Down to brass tacks

Wow, it has been a while since I posted! Loving the sword, and at this point the costume for Link itself is done except the distressing (I will cover that when I get to it). Today let's talk about the shield.  It is going slow, but I do have the basic 16ga. steel blank which will serve as my foundation of the shield prepped and ready.  Good heater shield shape.

I also have gotten as far as the triforce stencil made and the first set of triangles cut from the 3/16" brass plate.  Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to cut 3/16" thick 260 machine brass by hand? Wow.

So it'll be a short update today but progress is being made! Once the triangles are all cut I will begin the beveling and polishing process...

The Hero's Triumph on Cataclysm's Eve, wins three Symbols of Virtue. The Master Sword he will then retrieve, keeping the Knights' line true.

Well, folks, Brendan has finished his masterpiece and will be shipping the sword soon. I have included a number of final photos that he sent along for final commission approval in varying light (the first set is in twilight and the second set being in more brilliant daylight. You can see how the colors are set off by different light schemes which I really like.)

First we have a couple pictures from the twilight set:

And then we have a couple from the daylight set:

 

• We also have some final specs on the sword as follows:
• Material: 9260 Spring Steel, Bronze
• Overall grip length from the pommel ring to the top of the diamond on the guard is 207mm (8.15”)
• Overall blade length is 811mm (31.93”)
• Overall Length is 1052mm (41.41”)
• Weight is 1490g (3.284 lbs.)
• Blade Width: 
• Waist 35mm (1.377")
• Flare 52mm (2.047")
• End of Fuller 31mm (1.22") 
• Point of balance is about 83mm (3.26”) from the blade shoulder where it sits in the guard.
• Center of Percussion: 515mm (20.2”) from that same point.
• Hilt node of percussion: is 52mm (2.05”) back from top of the diamond in the guard. Its a fraction forward of the center of the fore grip.

As part of his showcasing he does with nearly all of his custom blades, the sword now has a dedicated place on their website. You can refer to it here.

Brendan also provided a post for it on the Fable Blades Facebook page. It is located here.

I am super happy with how it turned out! I should be receiving it physically in a couple of weeks, as he is now getting it prepped for shipping and it will be on its way to me soon!  I can't wait!

Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble... Making mushroom brew, I am...

Hello everyone! I thought I would drop a post today because I had a great find! Last evening my wife and I were at her parents' house. Sitting on their window sill was a thing of beauty! Clearly I am a nerd, because seeing these bottles made me think perfection for Zelda potions (and fairies or Lon Lon milk).

Upon asking them where they got them, expecting to hear a craft store of some note, I was surprised to hear they were Spanish Saffron bottles from Trader Joe's!!!

Now I am equipped with 3 bottles for a blue potion, a red potion and a fairy! (I will cover the production of these in a later post); I may get a fourth to do Lon Lon milk as well. :)

Until next time!

Sword is almost done!

So this will probably be the second-to-last post on the sword.  The next post will likely be the final and finished product.  Brendan has a few minor things on the sword itself (namely the inscription work on the pommel), but he has been diligently working on the scabbard now.  Here we have some tooling on the scabbard.  This is the raw and un-dyed scabbard and the tooling for the suspension straps on the scabbard belt:

Once fully tooled, he will be dying it blue with a tinge of crimson such that it is the Twilight Princess "purplish-blue".  The accents and raised areas will be gold.

He is nearly done!

The beginnings of a scabbard

Well, now Brendan is on to starting the scabbard... He has the chape and scabbard core done.  Thought I would share with you all!

I thought the triforce on the chape is a nice touch!

In other news,  I have the template for the crown made up and will be ordering the sheet bronze soon.  I am debating between 14 gauge or 16 gauge.  I suspect I will wind up with 14 gauge but may have a harder time shaping it.

I may go with 16 gauge for the crown and belt, and 14 for the pauldrons and amulet.

Decisions, decisions!

Getting ever closer

Every time I turn around, Brendan sends me more photos of his progress.  I love it!  I cannot believe how well he is translating my sketches into reality!

We now have a definitive weight: the sword will weigh in at 3.25lb and have a point of balance at 3.5" from the guard.  Translation: the master sword can definitely be wielded either one or two hands.  Just as a bastard sword should be.

Here is another taste at the progress:

He did a great job on the leather wrapping as well as the dye.  Going to have a beautiful blue/purple tone; perfect for a Twilight Princess setting!

Here you can see the Triforce placed on the ricasso.  He also has the inscription on the blade placed.  This is all coming together so nicely!

A couple more...

Brendan is definitely cooking with fire now! The latest photos that came in last night:

And the "I'm ready for my close-up!"

Brief update on the Master Sword

Hi everybody! Brendan is getting ever-so closer to finishing up the Master Sword and I thought I would share a couple photos of his progress.  It is looking great! 

(Top is the blade of another he is working on for size reference; for those curious it is Longclaw from The Song of Ice and Fire series - The blade for my Master Sword is on bottom)

(Same here)

And finally a sneak preview of the furniture on the blade:

I am super excited!!! It is going to be breathtaking!

Some great cosplays to acknowledge

So today I wanted to take a break about talking about my own efforts and put some shout outs to some Link Cosplayers I respect for their fantastic renditions.

First a shout out to LinkInSpirit.  A really great cosplay with some very nice detail and even sitting on "Epona"!

Check it out here.

Next we have of course one of the most famous Link Cosplayers: Li Kovacs (PikminLink).  You can even follow her cosplays on Facebook and Twitter.  She has done official modeling for Nintendo and does bookings of events.  She has made a career out of cosplay and a lot around The Legend of Zelda.  She is definitely one of the folks I highly respect for her attention to detail and flare!

We also have a very nice Dark Link by Echolox:

You can see the DeviantArt page here.

And of course, let's not forget about the fantastic folks at The Zelda Project.  They are really trying to bring the scenes from Ocarina of Time to life.  This makes me very happy!

You can see their picture sets and behind the scenes at their site.

Just thought I would take a moment and acknowledge some great cosplay out there!

Cheers all.

Braced for impact

Hi everyone!

I thought I would do a quick post on the gloves/bracer pads/bracers update as I've gotten those together.  First, I wanted to put another shout out to Paul at Aradani Studios. I acquired the bracer pads and bracers from there.  The driving gloves are courtesy of Amazon.com:

Then I simply cut off the fingers :)

After that, we add the bracer pads over top:

And then finally, we add the breathtaking hero bracers over that!:

and voila!  Perfect effect!

I would also like to note that Brendan is very nearly finished with the Master Sword, and I should have some final pictures of that coming in the next few weeks!  I am so excited!

See you next time!