Sometimes I just like to have fun making props to fill out the world. Here are some of the more fun ones, as well as some other items that I haven’t made full posts about.

🞂 Stein!

I’m particularly chuffed about this design because those dark grey bands around the sides aren’t just for decoration, they’re genuinely helping hold all those foam planks together. I went for a look reminiscent of a barrel by actually making it in the form of a barrel (although I know that’s not the best way to make a genuine wood stein). Eat your heart out, skeuomorphism enthusiasts.

Plus, the absurd level of ergonomic detail in the handle amuses me. It really is ludicrously comfortable to hold.

🞂 Leaf shield!

Leaf shield! A shield that’s a leaf! It’s based on a photo of a Monstera leaf (those plants really do grow like that).

The arm straps are along the stem, so that when you wear it, the point of the tip is at your wrist, pointing forward in the same direction your arm is pointing.

🞂 Nunchucks / Nunchaku

This one I made for fun, partly to call the bluff (or non-bluff?) of my world-building friend who said it would be possible to find a use for it in the game world somehow.

The chain might look industrial, but the chain links are all foam and the bit you hit people with is all open-cell, so although it swings very nicely its impact isn’t bad. Maybe it would be useful as a training tool for someone just starting out in a martial art with this type of weapon.

🞂 Flammenschwert / Zweihänder

It is almost exactly as tall as the person I made it for. “Zweihänder” (literally, two-hander) refers to this design of a long two-handed sword associated with the German Landsknechte, while “Flammenschwert” (literally, flame sword) refers to a blade with these curves all along it.

🞂 Blade fan

[being interviewed by the Realism Police]

Look, you’ve got to understand, it’s for a, a high-fantasy world, which means— no, not as in “high,” high fantasy is a literary term for— look, I know these were never used, I know tessenjutsu was historically only practiced with closed or solid iron tessen— yes, okay, I saw Kitana’s blade fan when I was designing it, but I swear I had the idea before then. Look, can I go, or— okay, yes, fine, I promise not to make any more.

Look how beautifully it folds and unfolds, though. Some serious geometry was required to get duct tape to behave like that.

🞂 Organic Rainbow Inlay

This was an interesting collaboration — I described the energy/vibe/concept of what I was going for, my sibling did a digital art of it, then I carved out the inlay from a subset of that art. This was originally made to decorate a fishing spear boffer. You can see the whole rectangle of the reflective prism crystalline material behind the carved layer of white duct tape, and it really does glitter in all different colors as it turns in motion.