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Unorthodox Poppycock

(a small division of The Rabid Squirrel Ltd.)

Props by Stefan

Buster Sword #1 (Sally v 1.0)

Ah, the Buster Sword. One of my first projects, made specifically for S x 12 (and my own enjoyment, of course!). I have made two different version of the Cloud's Buster Sword. The first one started with a wooden skeleton, all cut by hand, which was then covered with pieces of plastic cut from a "Vote for Peter Brushey" sign. From there the exterior (the inside actually has my signature and the date written within it) was covered in numerous layers of papier mache. Silver spray paint followed, and after that, a layer of thicker, more grey, speckled spray paint for the finish. The wooden handle was wrapped with electrical tape, and the "bolts" of the handle were simply hot glued caps off of old 600 ML Dr. Pepper bottles.

The Making of Sally the Sword

The first sword weighted just under 10 lbs all together, and was impossibly heavy to wield. On the first "duel" taped for S x 12 between Chris and myself, Chris' sword (which I made out of wooden siding, bent copper rode and more papier mache) took sizable chunks out of the first Buster Sword (poor "Sally"). Sadly, Sally never recovered. All the same, you can see how the sword was made through the pics above and how it looked through the pics below.

Cloud vs. Sephiroth (er... kinda)	The Buster Sword of an early Canadian Settler

Buster Sword #2 (Sally v 1.0)

Learning from the mistakes made while creating Sally v 1.0, I decided to go a different route with her replacement. So Sally v 2.0 would be made of... hardwood.

~insert maniacal laugh here~

Anyways... The blade itself was made of hardwood, which I cut into the swords general shape. From there I screwed two separate pieces of wood to the frame of the sword to create the handle. Between the gap they made I glued in the extra bits of hardwood I had. I then wrapped the handle in (you guess it) electrical tape.

From there I created the hilt from four separate panels of wood (a mistake I won't repeat, as one always seems to fall [or fly] off). The "bolts" were actually the little metal circles you remove when installing an electrical outlet (there's that Marc's Home Heating experience coming in). The hilt was painted with silver enamel paint.

Lastly, I drilled two holes in the blade (the materia holes for those FF players) and painted the entire blade silver. Sally v 2.0 was good to go.

~For your entertainment.~

Chris: "Don't worry, I'll make my own sword this time."

Stefan: "Ok..." (is curious and somewhat worried [nothing unusual])

Later, that same week.

[Enter Chris, carrying a broom handle and a fresh roll of duct tape.]

Stefan: "Oh, for !#$% sakes!"

Chris: "It's my mom's broom handle."

Stefan: "..."

So ended the perfection of Sally v 2.0.

And Chris' mom's broom stick. :D

Muwahahaha.

~ahem!~

Sally II to the Rescue!	Sally II's place on my wall (next to Vinnie's claw and my fancy pirate hat)

Stefan Phillips, 2006