The Warhammer of Zillyhoo Costume Prop

-this project is about the creation of props for cosplays using recycled materials, taking as inspiration and theme for this project about "homestuck" a  webcomic and a unique and massive internet-based narrative work consisting of comics, chat logs, gifs, games, animation, and music, produced by Andrew Hussie on his website formerly called MS Paint Adventures (MSPA). I decided to do this project since my sister likes to do this kind of crafts and being more specific about this project, so it will be an early Christmas present hehe.In this project the focus is specifically on an item from that comic called "the warhammer of zillyhoo".  The Warhammer of Zillyhoo is a legendary weapon that appears in multiple adventures in the webcomic.

To better understand how to do the hammer, I made some drawings about dimensions and conditions to do. You can download the pics down there.

1. The blue box was made as the first one, so first the measures of its faces are marked on the selected cardboard. You can use any cardboard box as long as it is single ply and has hardness. 
2. Mark the measurements of the box with a ruler for accuracy.
3. Cut out all the pieces using a ruler and a cutter of your choice.
4. To have a better support when gluing the pieces together, we made some small cuts on the edge of the two large sides of each box, this will also help us to guide us on how to join them together
5. To have a better order, we mark with letters or numbers each s ide of the square to locate each side.
6. Glue the pieces with their respective sides with white glue and with the help of masking tape and leaning on a wall that does not contain tiles on the edges of the wall.

What we do here is to reload the side to be glued with some of the large faces with the help of the wall to maintain an angle of 90 degrees and this is the best possible glued and wait for the glue to dry completely.

With the help of a cutter or knife, we cut the excess of the boxes if necessary.

These steps are repeated with all the boxes to be made, only changing to their measures respectively.

Now it's time to give life to our boxes :))

1. then follow the steps to paint the pieces, taking as a reference the following images
2. We mark the shapes that need to be painted with the help of a ruler and with the masking tape we place them. With the help of a cutter or smaller knife we make clean cuts to have a better finish when covering it with paint.
3. We place on the ground a plastic bag or tarp to protect the ground and not to crush the surrounding area.
4. We take the sponge brushes and start painting the boxes with their respective colors.
5. with the help of a brush or smaller brush, touch up the paint in the corners.
6. We wait for them to dry and remove with the help of the cutter or small tweezers the strips of tape previously placed.
7. then trace the Z shown in the yellow box in such a way that it is centered.
8. with a black sharpie we mark the drawn areas and with an eraser we clean the excess strokes.

Repeat these two steps depending on the amount of details and colors you require in the piece.

One of the requirements of the piece is that it should be removable for easier storage, so how can we put everything together without having to glue it directly?

1. The blue cube, we mark the space where the next box will go, in this case the red one.
2. we cut 4 strips of velcro of 1.5plg and separate the sides, leaving two groups so to speak, side A and side B to differentiate it better at the time of gluing them to the boxes
3. take side A (you can assign the sides as you prefer) and glue it on the corners of the marked area with the help of hot silicone
4. let it cool down and stick it completely to the surface
5. take the next box and glue on the corners.

Repeat these steps until the 4 boxes are joined together and that's it! the first part of our hammer is done!

The next step is to make the handle with its grip.

1. We take a large roll of cardboard (the length is up to you) and taking advantage of the fact that it already has a spiral, we divide it in order to have two symmetrical spirals (the distance between one spiral and the other depends on the thickness of the tube). 
2. with the help of maskin tape we mark the drawn line so as not to stain the other side when painting.
3. with a sponge we paint one of the sides and let it dry.
4. remove the piece of masking tape and paint the missing side.
5. on the yellow box, join the corners with a pencil to find the center and mark the diameter of the tube.
6. cut the circle and fit the box with the tube until it meets the other end.

now with the handle, we used two rolls of toilet paper as it is what we had at the time in which the previous tube could enter the other (if you have a more resistant tube that meets this requirement would be much better :) ) 

1. join the two rolls of paper with silicone and let it dry as in the previous tube.
2. as in the previous tube, we divide in half the division that you already have available 
3. We take a sheet of fomi of the colors you require and cut the thickness of the spirals previously traced.
4. with the help of silicone glue the cut strips and let them dry.
5. with a piece of yellow fomi form a square (the base of the handle) and fit a bit of the paper roll to adapt its shape.
6. let it dry and glue it with a little hot silicone and that's it! second part done!

The last part can be the most tedious and difficult but I promise you it will be worth the result :)) 

1. For the ball part I used a 6plg unicel ball or by the numbers they sell them #10 but you can use the size you like the most aesthetically.
2. clean the surface with a damp cloth ( very little) 
3. We take the pink moldable fomi and knead very little just to finish matching the color ( as the ball is somewhat large, you will require a whole package).
4. the moldable fomi dries very fast either by the air or by kneading/using it for a long time so you must be very fast and careful in these steps.
5. with the help of a rolling pin, a plastic tube or whatever you have at hand, flatten it as much as you can but without leaving it too thin
6. remove it from the surface and wrap the ball in it (this step is very similar as if you were working with fondant).
7. to flatten as even as possible the surface you can use the same roller or a spoon to smooth it (taking advantage that it is still wet enough), but you must be very careful not to do it too much because the material will start to tear and could break.
8. there will come a point where we can not do more to even it out and it may not even look of very good quality, but nothing that can not be fixed.
9. we let the fomi dry completely
10. with a 240 sandpaper gently pass the ball on it, and you will see how little by little the protuberances will be eliminated (ALWAYS USE COVERS IN THIS TYPE OF ACTIVITIES).
11. once all sanded and even, we clean with a cloth the remains of dust. 
12. With the help of a pencil we trace how we want the happy face to look like 
13. and with acrylic paint (or if you have sharpie of the colors to be used) we paint the tracing

and that's it!!! pink ball ready 

For the rainbow we use the foamular, you dont need that much but this is the one what you could find on the market

1. the length of the rainbow with the ball is 12plg, so we mark 8 circles of different sizes, from 3 1/4 plg, 3plg, 2 3/4 plg, 2 2 3/4 plg, 2 2/4 plg, 2 1/4 plg , 2 plg , 1 3/4 plg , 2 2 2/4plg; so that when it is time to cut them it will be easier to assimilate the size of the other one.
2. cut the 8 marked circles
3. with the help of white glue we join the cut circles from largest to smallest.
4. now we can give the shape of the rainbow.
5. with the help of a cutter and sandpaper 60 (or as coarse as you can find) we proceed to shape it little by little, but carefully because you can detach some of the circles and that can cause problems later on.
6. with the help of a pencil we mark the rays of the rainbow 
7. and with the help of the same sandpaper we proceed to give them the depth they have to give the 3D appearance.
8. once finished with the shape, we smear 2 to 3 thick layers of white glue to seal the pores of the foam.
9. let the piece dry completely
10. take the previously placed black ball (or use a completely new one) and go to a well ventilated area or outdoors as we will be working with bondo
11. put on latex gloves (you can use dishwashing gloves), a mask and protective goggles as the smell of bondo is very strong.
12. open the can of bondo with the help of a screwdriver and stir the contents completely.
13. with the help of a spatula (it can be a card that no longer serves as a credit card or pantry) we take a quarter of it and place it in a flat container that you will not use again that is not this type of project (it can be an old plastic lid) and close the large bondo can.
14. take the catalyst and put 20% of what you get to take from the can (you will have to calculate by the score depending on the amount you get to use) and stir both parts.

we must be very careful in that step because if we exceed the amount of catalyst the paste will get to harden too soon and we will not have much time to handle, and if we put less than indicated it will never harden.

1. with the same spatula (or card) we proceed to mud from the mixture to the piece, so that if we get to have unwanted holes or perforations, the same bond will cover it .you can use other tools to place you on the details like a wooden stick
2. coated with two layers, but always leaving the surface so badly flat and without imperfections (the bottom is very difficult to sand)
3. we let the piece dry completely
4. with the help of a 60 (or thicker) sand as much as you can, getting to have an even and smooth surface
5. clean the dust with the help of a handkerchief
6. and proceed to paint it
7. let the piece dry
8. marked where I would place the ball with the help of a sharpie
9. take a drill or whatever it is that can help you drill and make holes the size of the wooden tarugo
10. test if they fit perfectly and cut to the extent you want
11. drew a sharp edge at one end and sticks to the base
12. in the same way, you mark the place where you place the tarugos to the ball and the perforations are carried out
13. We fit the ball and ready!! Last part done

as last, we mark on the last side of the box where the rainbow will be located

make a cut so that it can fit well

take pieces of pink foam from previous steps

and bond them with hot silicone

stick the buckets inside the yellow box

mark where the perforations will go from the base to the box

make the holes for the tarugos

and as in previous steps, the tarugos are cut off and a sharp edge is drawn to one side

stick on the other side of the tarugo to the rainbow

and fit with the foam tarugs glued to the yellow box

and ready!!! your hammer is already finish!!!!