As a graphic designer (and self proclaimed *Ar-teest*) I hope it comes as no surprise that I enjoy making costumes and props. I confess haven’t had nearly as much time in the past year to devote to them as I would like, but hey, a gal’s got to start somewhere!
**Update!** The Axe was completed in April 2015! View my updated build info here.
I thought it would be wise to start cataloguing my “slow and steady” cosplay adventures, starting with my newest endeavor – the Rueful Axe from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
This weapon comes from the quest “A Daedra’s Best Friend,” which can end with you choosing either The Rueful Axe or The Mask of Clavicus Vile as your reward. Typically I play a Khajiit and feel the Daedric Artifact would be much better suited for that particular play style – but I’ve got to think in this case, “What Would True Nords Do?” The answer is – keep that powerful axe of course!
I started with 2 squares of rigid insulation foam, and glued those together to get a nice, square starting point. From there I worked up my template in Illustrator, and once complete, scaled it up to the appropriate size I knew I had to work with.
To mark my path, I used the same method you might use when carving a pumpkin – Poke lots of dots!
Once my arm was thoroughly exhausted, it was time to start carving out the shape.
Sort of looks like an axe now, eh? It was at t his point I realized I probably should have marked all of the lines – not just the outside! Lesson learned for next time. I just realigned my paper and began making more dots for the wolf head shapes.
Time to clean up those edges. This foam is a little bit fickle – so I used a 100 grit paper and went very lightly to avoid breaking off any big chunks.
Some close ups on the first side for you:
Sweet! Now to do it all over again. First stages of the opposite side:
First side with the major bits finished:
More to come as I make headway!
I already posted the final product of my Ancient Nord Armor (you can see it here), which the axe will be going with. I plan to also make a additional posts on how I made each part of the costume.
Thanks fellow citizens of Tamriel. Vah Su’um Ven.