapier.

The circular base was done like this, with the dowel and cup cover taped to the edge of a table xD This really helped freed up a hand and allowed me to better judge if I was bending the wires correctly.

Here is a picture of the completed hand guard before it was sprayed. The yellow thing that goes around are aluminium bendable wires with plastic wrapped around it, bought from Daiso (they are 6mm wide). The ends of all the wires are covered and sculpted with epoxy putty with my bare hands.

Anyone who has worked with Epoxy Putty before would know how fast that thing hardens. I found out that if I continuously damped the epoxy putty while i mould it, it would stop the putty from hardening and give myself more time to sculpt it.

Unfortunately because this is such an ‘instinctive’ and ‘test & trial’ process, I don’t have anymore tips to share.

Sprayed with golden chrome spray!

I dug around the house and found some plain beads and marbles I could use. Because I wanted the beads and marbles to retain their translucency as much as possible, I used clear nail varnish that have been slightly coloured with ink to paint them. They are then stuck on with Super Glue.

The Pommel is a plastic gem in the shape of a diamond. I had to search high and low around Singapore to find a suitable one =_=|||

Because the handle was made from a skip rope handle, the end (near pommel) could be opened up. And that allowed me to take the blade apart from the hilt for easy transport and storage.

This is how I assemble it when I need it. Of course in the above photos, the dowel is just a replacement and not the actual dowel of my blade… but you get the idea. The bright pink thing wrapped around the dowel is the key here. It is a rubber wristband I got as a event freebie.

The purpose of the rubber wristband is to work as a resistance against the handle so the handle will stick to the hilt. Similar logic is employed for my DIY Brush Caps.

I’m sorry I didn’t have as much WIP photos to show. I lost a lot of photos when my computer crashed on me ;_; Anyway, I hope this entry was helpful! You’re free to link and share this entry but please do not copy the content and repost it elsewhere. And guys, remember to leave me a comment ^_^/ !