This piece measures 39 inches assembled. It disassembles into two pieces for ease of transport. The scepter is rotocast in urethane resin and weighs about 4 pounds.

The gem is cast in clear resin with blue tint and micropearl inclusions. It contains an embedded LED. Battery access is located under the top plate of the head assembly.

The silver toned pieces are created in cold cast aluminum resin. The gold tone is created using gold enamel. The piece was weathered using acrylic and enamel paints.

I’ll be posting part one of the step-by-step log of this piece’s creation, and will be completing the full length spear over the next few weeks.

I’m booked to the brim until the start of the new year on larger props and armor commissions, but I can still fit in a few jewelry commissions for which I still have the molds and materials on hand. If you’re looking for a gift for that game loving geek on your list, I have several pieces that I could whip up in time for the Holidays!

The list of pieces I can create in time for the holidays are as follows:

• Serah and Snow’s Engagement Pendant from FFXIII
• Snow’s NORA Necklace from FFXIII
• Lightning’s Necklace from FFXIII
• Serah’s Earrings from FFXIII
• Rosalina’s Earrings from Super Mario Galaxy
• Terra’s Necklace from FFXI/Dissidia

Interested? Just shoot me a line via my Commissions page, or directly at joy (at) joysutton.com! I can only guarantee shipping by Dec. 24th on orders placed before Dec. 16th, and there are only a handful of slots, so act early!

I’m opening up commission inquiries for delivery during the first half of 2013. However, I am going to be speaking a bit on the nature of my request schedule, pricing and quality of work.

Firstly, I am in the extraordinarily awesome position of having a higher demand for my work than I can fulfill. Since I now need a way to determine which commissions to take on, I’ll be taking a page from two other creators I greatly respect. Like Volpin and Blind Squirrel have done this year, I’ll be making decisions according to what I personally would like to create. The reasoning for this is that as a propmaker, I do my best work when I am genuinely invested in a project; whether it’s because I am a fan of the franchise it is from, love the object’s design or enjoy the process that goes into its creation. In the interest of matching my time and skills up with projects that match my own loves, I’ve put together a list of things that interest me and that I’d love to create from.

• Marvel Comics and Movies
• Skyrim/TES Games
• Fallout Games
• Mass Effect Games
• Terry Pratchett’s Discworld
• Deus Ex Games
• Borderlands Games
• Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit
• Batman Comics, Nolan-verse and Animated
• A Game of Thrones
• The Legend of Zelda
• Final Fantasy Games, Especially IV, VI, IX, XII, XIII
• Bubblegum Crisis Hardsuits
• Breath of Fire Games

Now, if what you need isn’t on that list, does that mean I won’t make it? No way! I’m always open to new things, and if something looks interesting, I will certainly consider it. All this list is for is to show how to ensure that you get my attention.

Another bit I want to mention is on the “How much is this gonna cost?” question. Volpin recently did an excellent writeup on the topic of cost in prop commissions. I will never be able to beat mass production prices or those eBay sellers out of Hong Kong. However, I will give you the fairest price I can and absolute control of the substance and direction of your commission.

Another question I get from time to time, after I have given a quote on price, is “Can you cut some corners/use cheaper materials/have less detail to make it cheaper?” This is a very sticky question for me. Now, I costume myself, so I know all about how expensive the hobby can be, and understand how troubling it can be for just one part of a costume to take a large chunk out of the budget. I can sympathize with having a limited budget, as I always work on my own things on a shoestring budget, which is what lead me to learn how to make things myself in order to save money. However, when I put my name onto a commission, my name and reputation is now tied to that piece. If it breaks, if the paint job is less than perfect, if the details are fudged, it reflects upon my skill. While the client and I may know that the details were fudged to keep the piece within the client’s budget, and that we didn’t go with the better paint job at the request of the client, the casual viewer will see a sub-par paint job and muddy, inaccurate details. That will color their opinion on the prop’s creator and ultimately hurt my reputation. The only way I want to send props out for other costumers is if they are the best quality I could create at the time. Know that when I quote a price, it is the fairest price I can give for the quality my conscience requires and very rarely will I be able to re-quote a price lower than I originally gave. I will be spending dozens if not hundreds of hours on a piece for you, and I want to be able to look back at the end and know it was the finest work I could give.

I want to thank everyone reading this for following my work of the last year, and especially thank those who have trusted me to bring a piece of their costume to life. I hope to continue to create awesome, nerdy things in the coming year! If you’ve got something you need made, please swing on over to my Commissions Page and drop me a line!

Lots of folks in the costuming community make use of EVA foam (foamies, craft foam, yoga mats, ect. Proper name Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate foam) to make armor, props, jewelry and all sorts of bits for their costumes. I’ve seen everything from angel wings to N7 armor to LOTR armor made from the stuff. It’s economical, easy to cut, heat formable and very lightweight. However, I’ve found that it’s a real pain to paint, and the finish will never really be smooth enough to pass for high gloss plastic or metal (though careful weathering can help trick the eye in the case of metal).

The solution? Build the structures you need in EVA foam, and cover the foam in stretch pvc fabric!

Vinyl fabric is very durable, resists just about anything you throw at it (only second to wig fiber in chemical resistance in the costuming world) and comes in a decent variety of colors nowadays. I get mine from primarily spandex vendors, so the fabric itself is 2 or 4 way stretch spandex with a thin, flexible layer of pvc. There are even passable gold and silver pvc spandex fabrics available; I have used both, silver in Ed’s Automail, and Gold for a few recent comic commissions, work fine for non-weathered metallics. I personally get my fabrics from Spandex World (free swatches!) but friends also swear by Spandex House. I should also note that this method will work with any stretch fabric coating on the foam, so don’t be afraid to try it with other types of spandex and knits.

So, without further ado, on to how this is done.

You’ll Need:

• Foam! I prefer to use 3mm thickness craft foam in complimentary colors to the finished piece, but under an opaque covering it doesn’t matter what color foam you use.
• Stretch Fabric. Stretch PVC, spandex, ect.
• Contact Cement. I use Super Glue Brand Contact cement, it comes in a yellow and purple tube, but any contact cement that lists vinyl or rubber as an acceptable surface will work.
• Cotton Swabs, lots of cotton swabs.
• Fabric scissors.
• Hobby blade or scissors for the EVA foam. I prefer using a hobby blade as it doesn’t crush the cut edge like scissors, which gives a better bonding edge to work with.

First, you’ll need to cut your EVA foam into the shapes you’ll need. In this tutorial, I am constructing the backpack for my client’s Megaman  costume. Once you have your foam pieces cut out, take the time to make sure they fit properly, as this is  the last time you’ll want to cut the base forms at all. They need to be exactly what you need before applying the fabric. Once you have your foam pieces, lay them out onto the back side of your fabric, with the foam piece’s back side facing you. Now, cut out your fabric with some extra to work with on the outside. I usually leave anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 an inch extra when I work with 3mm foam, for thicker foam, leave more fabric.

Next, cover your workspace with something you don’t care too much about. If you are working on a wooden table with varnish, cover it up! The contact cement’s fumes will melt varnish (trust me, I now have a bit on our dining table to resurface). Now, you’ll want a bit of scrap card or paper to put under your tube of contact cement (this stuff is messy coming out) and your cotton swabs to apply it with.I also recommend keeping a very clean workspace here, this stuff has the potential to get messy

Now, keeping your EVA foam from moving around on the fabric, start applying the contact cement, via cotton swab, to the cut edge of the EVA foam and on the fabric next to it. With a little practice, you can do the two at the same time. You’ll want to make sure the cement doesn’t get under the EVA foam and onto what will be the “face” of the piece, as the cement can make the vinyl warp and you’ll end up with ripples and wrinkles. I usually use one hand to hold the foam in place and one to apply the cement.

Now, the piece needs to have 3-5 minutes to set up. Contact cement will stick if you just put the two surfaces together immediately, but not very well. You leave the cement exposed to air until it becomes just tacky, then you can press the surfaces together and get a very tough bond. If you have a tight curve or sharp angle, now is the time to cut some slits in the fabric to allow proper give. I find you really only need them on inner curves and angles, but here are a few for demonstration purposes. Cut to within a hair of the foam edge.

Now, once notches are in where necessary, and the cement is tacky, you can fold the edge of the fabric up to touch the cut edge of the foam. The bond will be instant, so be careful as you go. I find the best way to do this is hold the foam down with one hand, and slide your finger underneath the fabric edge, pressing against the foam through the fabric. Try to not stretch the fabric as you do this as well, or the final piece may end up with wrinkles.

After you bond the edges, give them a few more minutes to fully set up before dealing with the excess fabric. Use a nice, sharp set of scissors for the best results. You’ll want to angle your scissors so that one blade is resting on top of the back of the foam, parallel. Trim off the excess fabric, getting as close to the foam as possible without shearing bits of it off.

Continue all around the piece, and nip off any folds of fabric from corners. You should end up with a very neat back edge:

Now flip over your piece, and check that the front is nice and smooth.

Shiny! And it can do this:

Bendy! This stuff can be bent, twisted and crushed to a reasonable degree and will return to its form easily while still staying shiny and smooth. Now, repeat this process for all of your pieces and assemble as you see fit. I personally like building an inner structure out of more foam to attach the pieces to. You -can- bond the surface of the vinyl to the eva foam backing of your pieces, but it is not as strong as bonding foam to backing fabric or foam to foam. To bond the foam to foam, you can use contact cement again, or, since it won’t show anyways, hot glue. I don’t prefer hot glue in places where it might seep out or warp materials, but in places no one will see anyways, well, it’s certainly quicker than the cement.

Here you can see the support structure I made for the backpack and all of the associated pieces I have skinned in vinyl. Admittedly, black EVA foam may not have been the best for a photo tutorial.

And here we have all of the pieces assembled together. Weighs about 3 ounces!

Hopefully this will be helpful to folks wanting an inexpensive and flexible option for high gloss armors. Please feel free to post any question in the comments section!

This piece was created in Smooth-On 321 resin with brown so-strong pigment and goldfinger casting powder. This was done for a fabulous costumer who won best journeyman in one of the cosplay contests at Anime USA for her Priestess Miaka costume from Fushigi Yuugi!