To go with my Princess Garnet/Dagger costume I made Whale Whisker, her final/ultimate weapon in Final Fantasy IX. Here’s a basic guide to how I went about it for anyone looking to make it themselves, or something similar.
1) Created a to-scale draft. I had the wooden pole I wanted to use as a base, and used its width to start my paper design. I carefully measured and drew out the rod head and bottom “fishtail.” I only drew out one half of both ends so when I transferred them onto tracing paper, I would flip the paper making both sides symmetrical.
2) After tracing out the designs unto transparent paper, I carefully cut them out and used this to trace the shapes unto my foam (as thick as my base pole). I traced and cut out about three different versions of the pattern (the whole piece, the outside border, and the “whiskers”).
3) Using a handsaw, I slowly cut the foam to shape, sawing at different angles to get into the curvier edges.
4) With some sandpaper I made the edges smooth for both the head piece and end fishtail (not pictured).
5) Double checked it was to scale with the pole. I don’t have photos, but I reinforced the attachment by sticking a nail in the pole that poked through into the head piece.
6 & 7) Using my transparent paper pattern and craft foam (white is a little thicker than the blue), I cut out and glued the border and “whiskers” unto the base foam.
8) I traced and cut out each piece out of WonderFlex (a thermoplastic, Worbla is another option) and carefully applied and sealed it over my foam with a heat gun. WonderFlex fuses to itself, so the edges came easily together (but be careful not to melt your foam base!). The longest strip was the sides of the head piece, which took the most careful maneuvering. In between the whiskers I sealed the foam with two layers of gesso instead to keep the depth. I lightly sanded the Wonderflex afterwards.
9) For the caps of the rod I ended up using floral foam from a craft shop, cut it to shape, and also covered them with Wonderflex.
10) Painting! For the head piece I used plastic bags and painter’s tape to section off specific sections and spray painted as desired. The rest of the pieces were spray painted separately and the rod was glued and sealed together with foam-friendly glue.
And there you have it! Remember that props made with thermoplastic should be stored in room/cool temperatures at all times.
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