How to Make a Viking Axe out of EVA Foam Perfect for your Assassins Creed Valhalla Cosplay

hey guys steve here at sks props today we’re making a cosplay safe viking axe welcome to our shop in our last video i showed you how to build a cosplay safe viking shield and in this video i want to show you how to build an axe to go along with it now once again this is made all out of my hd foam which you guys can find over at blick art materials online and in select stores because it is a foam fabrication it’s extremely light but most importantly it is completely con safe now just like the shield i have a template that you guys can download and you can build right along with this video i want to show you guys the steps that it takes to put this together we got a lot to do so let’s get started first thing to do is print out and tape together the viking axe template that i had made you guys can find a free download for this so you can build right along with the video once the template had been cut out it was transferred onto some 10 millimeter hd foam this was then copied and cut out two more times to give this ax some rigidity i’m going to be using a yard marker fiberglass rod the rod was marked to length and cut on the bandsaw i trace around the rod using a ballpoint pen and then cut out the channel using a blick utility knife once that section had been removed the rod could be inserted it is fairly important that the rod is pretty snug inside this piece to glue the three sections of 10 millimeter hd foam together i’ll be using contact cement a scrap piece of foam is used to apply the contact cement directly to the surface now with contact cement you want to make sure that is applied in a very thin manner you do not want it thick because it will have a hard time setting up i use a hair dryer to speed up the dry time and a small bit of super glue on the middle layer a pvc pipe is used as a rolling pin to make sure that the layers are firmly pressed together super glue is applied to the bottom and the fiberglass rod can be inserted additional contact cement is now applied to the top layer making sure that everything lines up just right the top layer is laid into place and the pvc rolling pin is used once again the template is used one more time just to make sure that everything is lined up perfect and then the entire piece is cut out on the bandsaw now we have a perfect block with a fiberglass core to start to refine the handle i take the piece over to my sanding station and use my belt sander now if you don’t have a belt sander that’s no problem you can still do this process with a knife and rotary tools once i have the general shape i switch over to a dremel rotary tool and start to slowly refine until i have the handle size that i want now in this process i’m using a medium grit sanding drum and you want to make sure that you’re not moving too quickly you want to move in a very slow deliberate process starting to give the handle that wood grain texture i’m pretty pleased with how everything looks so i take a sanding sponge and lightly buff the surface here you can see those small variations i was talking about that the sanding drum leaves on the surface moving on to the head of the axe i cut out my template and transfer that onto some 10 millimeter hd foam now i want this to be seamless in the back so i’m actually going to butterfly these together now for the axe head to sit properly part of the top of the handle needs to be removed and i do that using my dremel rotary tool so you can see how the head of the axe will wrap around this section to give it a seamless look i take the template over to my bandsaw and cut out one side of the axe head you could also do this as two separate parts contact cement is applied to both sides of the axe head along with a handle and a little bit of super glue starting at the back i press the handle into the foam of the axe head and then work my way around making sure that i’ve got enough foam for it to overlap on both sides the additional foam around the template is easily trimmed away with my bandsaw the belt sander is once again used to clean up the seam and start to define the cutting edge of the axe a medium grit sanding drum is used to clean up the surface and get rid of any imperfections and then a smooth sanding drum is used to refine the surface and start to give it a hammered metal look i cut and glue a small scrap piece of hd foam to make it look as though a wedge is driven into the top of the handle going back to my template i use a pencil to lightly mark where the leather wrap will go around the handle i start at the bottom and slowly work my way up the handle using some two millimeter hd foam and some super glue when i get to the top i wrap it around the axe head a couple of times and then cut off my excess working in the opposite direction i wrap up the axe handle until i get to the top and then once again cut off the excess i continue this leather wrap process for the part of the handle where you hold the weapon as well here i added a lot more of the leather strapping to really make it look functional to simulate the small tacks in the leather straps i use the end of a ballpoint pen pressing firmly into the foam after all the tack heads have been added i did a light heat treatment on the entire surface to give this leather a distressed look we’re going to use the tin foil technique so take your heat gun slightly heat up the surface and press tin foil directly into it this will emboss the foam and give it a leathery look just like any time we’re doing this technique you want to do it in a well ventilated area and you always want to make sure to have your respirator to seal this piece off we’re going to be using a flex bond and paint mixture the colors used will be utrecht bran raw sienna burnt sienna and mars black once you have your colors you can mix them directly into the flex bond this will tint it and then you can paint this directly onto your prop i start off using a mop brush to apply the mixture to make sure that it gets all over the entire prop and then switch over to a smaller filbert brush to get rid of any of the additional paint that’s building up in places and to make sure that it moves around the entire surface the leather on the handle wrap was specifically tricky to make sure that the paint got down in between all the layers to speed up the process i got out my hair dryer this will actually help the paint dry fairly quickly for a little bit of contrast the head of the axe was painted with a mixture of flex bond and utrecht brand mars black i started to paint the leather wrap on the handle using a half inch filbert brush and utrecht brand burnt sienna unlike the other paint applications this was not done to cover but to highlight the next application of paint was from the utrecht brand it was a mixture of raw sienna and burnt sienna then finally an application of pure raw sienna was applied to certain spots as a highlight liquitex heavy body iridescent rich silver was first brushed then stippled onto the head of the axe this would help with the hammered metal look a little bit of the browns that were used on the handle and leather wrap were then applied to the axe head just to grunge it up a little bit then iridescent ridge silver was applied to all of the tack heads a little bit of mars black was applied to the deeper gouges in the axe head now you can see the steps it takes to put together a con safe shield and actually be perfect for a viking cosplay now if you guys are building any of my builds or using hd phone be sure to tag blick and sks props on twitter and instagram because we love seeing your progress hopefully you guys are enjoying these videos and if you are give them a thumbs up and share with your friends and family and until next time thanks for stopping by .