Colorado Keyblade
The Colorado Keyblade is an original design prop, inspired by the video game series Kingdom Hearts, that was created by Academy Co-Founder Chris Clarke. This tutorial shows you how the Keyblade was made.
The History of the Colorado Keyblade
Each element of the Keyblade has significance, mainly to the state’s history. Colorado’s population began to boom in the 1850’s due to the Gold Rush. The largest region for gold was Pikes Peak, which rises high above Colorado Springs, so those seeking their riches would often use the phrase, “Pikes Peak or bust.” The introduction of trains made it easier to build towns, move people across the region, and transport rock and mineral. The Gold Rush is represented by multiple parts of the Keyblade: the pickaxe, which was a common tool used to mine gold, the rock with gold ore veins, the solid gold pillar with the phrase, “Pikes Peak or bust,” and the train tracks leading from the bottom to the top. The dinosaur bones are that of the Stegosaurus, the state dinosaur, which was first discovered in Morrison, Colorado (home of Red Rocks Amphitheater) as a result of what was called the “Bone Wars,” which was mainly a race between two wealthy paleontologists to discover new fossils during the late 1800’s. The mountain that sits on top of the pickaxe is Longs Peak, a 14er (who's summit is above 14,000 ft above sea level) that dominates the mountain range from the view from the Front Range. The middle pillar is an Aspen tree, a common tree found in the Rocky Mountains, and the left pillar represents the mountains themselves, from a lush green base, turning to rock, then covered with snow at the top. The flower is the Columbine, the state flower, and one of the more beautiful flowers commonly found growing in the mountains. The keychain of course is the state flag, and this particular keychain was acquired at the Alpine Visitor Center near the top of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Step one to creating a prop is a source, or some kind of image. As this is an original design, it had to be drawn. This is the concept art I created that would be transformed into a prop.
The concept art was copied and expanded to the size I wanted it to be so I could get lengths and proportions correct. When building the keyblade, a core must be made. This serves as the bones of the keyblade. Without a core, it will not be sturdy and will never last. The core was made out of PVC pipes. As the concept included three pillars instead of the typical one, they had to be attached somehow. Holes were drilled through the pipes at the area where the guard will be, and spare pieces of carbon practice arrows were inserted and hot glued in place. You can use any strong material you like; steel bolts are a popular choice. The three pipes were then wrapped with 2mm TNT Cosplay Supply EVA foam, which was glued on with contact cement. You will also need something sturdy to hold the pipes together at the top. For this Keyblade, I used pieces of thin plexiglass. Finally, a PVC plug was attached to the bottom end of the center pipe and a loop screwed into that. To help get the angle of the top of the pipes correct, you can cut them at this point.
When wrapping pipes with foam, you'll want to smooth out the seams. Make sure your foam overlaps onto itself rather than trying to glue them perfectly together from the start. Take some sanding sticks, which are simply sandpaper glued to paint mixing sticks, and sand down the excess foam, starting at 80 grit, then 120, 220, 320, and then 400. Then heat seal with your heat gun to get rid of any fizzies and pretty it up a bit.
This picture shows three new pieces; The hilt, the guard, and Longs Peak.
Step one is the guard. Roughly cut out the entire guard in one piece with thick EVA foam. If you don't have foam thick enough, you can glue multiple layers together. Then take a Dremel and carve the guard into the desired shape with a sanding drum attachment. In this case is the head of a pickaxe. Once carved, smooth a grinding stone bit and high grit sandpaper, followed by heat seal with your heat gun. Finally, cut the guard in half and carve out a semicircle from each piece so that you can then glue each half back together around the center pipe.
Step two is the handle. Wrap it with 2mm foam right up to the bottom of the guard just as you did the three main pillars. Then take a strip of foam and glue to the top of the handle under the guard. This will cover up any space between the guard and handle wrap. Repeat this step with a wider piece of foam for the bottom of the handle.
Step three is the Longs Peak. To create this, you need EVA Foam clay. Simply create the mountain around the pillars, right on top of the guard. Let dry for a couple days.
Next is the Stegosaurus spine that serves as half of the handle guard. This is made out of Foam clay as well. The spine will need structural support as the foam clay will sag under its own weight, even though its very light. I ended up using a stick made out of Worbla as well as a bunch of hot glue, which you'll see in the next picture. When complete, glue the the Keyblade with contact cement. I added the hot glue support after it was attached.
The Columbine serves as the head of the Keyblade. This is made start to finish before it is permanently attached to the pillars. Each petal is cut out individually and rounded with a sanding drum on a Dremel. The large petals are 6mm foam and the smaller petals are 4mm. To shape the smaller petals, apply heat with your heat gun, bend and hold in shape. Glue the five large petals together on a round or square piece of foam, then the small petals together. Do not glue the small flower to the top of the big one yet; that will be the very last thing you do.
Finally, you need to construct the other half of the lower handle guard, which is made to look like rock. Cut out a thick piece of EVA foam roughly to shape (or layer multiple thinner layers). Roughly carve to shape with a Dremel, adding imperfections, rough spots, bumps, etc. with your sanding drum and carving stone bits. Heat seal and glue the the Keyblade.
Contruction is complete! Next, you need to protect it by sealing it. The gold standard is Plasti Dip, a rubberized spray coating. Take your can, put it in a hot water bath for about 10 minutes (a filled sink is sufficient), then spray a few coats on all parts. Let cure for 4 hours.
Next up is painting. Use acrylics and you can hand paint or use an airbrush. I hand painted this whole project. The white blended into the purple on the flower is by using a technique called dry-brushing. Once the two flowers are painted, you can now glue them together. Again, do not glue the whole Columbine to the Keyblade yet.
Continue painting. The texture on the right pillar is done by blotting different colors of paint on with a paper towel. The 3D texture of the snow was done with a thick PVA glue (Elmers, wood glue). The one I specifically used was Styrogoo from Hot Wire Foam Factory, which is clear and extra thick.
For the right lower handle guard, the same paper towel technique was used, followed by painting on Tamiya Gold Leaf acrylic with a fine brush. The Stegosaurus spine was painted brown then blackwashed to add depth. To blackwash, simply cover it with watered down black paint and wipe away with a paper towel.
The yellow bits in the center of the flower is nothing more than straight pins painted yellow that are super glued in (to make sure they stay in).
Longs Peak was a bit more tricky to paint and was done by, rather amateurally, watchin some Bob Ross and YouTube videos on landscape painting techniques, and just going for it. The train tracks were bought from a hobby store that sold model trains. It was hot glued at the bottom, a couple spots on the back of the pillars, and at the top. The Columbine is finally glued onto the Keyblade with hot glue at various point. Attach the Colorado flag keychain to the pommel and you're done!
