Magic the Gathering cosplay - Avatar of Woe: scythe

Magic the Gathering cosplay — Avatar of Woe: scythe

Published by Manning on August 31st, 2017

After I finished the Avatar of Woe’s helmet, I moved on to her scythe.

I drew the shape of the Avatar of Woe’s scythe blade onto foam board and cut it out with an X-acto knife.

I reinforced the thinner parts of the blade with thin wooden coffee stirrers and thicker craft sticks (aka popsicle sticks). It’s hard to see in this pic, but the thin coffee stirrers are taped onto the outer and inner edge of the blade, along the edges of the foam.

I made a tube of poster board to hold the staff of the scythe. I bought a cheap plastic broom to use for the staff; I wrapped the poster board around that to get the right fit for the tube.

I padded out the shape of the scythe blade with various pieces of foam I had lying around; I just cut out shapes and taped them in place. You can see one of them in the pic above, before it was attached. I then covered the whole blade with five layers of paper maché. I use Roman PRO-543 universal wallpaper adhesive (paid link) and alternating layers of newspaper and brown wrapping paper.

I attached three tiny magnets on the top of the broom handle (covered with packing tape) and three more inside the tube in the scythe blade, so the staff can be easily taken apart and put back together.

I made the tube shape with a piece of a dog leash I bought at the dollar store; I just wrapped it in masking tape, secured it in place with more tape, and covered it with two layers of paper maché.

I also covered the staff with two layers of paper maché, everywhere but where the magnets are.

I spray painted the blade and the staff black, and the scythe was done! The magnets did a good job of holding the pieces together, but an unexpected detail was that the blade was able to turn pretty easily on its own. Not a big deal! But if transporting the scythe wasn’t a concern, I’d probably just glue the pieces together so they don’t move. All of this was really fun for a quick custom project. If you’re interested in commissioning a cosplay piece or other sculpture from me, check out my page about custom paper maché orders.

Tags: avatar of woe, commission, cosplay, costume, custom, magic the gathering, mtg, paper mache, scythe, weapon

Interested in commissioning a piece from me? Please see my page about custom paper maché pieces. Please email me; don't put your request in a comment below.

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