This build was requested by a friend for the Midnight Release of Kingdom Hearts 3. When they had requested, I had plans to go out of town the week before the release, only had one week to work on it. In order to make sure we made it, we would have needed help. Fortunately, we got some help in the form of the new members of the Black Label name, and each of them helped in this build to complete everything in time.
Build
To start off I designed a template. This was only done in 1 half of the blade and the knuckle bow this way we can focus on a template for the teeth of the key separately. I didn't get a picture of the top part, but all I will say was a bitch to cut out. Also, there are holes on the blade, but because of the blade, we could not possibly have the items float without the core showing.
After the template was cut out, we separated the work, Robin and Vayne began cutting the blade out of the foam, where Henry and Beau were cutting the top portion out. Vayne and Robin got off easy as that was made from 10mm Foam from TNT, where as the top part was done through 24mm Foam, also from TNT. this gave us room to even out the eye design on the top of the blade. The core itself is an orange reflector rod. It is made from Fiberglass so its straight and sturdy to hold up everything.
Beau helped cut the trench where the core was gonna go, where Vayne cut the rod to its final length. Side note, Fiberglass sucks to work with, but it was the fastest and cheapest we could have gotten. After the primary build was done, I sanded the edges of the handle to flatten them as we were gonna cover that in foam clay to get the right shape. The clay is C-4 also from TNT. The raised detail was done with 2mm Foam and 2mm Adhesive back foam in order to give that a raised looked without wasting so much glue.
When all of the pieces were done, I had Robin cut out that ovate shape in the top so we can glue it all together to finish up the primary build of the Keyblade.
Detail
After the primary build was done, I sanded the edges of the handle to flatten them as we were gonna cover that in foam clay to get the right shape. The clay is C-4 also from TNT. The raised detail was done with 2mm Foam and 2mm Adhesive back foam in order to give that a raised looked without wasting so much glue. For the actual, eye of Sauron gems, originally they were to have been made out of foam clay, but Vayne had learned how to paint on those glass gem things and we used those instead. I will find a use for the clay domes in the future, but this was the process Vayne made just in time.
Vayne had painted them with Nail Polish and then sealed them with a clear coat to make sure the glue didn't rip the color in case they fell off.
Prime and Paint
My trip was almost here, and there was no way I would be able to help with the paint and Beau and Robin had to go out of town as well. I had primed half of the blade, and then handed it off to Vayne and Henry to finish with rest of the prime and the paint. We used Flexbond from TNT Cosplay Supply to seal it in 2 layers before anything. After which, the eyes were glued on and it was in the hands of the painters. As I was not in town, I will describe the paint used. Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic was the full paint used for this job. Its great for getting a lot of pigment in a little bit.
When I returned, I had called the Vayne and Henry to come over to do one last thing. Attach the chain and the keychain at the bottom, and then seal it for the finish.
The Event
We finished the piece in 2 weeks, and the event went great. Below are a series of pictures taken by our friend Maya at the event with Vayne in full Vanitas cosplay.
Please go check out Maya's Photography page if you like her work
https://www.facebook.com/Dakana-L-Tek-439697149854881/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Total Time: 2 Weeks
Materials: 92$
Special thanks to Beau, Robin, Vayne and Henry for the build, and Maya for catching the photos at the event.