Making of Myrtenaster

Charlotte Dunlop
Jul 30, 2017
2 min read

For MCM London I made myself a new myrtenaster for my season for Weiss cosplay.

Here is how i made my myrtenaster, I hope it helps you guys create your own :3

Photography by Lucy's Photography Wonderland

Step 1: I created a rough template to ensure the sizing for my myrtenaster was correct.

Step 2: I then traced the stencil onto a piece of MDF board that i got from Homebase. I the used a saw the cut the individual pieces free before using a jigsaw to cut the shapes out.

Step 3: After all the pieces were free I used a belt sander to sand all 4 of the blade sides that i needed.

WARNING: please be careful and wear safety equipment when using dangerous equipment. After everything was sanded, i decided to to sand the hilt piece to give it the shape it required, and it looked a lot better once i did.

Step 4: I found that making the hilt pieces out of MDF board would be a hassle, so i re-templated them onto 10mm foam and an extra rim piece out of 2mm foam.

NOTE: This foam was brought from Poly Props and I highly recommend them.

Step 5: I attached 2 of the hilt pieces onto my main sword piece with hot glue. This was so that i could work out what size the Styrofoam ball had to be for the middle chamber. Which was then cut and sanded into shape, as well as then being cut in half, dremelling the centre and gluing back together on the MDF sword piece.

NOTE: try to use contact adhesive or pva glue when gluing the two Styrofoam pieces back together, this is because hot glue will melt the Styrofoam.

Step 6: I then attached the remaining 2 hilt pieces. After that I made the chamber design out of 2mm foam and used pva to glue it onto the Styrofoam. After this dried I then used filler to seal all the seams, which made it look a lot neater in the finished product. I also used filler on the underneath of the chamber to make it smooth for painting. WARNING: Please don't forget to wear a dust mask when sanding filler as it can be hazardous to your health.

Step 7: The sword was then finally ready to be primed! I used PlastiDip since this gives me the best result and is super easy to paint over when it has dried. NOTE: Remember to read the instructions as it doesn't work like other spray cans do.

Step 8: I then sprayed it with 2 coats of silver before then using some acrylic paints to paint the crystal colours. I used 3 coats on the crystals to get the colour right.

Step 9: After this the only thing left to do was add the pattern onto the hilts. I used a fine sharpie to add this design, though there are many other methods out there to do this.

Step 10: COMPLETED

So I have made a total of 3 Myrtenaster's and I am most happy with this build! Never stop trying to improve yourself! We all start from the bottom and work our way up!