of contracts and magical girls - kyoko's spear (1)

This cosplay is surprising for me for 2 reasons:

1. I don't usually make anime-derived cosplays
2. This is a magical girl cosplay. I don't make those. (usually cannot relate to magical girl stories or characters)

But as you've read on my previous post about Madoka Magica, this story is unlike any other magical girl story I've ever experienced, and a huge part of me wanting to make this cosplay was because I am cosplaying with my sister! And one of my best friends! So of course I wanted to participate! I do also like the Kyoko character very much, even though her screen time in the anime was a bit short.


So let's get to it! I actually spent some time in my parents' house today and I have very poor wireless connection on my phone for some reason when I am there, so I don't get all my work emails, text messages or notifications of any kind. But it's nice in this aspect because I can work on stuff and also not have to think about replying to emails all day since I do that at work already :( I didn't plan on starting on her spear at first, but I had a lot of time to kill while at my parents' house. I headed over to Lowe's with my dad and we picked up some of the basic parts--PVC pipe, PVC plugs for the pipes, PVC caps, 9' of plastic chain... I decided to go w/ this variation of Kyoko's spear. Unfortunately mine doesn't actually pull apart as it does in the anime, and I have seen someone make a version that pulls apart, pretty damn cool but definitely more complicated and because I only had a month to make this cosplay I wasn't sure I could execute such a contraption within my limited time frame. Anyway, excuses aside, I figured out all the lengths for each section--both the pipe and the chain, and my dad went and cut all the pipe pieces on his radio saw. The great thing about going to my parents' house is, my dad has every single power tool you can think of--he's a furniture designer so YES I AM LUCKY. I am very lucky I have access to all of these special tools. On the other hand, my dad really likes to make props too, so he sometimes will take over a prop project I'm working on T_T

We thought the neatest way to attach the chain pieces to the pipe would be to glue the plugs into the pipe ends, and screw in a screw hook through the top of the plug, then connect the chain link to the metal screw. (not in that order, see the photos below) It was a good thing we worked on this in the early afternoon--the gorilla glue takes a good 24 hours to properly cure so I will be going back to my parents' house to finish the rest of the spear next weekend! You are probably bored of reading this wall of text now, so I shall supplement the photos below w/ some captions to explain more of the little details.



 The plugs we bought didn't fit snugly enough into the pipe, so I wrapped some masking tape to add thickness
 my dad, in his element. lol. Cut chains CLAMP EVERYTHING. LEAVE FOR 2-3 HOURS. The longest pipe piece is the actual spear.You may notice that the rim of the plug is hexagonal. It needs to be flush w/ the cylinder of the pipe, so after the glue is dried, bondo will be applied and sanded.