Guild Wars 2- Plushie Quaggan backpack

I had the opportunity to get creative with myself when figuring what to give my girlfriend as a graduation present. I ended up deciding to make a plushie quaggan:

Picture is not mine

I have no progress photos because I was kinda in a hurry. But to get technical, the plushie's mostly made of polarfleece, with the tummy and paws made of wool. Mostly the stitching is machine made, but the white stitching is all handmade. I had a fun time with the patterning, as the last time I ever made patterns was almost five years ago. But I'm learning, and sewing is fun. As of now, it cannot be mounted to a person's back, but that will be a later upgrade.

That being said, here are the finished photos:

No quaggans were harmed in the making of this plushie.

The stitching, while rough, is robust. Made to look like it's been well-worn and loved.

The spots on the back are just pieces of darker blue polarfleece sewn on.

...And sitting on his mommy's lap. She liked him very much.


So yes, I don't make only swords and guns. Sometimes I make soft, cute amphibians.

Tools used:
-scissors
-sewing machine
-needle&thread
-marker

Mistletainn chainsaw

Rumors concerning my death have been highly exaggerated.

I was commisioned to build the Mistletainn chainsaw from Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka.

Due to all kinds of delays from my studies and whatnot, this sat on my workbench for far too long.

I began by building the chainsaw chassis from floor paneling(Essentially MDF, just with textured flats. I used the flat, slightly pebbled texture for the outside, with the "wood" side pointing inwards)

The top of the box had four vents grinded onto it.

The blade guide bar was made from two halves of the same paneling.

The guide bar housing was made from three layers of the very same paneling.

The knockback guard was made from yet another piece of floor paneling, and a wooden piece for the mounting arm. Pictured in semi-assembled state.

The slot on the guard was also milled with a grinding bit on a drill press. Artsy.
(I can in no way suggest this to anyone, at least on my drill, the chuck kept dropping from it's housing due to the vibrations. I managed to do all the milling on this project this way mainly because I was going very, VERY slowly.)

A piece of sheet metal was cut&bent to be a decorative piece on the grip.

The grip itself was made from laminating two pieces of wood together, and secured to the chassis with screws, ensuring that it'll stay there. Trigger and safety catch were made from pieces of plywood, and are static. The white stuff on the bottom is wood filler, used to fill the wood grains on the floor paneling.

Guide bar attached to th chassis. First time picturing how damn huge this thing will be.

Th guide bar has an illuminted text on it, and the way I decided to do this was to build a recessed light box on the guide bar, cover it with laminated pink paper, and attach a thin cardboard side panel with the text cut out of it. I printed the text on paper, cut out the text and traced the shape onto the cardboard side panel.

With the letters cut out, mocked upon the light box on the guide bar.

Mock-up of the effect.

The pullcord housing was a major PITA* for a long time. In the end, I made it by sculpting the shape out of insulation foam and skinning it with cardboard.

I decided to line the reflector box in the guide bar with aluminum foil to maximise the brightness of the lit text. Black things are latex tape used to insulte the circuit from the conductive aluminum.

The wiring was going through a routed channel in the guide bar, and through a hole inside the chassis, were the batteries and power switch reside. (4 bright white LEDs powered with 2x 9V battery, if anyone's interested. there's a resistor in between there, but  I forgot it's details (and am too lazy to calculate)

Detail parts attached around the handle. Above the root of the handle is where the power switch resides.(still dangling free though)

The front carrying handle was made out of 32mm sewer piping. With the time&budget constraints, I didn't figure any other smart and/or more accurate ways to do this, unfortunately.

Next thing to do was paint. (the side panel on the guide box still mocked in place)





























I snatched a real chainsaw pullcord knob from a dead chainsaw and screwed it into place (static aswell)

Detail pieces around the back, painted aswell. Also pictured is the power switch for the lights on it's final place.

The vent holes were backed with cardboard and picked out with black acrylic paint.

The high-tech way I figured for gluing the gudie bar side panel into place. Just apply weight!

The chainsaw's "blade" was made by gluing on a bike-chain style chain(I pulled tihs off an old photograph printing machine).

...And finally finished. These pictures were taken literally 20 minutes before the train to the con where I delivered this to the client left. (hence a little blurry)

Detail shot from the front.

And a final picture of the painted handle.



Tools used:
-bandsaw
-disksander
-glue(cyanoacrylate, two-part epoxy, hot glue, PVA-glue)
-sandpaper of various grits
-drill press
-x-acto
-soldering iron
-wood filler
-paints
-files
-various drill&grinding bits
-router

Thanks for reading!

*Pain In The Ass
 

Longknife

Rougly a year and a half ago, I was preparing for a convention. I was going as my original character, and I have a tendency to add something little to it each time I wear it someplace. I drew a picture of a long knife, with a bayonet-esque blade, yet with the certain cobbled-together-feel. I never got around making the knife, as I was on a tight schedule back then. About a week ago, I decided that itis time.

 

I googled for knives similar to my drawing, and added little elements from them into my design(Namely the arabic Bichaq and Karud knives).

 

I drew the shape on a thin pine plank, and sawed it first to lenght, then to shape.

 

The blade profile was planed, and refined with disksander, dremel, and finally by hand. The blade was primered at this stage too.

Thinner pieces of pine were used to build the "crossguard".

 

I wanted the handle to have organic and natural look, so I sawed myself a suitable lenght of rowan in suitable thickness. Why rowan? I wanted to use something more expensive-looking wood to implicate,that although crudely handcrafted, this was a weapon of significance. Also, because I happend to have it.

 

The grip was stripped of bark and stained to a deep walnut color, and later waxed to seal the stain.

Also, a hole was drilled inside the grip to attach the blade into it.

 

At this point, while tring toseparate the grip from the blade, I managed to shatter the blade. So, I had to remake it.

 

The process was the exact same. In picture is also the original drawing I made.

 

Makin' dust.

 

Back where I was, sans the primer. The blade breaking was almost a good thing, as I was able to refine the blade even further when remaking it.

 

Some more pine was used to make a scabbard for the blade.

 

The blade sits snugly inside, with a little play, sothat the fit would be tight once I glued a felt-fabric inside th scabbard to protect the blade

 

Before that, small slots were chiseled to the scabbard's throat to accommodate the decorative pieces at the base of the blade.

 

With the felt glued in.

 

After that, the scabbard was glued together, and planed thinner. I gave it a gentle taper towards the chape.

 

The chape and locket were heat-formed out of thick ABS plastic. A little too thick, in retrospect. The shaping was left a little rought, as if the pieces would ahve been forged. (Also, because I grew tired of burning my fingers)

 

The new blade primered, sanded, and finally painted in silver. The scabbard was also stained in walnut, and sealed with a mixture of beewax and wood oil.

 

The chape and locket were also painted silver, pictured in the middle stage of weathering process.

Again, I the painting and weathering porcess went in the flow, and I forgot to take pictures along it.

 

The finished scabbard, with faux rust painted to the chape an locket.

 

...And the finished blade. The blade itself was also painted with faux rust.

 

Here also pictured the decorative iece on the blade.

 

Fits into the scabbar like so. The grip was wrapped witha piece of bedsheet given the approppriate weathering and dirt. That's genuine blood there, the prop-gods demand their sacrifice every now and then =)

 

A picture showing the rust accents on the chape.

 

Picture showing hte weathering at the blade's base. I found a picture of a bayonet with two rivets on the crossguard, so I decided to add similar ones to my knife too.

 

Final shot with the blade and scabbard side to side.

 

 

 

 

 

Tools used:

-pencil

-brain

-bandsaw

-discsander

-various gritted sandpaper

-diamond sponges

-wood filler

-drill press

-wood plane

-knife

-PVA glue

-superglue

-patience

-dremel

-heat gun

-brush&paints

 

Thanks for reading!