Polymer Clay Fan

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Sword

Posted by goregt On March - 18 - 2007

How to make a sword with Polymer Clay

Making swords and other weaponry can be an easy process and there are tons of different methods and materials that can be used for their creation. This tutorial focuses on one option that can be used to make a sword out of clay but it is by far not the only option that you have available to you. I personally find this method the easiest for me. The information below is designed to give you step-by-step instructions on how to easily make a sword out of polymer clay.

Tools Needed

  • Polymer Clay (Super Sculpey in my example)
  • Dremel
  • 91% Rubbing Alcohol
  • Aluminum foil


Making a sword tutorial


** This sculpture is created with Super Sculpey

The first step is to roll out your clay to the length that you want yours sword’s blade. Note: You will want to leave some thickness to the clay. Do no roll it out till it is paper thin.
Cutout the outline of your sword using a knife of some other type of tool
I cut a little notch at the end of my sword so that I have something to insert into the handleI then bake my sword’s blade in the oven for 15 minutes at 250 degrees. Let the clay cool for 30 minutes to an hour before moving onto the next step
Using a Dremel I sanded down the edges of my sword and rounded it off to get a basic look. The next step is to roll out individual pieces of clay that I will use to make the sword’s handle (in this example a cylinder, ball and small snake-like cylinder).
I attach all the individual pieces and rollout two more cylinders for the top of the handle
Blend the pieces together
I put a thin layer of Vaseline on the blade of the sword since it has already been baked. This will help the new clay stick to the baked clay.
I play with a few designs until I find something that I like and bulk up the blade of the sword.
After I get the basic design of my sword down I then use rubbing alcohol and a paint brush to smooth out the clay (a Q-tip could have also been used at this stage)
I want to add texture to my sword’s handle so I use wadded up aluminum foil to add to my design (similar example as in the rocky seascape tutorial)
And there is my finished sword ready to be baked again. Remember that the design needs to be added to both sides of the sword.

The entire process of making a sword with polymer clay is relatively easy and I used a very simple design for this example. The key is to take the steps I’ve shown above and expand on them. With a little practice, time and effort a really impressive sword could be created using the techniques above.

4 Responses to “Sword”

  1. Marina says:

    Good idea!

    🙂

  2. Angela says:

    Whoa! What an idea! I know a guy who sells swords, jewellery, and other items, and I think he’d definitely be interested in this project. Do you use metal clay, or just any type of polymer clay? Have you tried making chainmail and shields as well? And what about castles and catapults and ballista… Sorry, I’m a medieval weaponry nut. Can you tell? But this could be worth looking into.

  3. Gerald says:

    Hi Angela,

    I sculpted the sword in the tutorial with Super Sculpey (type of polymer clay). If you are looking at making little metal swords, shields, etc then what material you use to sculpt just depends on what you are comfortable with. You can make a mold of your sculpture and from there cast it in resin or some type of low melt metal. I personally haven’t cast any of my sculptures in any type of metal yet but I have created resin cast of many of my sculptures. Creating a mold is a little tricky and something I’ll have to build a tutorial on down the road.

    All the best,

    Gerald

  4. Daniel says:

    It’s interesting that you use vaseline to aid unbaked clay in sticking to the baked. I use Liquid Sculpey when I do it. I am self taught myself, and still learning, so I am very excited to have found your site. I’m new to your site, haven’t looked it completely over yet, but I am very, very impressed so far. I look forward to future postings. And thanks for creating this site!

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