Nendoroid Dance Pole

Has your Nendoroid ever needed to dance at a pole while drunk at a banquet? Well, this is the tutorial for you!

Materials:

• 1/8" dowel rod
• 2" wooden circle
• Silver craft paint
• Wood glue
• Modge podge

I purchased all of the above at Michaels and JoAnn's.

Tools:

• Sandpaper
• Paint brushes
• Power drill
• 1/8" drill bit

First, decide how tall you want your pole to be! My Yuuri nendo is 3.75 inches tall and Yuuri the character is 173 cm tall. Google told me that dance poles are about 8-10 feet, so I went with 10 feet and scaled accordingly, which is 6.6 inches or 16.7 cm.

Mark the length on the dowel. Since the dowel is so thin, you can just cut it with scissors. Check the height to make sure you like it!

I'm using a 2" wooden circle as the base. In order to mark the middle, I sketched a template in Inkscape of a 2" circle with a 1/8" cutout in the middle. I printed the pattern, poked out the middle, and traced onto the wooden circle. I've attached a PDF so you can print it out as well as the original Inkscape file in case you need to modify it.

Once you've marked the center of the circle, pop the 1/8" drill bit into your drill and drill a hole into the base. Don't go all the way through, but go deep enough that the base grips onto the dowel when you insert it into the hole.

I used wood fusion glue, which I haven't used before. It seemed kind of gloppy in the bottle, and I couldn't get it to squeeze out from the tip, so I just opened up the bottle and dipped the rough end of the dowel in. Next, pop it back in the base. Try to make sure it's at a right angle. (I did not quite get this right.) Let the glue dry - it only takes a few minutes.

I painted the whole thing silver, but you can paint it however you like. I found that a paintbrush worked best for the dowel and the outside edge of the base, and a sponge worked for the top of the base. I did one coat, let it dry, and then did a second coat.

Use modge podge to seal to make it nice and smooth and shiny. I did one coat, let it dry, and then did a second coat. Again, use the brush for the dowel and the outside edge, and the sponge for the top of the base.

Once the modge podge is dry, you're all finished! You and your nendo are ready to party.