Who would think that something that seems like so few pieces would require so much thought? Well this took a lot more planning than I originally realized, but it was TOTALLY worth it.
So here I'm going to do my best to describe for you what I did and what everything is so that you can make your own. Forgive me for not remembering the exact names of some of the items, I wasn't thinking to keep the package at the time.
The ball itself is a 6" Smoothfoam ball, that I got from Michael's. It is basically like the styrofoam that electronics are packaged in, inside the box. I used the advice that I got from Katsumiyo on her
"Working with Porous Styrofoam Tutorial" and did the following...
I would paint 2-3 layers of gesso all around the ball (I used the cheap stuff from Walmart) letting each layer dry before painting another. After the 2nd or 3rd, I'd gently sand the ball smooth. Because the ball naturally had a few small divets, I would put a little extra gesso in those. I repeated this process I had about 10-12 layers. After the last sanding the ball wasn't completely smooth, but it looked really close. (According to Katsumiyo you have to make sure that you have covered all of the foam because you don't want any paint to get onto it.)
At the same time that I was doing that, I was painting gesso onto a sheet of regular craft foam. That's what you see wrapped around the ball, that the spikes are pressed into. There are only about 4 layers of gesso on the craft foam.
Next comes the silver metallic acrylic paint. There are about 8-10 coats of paint on the ball and 5-6 on the craft foam. I basically painted until I was happy with it. Acrylic paint dries pretty quickly so this only took about an hour.
The small diameter chain was bought in a 3 foot length and then cut at home to the size we liked. I used just a regular hot glue gun to glue it down. (We had tested the hot glue on a fast food cup first and it held up beautifully.) The small chain does not connect anywhere on the ball because it does not connect on hers. They are two separate circles.
The "spikes" are on a background of painted craft foam. On hers it is of course metal, and to try to get a little accuracy I cut four strips of craft foam 1" wide. Each strip was half the diameter of the ball so that they would lay down more smoothly. They were also hot glued down.
The "spikes" are actually the tops of Papermate Profile Elite pens. I filled each with some leftover Model Magic I had to make more surface area at the bottom. I pushed a toothpick into the ball, leaving a bit sticking out, put a small drop of hot glue on the Model Magic and the rim of the pen top, then pressed the whole thing onto the toothpick. I made sure the Model Magic and toothpick didn't poke out of the top. It took about 16 of these.
The top of the ball, the part that the chain "comes out of" is made of three items. The circle that is glued to the ball is a plumbing fixture. I basically stood in the plumbing aisle of Home Depot until I found something that I liked. It was originally white, but my BF sanded it rough and it took acrylic paint brilliantly after that. He semi-closed the opening with the painted craft foam.
The part sticking out of that, that attaches the chain to the top is a large screw eye hook. My BF, just screwed it in by hand, then unscrewed it, I put hot glue into the hole, and he screwed it back in again.
Lastly, the handle started out as a long thick dowel that we purchased from Home Depot. My BF used a hand saw to cut it down to 6" and he gessoed and painted it for me. He used a drill to a hole in the end, and then screwed in a second large screw eye hook.
The large chain was purchased in a length of 3 feet because when I checked the weapons policies of most of the cons around me, they either didn't mention how long it could be, or that was the limit. It is attached to the ball and the handle with Quick Links.
Overall I think that this was a great success, and I was super proud of it!
Happy cosplaying!
