so after a full day of drying, we move on to the next step. we decided from the beginning that 4 foam layers should be sufficient for us to make our weapons (giving us some leeway in case we make a mistake). in this step, we’re going to divide the glued foam boards in half and stack them again. (NOTE: this step may not apply to other props of different size and shape).

here’s how you cut it

first unsheathe your weapon. in this case, a cutco carving knife (don’t mind the slippers…)

next, ready your stance, steady your weapon, and take aim…

then drop the hammer on that giant wafer cookie! be sure to follow through..

and viola! if yours does not turn out the same way, study my form and sharpen your skills to correct the flaws in your technique….

… … … …

ok so the real way to do this is pretty much the same thing with less flare

measure the width of the foam and use a marker to mark the halfway point. do so until you’ve marked the halfway point at several areas of the board.

once you are finished marking the halfway points, line up the marks with any straight-edge and connect the dots!

once the line is drawn down the center of the foam, carefully cut into the foam. the foam does not cut like wood so it is rather difficult to “saw” into it. this step doesn’t need to be perfect especially if you know you will be using less foam than the entire foam block.

after the foam is cut, repeat the gluing steps from the last entry and this is what our soon-to-be guns look like

ah yes, i can see them now… so we’re letting them dry overnight and tomorrow we’ll start adding shape to our guns!

ok so now on to the making of our “one piece” weapons…

i’m going to try my best to document each step of this process so perhaps in the future this may benefit fellow cosplayers who would also like to create props for their own costumes. now let’s hope we succeed =/

first, since our foam boards are only 1.5 inches thick and most of the weapons featured in the anime are pretty bulky, we are going to have to combine them in layers. these are the foam boards as they sell them at home depot

gigi, who will be cosplaying as nico robin, decided we needed super strong glue so we went with gorilla glue (this can also be purchased from home depot). in my 6th grade wood shop class, i remember using only elmer’s glue and it worked just fine—in fact, the small shelf i built is still very sturdy even today =D

ed: according to maggie (tony tony chopper), elmer’s glue sucks. don’t use it!

depending on which adhesive you are using, follow the directions on the label. for the gorilla glue we needed to dampen one side of one foam board as you can see gigi is doing here with a wet sponge

on the other board, we spread one side completely with a thin layer of the gorilla glue. make sure you use latex gloves as gigi found out the hard way, the gorilla glue is gorilla strong! we spread the glue with our gloved hands until the entire side was covered like so

it is a bit hard to see because of the camera flash but the entire surface is covered in glue

now, all that’s left is to place the damp side of one foam to the glue-covered side of the other then press to make sure they adhere to one another

now we let it sit over night…

we decided to begin our cosplay projects a bit early this year; we usually wait until at least two weeks before Anime Expo but we have a whole month this time =)

we’ve tried documenting our work in the past but we didn’t exactly finish so here’s our second attempt! wish us luck!

our cosplay group this year is based on the anime, “One Piece,” but more specifically on the movie that recently released in japan titled, “Strong World.” today i’d like to share with you our making of the guns that each of our characters—luffy, robin, zoro, and chopper—possess in this movie as seen below

the list of items we bought in order to make these guns are as follows:

1. insulation foam (24”x48”x1.5”)
2. dust masks
3. goggles
4. latex gloves
5. sand paper/sanding blocks
6. heat gun
7. fiber glass sheets
8. gorilla glue (regular elmer’s glue is an easy substitute)

things we have yet to buy are:

1. foam coat
2. acrylic paint

i will post more as we move along so stay tuned!