November 9, 2015

Propworks: Cardcaptor Sakura Clow Wand - Master List and FAQ

The full tutorial has been officially posted for the Cardcaptor Sakura wand I made this past Fall, so here's the master list of the page links along with a few questions I'd want to clarify ahead of time!

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CARDCAPTOR SAKURA CLOW WAND TUTORIAL



Photo by Bananzers



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CARDCAPTOR SAKURA CLOW WAND FAQ


Will you make me a wand?

No, I really don't have the time nor will you probably want to pay the price for one right now. This particular staff took me a good 20ish hours worth of work to look as nice as it did (and that's cutting out the parts that I ended up scrapping and reworked). Take that and multiply it at least by minimum wage ($7.50 right now) and that's upwards of $150 to just START. I tend to charge $10/hr for all artwork. And that's not even including shipping costs.

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Can you make me just... a part of it?

Nope. I am honestly so swamped right now that even if I did want to make parts for people, I can't. 

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I want to make a wand using your tutorial. Is that allowed?

Uh, yes! This is why I made this tutorial! However, if you DO use the tutorial, send me a pic - I want to see what you all can make with it! (I'm on facebook, you can link me an image at Karmada Cosplay or Crash Bang Labs) :) Also, if you could please credit me in your descriptions that would be awesome too. (I'd love to have a gallery with fellow wand makers!)

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Can I make wands to sell (or be commissioned for) using this tutorial?

I admire your entrepreneurial spirit, but NO. This tutorial is for personal cosplay use only. 

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I don't have Photoshop or Illustrator, what do I do?

There are programs like GIMP out there that will let you do photoediting on a smaller cost/free level, along with vector programs out there. I just don't know what their names are just yet! Also, pester a friend who might have those programs to help you out, they might be able to let you use it!

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Can I compete in craftsmanship contests with a wand I make following this tutorial?

That.... is a good question. If it's just a side prop to your costume, I don't see why not, but MAKE SURE to mention that you followed a tutorial. If you're competing just for propwork... that's a little more gray, and you might not want to follow a tutorial for a prop contest. Just sayin'. Don't pretend you did work that you didn't, okay?

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Are you going to make the Star Wand too?

At this time, no. I make props depending on what I need for my costumes I make, and I don't have the time/money to just make props for the heck of it. But if I do make one, you can bet I'll probably make a tutorial too.

Propworks: Cardcaptor Sakura Wand Tutorial - Part 06 Painting and Finishing

While wearing my Cardcaptor Sakura costume at the convention, I had a lot of people ask, "how did you make that wand?" so I figured that it would be a good time to write up a tutorial!

This tutorial will be in multiple parts to provide the detail I went through in making my wand so hopefully it will be helpful to other people! 

As always, if you make a wand using this tutorial LINK ME! I'd love to have pics of them in action!

*                  *                  *                  *                  *

CARDCAPTOR SAKURA CLOW WAND TUTORIAL



Photo by Bananzers


Now is when all our parts come together. The painting and finishing phase of the job!

SUPPLIES:

White Primer Spraypaint
Valspar Spraypaint - Pink
Valspar Clear Coat - Satin
Americana Craft Paint - Primary Red

Americana Craft Paint - Cranberry Wine
Americana Craft Paint - Saffron Yellow
Folk Art Outdoor Craft Paint - Inca Gold
Thick white paint
Soft Acrylic Brushes of your choice


Poor thing looks so naked...

At this point you're ready to start finishing your wand. If you haven't already, make sure to sand your bird head with the 400 fine grit sandpaper (if using paper clay)! Get it nice and smooth.

Also, DO NOT attach your rubberized wings just yet. I just took the picture as a sample to what it would look like when it was finished. You glue those last.



STEP ONE: PRIMER PRIMER PRIMER

I say it in panels, and I say it here now. If you are painting an object, primer that thing first. Primer is a type of paint that's made to stick to stuff and make it nicer for your regular paints to go onto it. I used a white spray primer, and I had to put a couple of coats onto it to cover up all the printed words on the PVC as well as any of the other miscellany colors that showed up (like on the strawberry).

Follow the instructions on the can. Make sure it's not raining, use it outdoors or in a well-ventilated area. WAIT THE ALLOTTED TIME before handling and turning it over for more paint. This will take time. Be prepared to spend a few hours at least waiting for paint to dry. (pull up some favorite netflix shows while you wait, or heck, sew your costume *coughcoughcough*).


STEP TWO: PAINTING

Once the staff is primed and ready, I took mine outside and used the lovely pink Valspar spray paint I found at Lowe's. Turned out it was the perfect color. Once again follow the instructions on the can for drying times. Touching your project too early means finger prints and unwanted smudges!

I sprayed the handle, as well as the small area inside of the head piece. I left all other parts white.

Why yes, I do cosplay in the into the night...

After the pink was completely dried, it was time to paint the head and strawberry parts. I actually waited over an evening, mostly because it was really late when I spraypainted it pink, and I didn't want to screw up the hand painting.

To handpaint the rest of the staff, I used your basic craft paints you can get for a couple of dollars at the craft store.

Cosplay isn't entirely fancy materials...

NOT SHOWN: WHITE PAINT.

I began with the red parts first.

To get the gradient, I followed these steps:
  • Start with the cranberry wine, and brush out towards tip of area, then take primary red, and brush from tip to slightly over the cranberry wine area. Let dry. It WILL look smudgey and have brush marks on it. Don't worry this is just the under layer.

  • Cover all the red parts with a coat of the primary red.

  • Then slowly traversing around the red edges, paint with cranberry and while it's still wet, take primary red and blend up into the cranberry area. This may take several coats/tries to do. Work in small parts.

  • Once all the blending is done to your satisfaction, use the primary red to touch up the tip areas, brushing from tip to just before blending begins.

  • After all that is dry, take your thick white paint (I used gesso), and paint over any areas where the red would cover up the gold.


Now that the gemstones are done, it's time to add the yellow-gold color. I wanted it to be shimmery, but still a little bit of that cartoony gold, so instead of just slapping gold paint on there, I wanted to give it an under layer.

  • I covered all the areas that would be gold carefully with the bright Saffron Yellow, I think I ended up doing at least two layers to cover over any other smudges of under-colors.

  • Once those layers are dried, I did approximately two coats of the Incan Gold. (I apparently forgot to take a photo of that, but hey, let's imagine I covered all the yellow parts in the gold color.)
This part actually took me the better part of almost two days of work. I took care to make sure each layer dried properly.

STEP THREE: SEALING & GLUING

And last, but certainly not least, I used the Valspar Satin clear coat spray (I figured let's stay with the same brand I used on the pink), and once again following the directions on the can, I coated the whole staff. This provided a protective coating that wasn't overly glossy or shiny. If you're looking for extra shiny, feel free to use the gloss! 

Once all the sealing had dried, all that was left was to add the wings onto the side of the bird head. I used a good amount of E6000 on the circular part that would be touching the bird head, making sure to estimate where it'd sit. After the glue was applied, I pressed the wing firmly, but gently, onto the side of the head, angling the wings to where I wanted.

I held it down for a while, making sure the glue got tacky. Also, because I was in a rush, I quickly did the same for the other side of the staff. You can take your time (if you've got it) and wait for it to cure a lot more before adding the other wing. Just keep in mind to try to get them as symmetrical as possible.

I like to let E6000 dry for 24 hours if i'm using it for an important piece, so there's another time chunk you have to wait for. :) Just let it properly cure and you'll have a nice, strong bond!

Once it dries, you have a staff, ready for cosplay! Have fun!






Propworks: Cardcaptor Sakura Wand Tutorial - Part 05 Strawberry

While wearing my Cardcaptor Sakura costume at the convention, I had a lot of people ask, "how did you make that wand?" so I figured that it would be a good time to write up a tutorial!

This tutorial will be in multiple parts to provide the detail I went through in making my wand so hopefully it will be helpful to other people! 

As always, if you make a wand using this tutorial LINK ME! I'd love to have pics of them in action!

*                  *                  *                  *                  *

CARDCAPTOR SAKURA CLOW WAND TUTORIAL




Get your mind out of the gutter, YOU PEOPLE.

Once the bird head was completed, I headed to creating the little finial piece that sits at the bottom end of the staff (and also acts as a handy counter-weight) that I have dubbed "The Strawberry".

SUPPLIES:

Super Sculpey
Tinfoil
Sculpting Tools of Your Choice




This part probably took the highest amount of sculpting out of the entire project, so if you're real great at sculpey clay, you might need to enlist a pal to help you out. Or just jump into it and LEARN! That's always a good option too!

I recommend Super Sculpey because it's very durable and strong, and frankly I know I'm clumsy so I'd hate to have it shatter on me if I dropped it at a show!

I started out with a tinfoil "core" I was going to put in the center of the strawberry, as well as have a tail of it that I can thread through the handle so it can be permanently glued in. Using my cut out diagram (See that thing in the upper left that's all pixely, YEP I'M STILL USING IT), I used it as a guide to determine how big the strawberry and bezel needed to be.

I also had an extra bit of pipe left over I used as a guide on how big the hole of the finial needed to be (VERY HELPFUL THAT IS).

And with that, I started to sculpt. I baked it multiple times, so that way I wouldn't damage other parts.

  • I started out by molding the strawberry shape, smoothing it, and baking it.



  • After that, I added the base for the bezel, then baked that.






  • Then I added the little triangle bevels - arranging them opposite each other on the strawberry. BAKE AGAIN.


  • Last but not least, I made the outer ridges and baked the object for the last time, per instructions on the box.


By baking it in sequence, you will have nice smooth surfaces that you don't have to worry about accidentally mushing it when molding other pieces!

I folded over the tinfoil tail, and make sure it could fit into the PVC handle. Once I was happy with that, I applied a bunch of E6000 to the inside of the pipe and inside of the finial and glued that bad boy in, never to be removed again.

NOW IT'S TIME TO FINISH THIS!

Propworks: Cardcaptor Sakura Wand Tutorial - Part 04 Bird Head

While wearing my Cardcaptor Sakura costume at the convention, I had a lot of people ask, "how did you make that wand?" so I figured that it would be a good time to write up a tutorial!

This tutorial will be in multiple parts to provide the detail I went through in making my wand so hopefully it will be helpful to other people! 

As always, if you make a wand using this tutorial LINK ME! I'd love to have pics of them in action!

*                  *                  *                  *                  *

CARDCAPTOR SAKURA CLOW WAND TUTORIAL






This part required a bit more ingenuity and errors than I would have thought, so you guys get the results of a bunch of failures leading up to a success!

SUPPLIES:

Foamcore Posterboard
Newspaper/Magazine/Mail Advertisement Circulars
Masking Tape (NOT Blue Tape)
Paperclay
400 Grit Wet/Dry Sandpaper

Remember that big cut out piece I had? YEAH, get that back out.




Using my print out as a size estimate, I used the headshape to sketch out a head shape onto a piece of foamcore board. Make sure to have it so there are slots that will stick down into the PVC pipe you're using for the handle. This will keep your staff head in place when working on it, and make your prop sturdier!

Oh ho ho ho, I traced my wing shape to make sure it'd fit!

You don't want the shape to be the full size of the head, but almost the size you want. This will be necessary in the next step! Once you're got a staff head you're happy with, cut it out, and place it into the end of your pvc. If you've got your wings on hand, you can use it to estimate the size.




Next is where a little bit of creativity and sculpting come into play. Find yourself some newspapers or some of those flyers you get in the mail that just have a bunch of ads and coupons, and carefully tear them into scrunchable chunks. Then oh-so-carefully take the little tightly wadded up pieces of paper and begin taping them to the staff head with your masking tape.

It's not very scientific, and you have to watch out for any sort of odd shapes. REMEMBER: the gold part of the staff head is actually raised from the red "beak" so make sure there's an obvious ridge. As well as the gap in the bottom that is at the handle connector where the pink shows through. ALWAYS REFER TO YOUR REFERENCE PICTURE!

Once you've got enough crumpled paper into the shape you're looking for, you'll end up adding about 3-4 other layers of masking tape.  You'll want to create as smooth a surface as you can (i.e. no giant pockets or wells in your design).



Now, once you've got your bird head lookin' good, it's time to cover that thing! There are several ways you can do it:

1. Paper mache + Gesso (lots of layers and sanding)
2. Worbla (let me know if this works for you)
3. Paper Clay

I tried Paper Mache, with gesso, and then tried to cover it in Worbla, and EGADS that was a disaster. My hair dryer stopped putting out the heat it normally did, and then it didn't react well with the gesso, and then we ended up peeling it all off to the masking tape layer.

So I ended up getting paper clay and putting a thin (say 1/4" thick at most) layer of clay on top of the whole head. I was able to get a pretty smooth covering, and then let that dry for over a day. (Remember that "time" thing I told you about? Here's another 24-hour curing time!)



Once your clay is completely dry, use a very fine grit (I used 400) to carefully sand down your bird head. I hear you can use the wet/dry sandpaper to wet sand it down, but I didn't think of that until AFTER I was done, so I'm sure that will turn out great because paper clay likes water!

Carefully sand down your head so it seamlessly meets with the PVC pipe, and when it's nice and smooth, you're ready for the next part: the gemstone at the bottom I've lovingly come to call the "strawberry".

NEXT PART: 05 STRAWBERRY

Propworks: Cardcaptor Sakura Wand Tutorial - Part 03 Wings

While wearing my Cardcaptor Sakura costume at the convention, I had a lot of people ask, "how did you make that wand?" so I figured that it would be a good time to write up a tutorial!

This tutorial will be in multiple parts to provide the detail I went through in making my wand so hopefully it will be helpful to other people! 

As always, if you make a wand using this tutorial LINK ME! I'd love to have pics of them in action!

*                  *                  *                  *                  *

CARDCAPTOR SAKURA CLOW WAND TUTORIAL






WINGS

The first thing I attacked in this project were the wings on the sides of the bird head top of the staff. I figured these were the easiest things to accomplish, and it would help me judge how big to make the bird head part of the staff.

For your reminder, here's a list of the supplies I used:

SUPPLIES

6mm Darice Foamie Sheet - White
2mm Darice Foamie Sheet - White
Easy Cast Resin
Castin' Craft Transparent Dye - Red
Castin' Craft Transparent Dye - Yellow
2" Circular Dome Resin Mold (NOTE: Your mold may vary)
Plasti-Dip Spray - White
Hot Glue Gun & Glue (I used hi-temp)
Hotknife

GEMSTONES

The gemstone "eyes" are a focal point in the little wings, so I started there. Looking back at my print out, it looked like the gems were approximately 2 inches wide. I tried to make my own molds (outside of using a silicone cast - I honestly didn't have a lot of extra cash to spend so I tried to avoid it when I could), but I ended up with a lot of failures.

So I took to the Googles, and found out that there are people who sell all sorts of types of resin mold shapes and I found myself a mold set with six 2-inch wide molds! These molds are sold on Etsy, Ebay, Amazon, and I'm sure many other places.

Look for 2 inch Circle Cabochons (means the domed shape for gemstones), or similar. The key word is chabochon!


A sample image of the mold I used

I then mixed up my EasyCast resin per the instructions (YES READ THE INSTRUCTIONS - you have to double-mix the resin using two different mixing pots and sticks for best results). Now, EasyCast resin is naturally clear, so I used the Castin' Craft transparent dyes to get the red look I wanted.

The number of droplets you'll add varies from pot to pot, but I usually aimed for a color slightly darker than my end color (because when you pour the resin into the molds, it is much shallower than your mixing cup and will lighten the color)

If you are looking for a nice, warm red color to your gem, I advise adding a few droplets of yellow to your red mixture. The red transparent dye has a more purple/cool tint to it, and adding the yellow makes it more of a primary red.


the bubbles go away during the curing process for the most part


Carefully pour into the molds, and then let this set for 24 hours on a nice flat surface. That's how long the resin will take to cure (harden) - which is why you need to give yourself a lot of time!


Worth the wait, though!

After 24 hours pass, you should be able to easily pop out your gemstones, but we're not done yet! You need to make sure they have a nice flat back, and preferably with a metallic reflection inside. But how to do that? Simple! Hot glue and tin foil!

Go grab some tin foil, and make sure you have a nice, unwrinkly surface to work on. Then using your hot glue gun, carefully make a nice clear glob that's big enough to fit under your gemstone.



I like the hi-temp glue gun because it will keep the glue nice and warm while you make your glob. To prevent bubbles in your glob, keep the tip of the hot glue gun inside the hot glue glob while slowly pressing the trigger to put more glue on.

Once you've got enough, carefully press your gemstone down onto the blob. SLOWLY. You will probably get glue that oozes out around the sides, THIS IS OKAY. Let it stay there. In fact, you'll need to hold down the gemstone to your flat surface as long as you can so the glue can solidify and dry.

Downside of Hi-Temp Glue: WAITING FOR IT TO COOL

Once your hot glue has cooled down completely (You may need to set it to the side for a bit), carefully cut around the outside edge of the gemstone, trimming off the extra hot glue and tinfoil - use general craft scissors, but make sure they're sharp!

Do this for all your gemstones. After that, you're ready for wings!


FEATHERS

The next step is to actually create the wings the gemstones will sit in. The wings themselves are constructed from various grades of Foamies sheets - a 6mm thickness, and a 2mm thickness. Because I like templates, I went to my sample image (the one I made all big), and using illustrator I came up with a diagram outline to print out. I had to measure it a few times and reprint, but I found a size that worked for what I wanted to do, and printed that out onto a cardstock.


I am bequeathing you with this outline because I like you.
You have been warned.

Now, remember, my wings are based on the manga-drawn styles of the wand, so if you're aiming to do more of the anime-styled wings, your shape will be a little different!

I then cut each piece of the template apart and I was ready to go.

The top feather (with the circle attached) I cut out of the 6mm foamie, and the other three feathers, I cut out of the 2mm foamie using a hot knife. I like to use a hot knife because it travels right through the foam and gives you much smoother lines than trying to use a pair of scissors - specifically on the thicker foam.



Do this part twice, and REVERSE THE TEMPLATE. Your wings will be opposite each other on each side of the staff head.

Once your wing parts are cut out (make sure to cut the circle out too), carefully arrange and hot glue an entire wing onto another 2mm foamie sheet as flat as you can get it. Make sure to leave a little bit of space between each feather for a nice texture. Do this for both wings.

Make sure to take care of any extra glue that comes out too.
Once your wing parts are firmly glued down, it's time to break out that hot knife again. Carefully cut the bottom layer of the foamie around your wing feathers as close to the edges as you can. Do not cut all the way into the little separations between the feathers. DO NOT CUT THE CIRCLE OUT. That's your resting place for your gem and you want it to be able to stick to it.

Here's what it will look like when you're done:




For an added bonus, if you happen to have some other hot knife tools (usually used in woodburning) you can melt little details into the backside of the wing. There's a small pencil-shaped tip you can use, and just gently use the hot knife to trace the outline of the feathers onto the backside of the foamie.




Double check your outside edges and fill in any openings with hot glue if you can. After that, you're ready for Plasti-Dip-ing! Plasti-Dip comes in both spray cans and dipping/brushing formulas. I chose the white spray version, and following the directions I covered both sides of each wing in Plasti-Dip.

It takes about 30 minutes between each application, and you'll probably end up doing 3-4 coats on each side.



Now you have a rubbery, easy to wipe clean, impact-resistant pair of wings! All you need to do is add the gemstone into the open circle area. If I am recalling correctly, I used hot glue to attach the gemstone. E6000 would also work.





Now onto a slightly more complicated part: the staff head!

NEXT PART: 04 BIRD HEAD

Propworks: Cardcaptor Sakura Wand Tutorial - Part 02 Supplies

While wearing my Cardcaptor Sakura costume at the convention, I had a lot of people ask, "how did you make that wand?" so I figured that it would be a good time to write up a tutorial!

This tutorial will be in multiple parts to provide the detail I went through in making my wand so hopefully it will be helpful to other people! 

As always, if you make a wand using this tutorial LINK ME! I'd love to have pics of them in action!

*                  *                  *                  *                  *

CARDCAPTOR SAKURA CLOW WAND TUTORIAL




Photo by Bananzers


SUPPLIES
Once sizes have been determined, it's time to pick up a bunch of supplies. Here's a list of the supplies I used on the entire project:
Here's my list (without pics) for easy copy/pasting: 
Check out the bottom of this post for a picture guide in case you don't know what things are!

Wand Handle
 PVC Pipe
 PVC Pipe Cutter (or a hand saw)

Wings
6mm Darice Foamie Sheet - White
2mm Darice Foamie Sheet - White
Easy Cast Resin
Castin' Craft Transparent Dye - Red
Castin' Craft Transparent Dye - Yellow
2" Circular Dome Resin Mold (NOTE: Your mold may vary)
Plasti-Dip Spray - White
Hot Glue Gun & Glue (I used hi-temp)
Hot Knife

Bird Head
Foamcore Posterboard
Newspaper/Magazine/Mail Advertisement Circulars
Masking Tape (NOT Blue Tape)
Paperclay
400 Grit Wet/Dry Sandpaper

Strawberry
Super Sculpey
Tinfoil
Sculpting Tools of Your Choice

Miscellany/Paint
E6000 Glue
White Primer Spraypaint Valspar Spraypaint - Pink
Valspar Clear Coat - Satin
Americana Craft Paint - Primary Red
Americana Craft Paint - Cranberry Wine
Americana Craft Paint - Saffron Yellow
Folk Art Outdoor Craft Paint - Inca Gold
Thick white paint
Soft Acrylic Brushes of your choice

and last, but not least:

TIME
 
Using these supplies your wand will take you at least 2-3 days worth of work. This is not something you do the night before a convention!

NEXT PART: 03 WINGS

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SUPPLY PICTORIAL GUIDE!
 (In case you don't know what some of these things are)

Wand Handle
 PVC Pipe
 PVC Pipe Cutter (or a hand saw)

Wings
6mm Darice Foamie Sheet - White
2mm Darice Foamie Sheet - White



Easy Cast Resin



Castin' Craft Transparent Dye - Red
Castin' Craft Transparent Dye - Yellow


2" Circular Dome Resin Mold (NOTE: Your mold may vary)
I also got mine through Etsy, it can also be found on Amazon, Ebay, etc....


Plasti-Dip Spray - White
Hot Glue Gun & Glue (I used hi-temp)
Hot Knife

Bird Head
Foamcore Posterboard
Newspaper/Magazine/Mail Advertisement Circulars

Masking Tape (NOT Blue Tape)



Paperclay

400 Grit Wet/Dry Sandpaper


Strawberry


Super Sculpey

Tinfoil
Sculpting Tools of Your Choice


Miscellany/Paint




















E6000 Glue

White Primer Spraypaint


Valspar Spraypaint - Pink
Valspar Clear Coat - Satin















Americana Craft Paint - Primary Red
Americana Craft Paint - Cranberry Wine
Americana Craft Paint - Saffron Yellow
Folk Art Outdoor Craft Paint - Inca Gold
Thick white paint
Soft Acrylic Brushes of your choice

and last, but not least:

TIME

Using these supplies your wand will take you at least 2-3 days worth of work. This is not something you do the night before a convention!

NEXT PART: 03 WINGS

Propworks: Cardcaptor Sakura Wand Tutorial - Part 01 Getting Started

While wearing my Cardcaptor Sakura costume at the convention, I had a lot of people ask, "how did you make that wand?" so I figured that it would be a good time to write up a tutorial!

This tutorial will be in multiple parts to provide the detail I went through in making my wand so hopefully it will be helpful to other people! 

As always, if you make a wand using this tutorial LINK ME! I'd love to have pics of them in action!

*                  *                  *                  *                  *

CARDCAPTOR SAKURA CLOW WAND TUTORIAL




Photo by Bananzers

GETTING STARTED

As with all my cosplay and cosplay props, I don't just dive in on a wing and a prayer and hope they work! While fun and exciting, there's a chance you might ruin a lot of supplies and waste a lot of money, so let's take our time and plan this out first, eh?

The very FIRST thing I do when making any cosplay or cosplay prop, is to find solid references. The costume I was going to be making is the dress shown below:


CD Cover from a Songbook. LET'S GET OBSCURE!

As you can see in the picture, she doesn't actually have a wand, but a microphone (I'm thinking of making one of those for myself too....), but if you notice the microphone head is very reminiscent of her original Clow Wand - the one with the bird shaped head she has in the first half of the series. It was also my favorite wand, so it helped in deciding on an outfit.

I went searching the internet and came to the conclusion I like the shape of the Clow Wand in the manga images rather than the show (the anime's images were more rounded feathers and I liked the sleek semi-angular wing look).


Too many cute outfits here....


So once that was decided, I went searching for an image with her holding the wand, viewed from the side, in a not-chibi picture. This will be used to create a wand that will look in proportion to me, which I'll explain about in a moment!


Finding this picture was a lot harder than it looks....
PROPORTIONS

When I make props for myself for cosplay, I like to make them proportionally sized to my body. What this means is that when I'm holding my Clow Wand, I want to make sure I look like I'm the size of a kid, not a full-fledged adult!

I happen to be pretty tall in comparison to a lot of my cosplay partners and pals, so trying to pull off looking like a little kid is really difficult sometimes, thus making a wand that's sized to me is ideal for that illusion.

This part requires a little bit of technical know-how: I took the image you see above, and cut out around the wand with an image editing program like Photoshop. Then I took the cut out part, and placed it into Photoshop/Illustrator, measuring the hand's width and then increasing the size of the image to match that hand with my own hand's width. Once the image was blown up huge, I printed it out in pieces, and taped it together.

This gives me a good visual cue on how big pieces of my wand need to be!


I realized around this time, it's going to be comedically huge.

Unfortunately I can't really give a specific tutorial on this part, as everybody is sized differently - I'm approximately 5' 7", and my wand ended up being a little over 36" long if that helps? Also, it will depend on what type of image editing programs you have at your disposal. It's not necessarily an absolute requirement, but it's good to have either a print out or calculated measurements you want to use.

Now that I had a good judge on how big my wand was going to be, it's time to get supplies!

NEXT PART: 02 SUPPLIES