Using a 3D Printer for Cosplay Props

San dagger from Princess Mononoke by Jade Falcon

At each MakerFaire I’ve attended, 3D printers always have a large presence. So I was intrigued when I saw Jade Falcon’s post about using a 3D printer to create cosplay props. The photo above features her prop of San’s dagger from Princess Mononoke.

In her post, she talks about finding free 3D printing source files on Thingiverse. I also recently took advantage of their file archive to create a Father’s Day gift for my husband.

It was a cool group effort. My son came up with the idea of 3D printing a small dagger for him, but couldn’t find a cheap way to handle it in New York. Our local library in Kansas City offers free 3D printing, so I found a Thingiverse file for Bilbo’s Sting blade. My brother coordinated with the library to print the dagger via email and I went and picked it up. Bonus: the library offered to print two blade options – one black and one GLOW-IN-THE-DARK. Very cool.

Sting-3dprinted

Have you done any 3D printing, for cosplay or otherwise? Share your experience in the comments!

Links of Interest:

Skyrim Craft: Keening Dagger

Skyrim Keening dagger by Bill Doran Punished Props

You have admire some people’s dedication to their craft. Because he is so committed to attention to detail in his prop building, Bill Doran from Punished Props spent 10  hours on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim gameplay to get just the right screen grabs of the Keening dagger. After he had the images, he crafted the schematics and got to work with resin, foam PVC, styrene, and Bondo. And a toilet paper tube. Lord Kagrenac, Chief Tonal Architect of the Dwemer, would be proud to own such a fine piece.

Be sure and check out some of Bill’s other projects, including a Borderlands Claptrap puppet, a Tomb Raider bow, and a Halo sniper rifle.

Links of Interest:

Beast’s Rose

Beauty and the Beast is quite clearly the booknerd’s Disney film of choice, if for nothing more than the scene where he gives her a library. Best present ever. Plus (factoid of the week) the music is by the same guys who wrote Little Shop of Horrors.  Awesome, right?

FongTrooper over at the Replica Props Forum has made this amazing replica of the floating rose that acts as The Beast’s countdown timer. It’s a pretty simple make – an artificial rose suspended by invisible thread inside a bell jar, but it’s a lovely idea for a gift.