Back in the year 1979, a dungeon module called White Plume Mountain was published for Advanced Dungeons & Dragon (as we called 1st Edition in those days). In this module, the heroes where challenged with venturing into the fun-house dungeon of a mad Wizard to retrieve three legendary weapons: the trident Wave, the war hammer Whelm, and the sword Blackrazor. While they are all very powerful in game terms, Blackrazer stood out in terms of level of power, not starting with the letter "w", and general coolness.
It is described as "a black sword that shines like a piece of night sky filled with stars". I always thought that this blade like a rip in reality opening onto a starry void was such a cool visual in my mind. What's more, the sword has an intelligence of its own, and is quite evil. It feeds on the souls of those it slays, which empowers the wielder, but at the same time it compels them toward further violence. Well-read fantasy fans will pick up on the similarity between this an Stormbringer, the infamous sword from Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone novels. Lawrence Schick's admitted inspiration.
D&D was among my earliest creative inspirations, and I had the idea to try to create replicas of iconic artifacts like Blackrazor. I chose to try doing a digital model of this one, which would challenge my 3D modelling skills. My design would be based on Bill Willingham's art appearing on the back cover of White Plume Mountain. It isn't an intricate design, and much of the detail of the hilt is obscured, but there is enough to start from. I've noticed that many people interpret the blade as being a leaf blade, like many bronze-age era swords. But the edge of the sword doesn't actually curve. Instead it runs straight, which leads me to believe the widening of the blade is more an attempt at foreshortening by the artist. So I made mine with a straight-edged tapering blade, like a Viking era Spatha (with obvious fantasy elements).
I had originally planned on making the blade hollow, leaving space to install lighting features in order to simulate the stars. By extension, there would be a battery compartment in the grip and an activation switch built into the hilts that could be switched on and off by the wielder's thumb. I did the modelling in Sketchup, as that is still the only software I know well. At the time I only had my QidiTech X-1 printer, so the print size was very limited. That meant I had to design it in a bunch of small segments. But I planned to mold and cast the completed sides of the blade so they would become solid pieces making up two parts of a clamshell.
So I got everything designed, printed, and assembled and everything fit together perfectly. Such a satisfying thing to experience. But I had technical challenges with making a mold of a thin shell that I couldn't work out in my brain, so I ended up setting it aside for a few years. As I am known to do.
I've recently picked back up the project, and and decided on some changes to make life easier. My final design had a mostly solid blade, with a channel left for an aluminum bar to provide support. I've scrapped the electronics for now, but may revisit that if I do another version in the future.
My new plan is much different. A few months back, I happened to see a video on YouTube in which a guy painted a car in Black 4.0, then sprayed Golden Galaxy glitter paint over the top of that. The results were stunning, and there was an immediate light buld. This was the perfect approach for creating Blackrazor. Then doing dusting and spattering in Golden-brand Galaxy glitter paint to create the impression of the night sky. The "jewels' on the hilt were 3D printed, but then molded and cast in clear red resin. I'll be shining those up similarly to how I did the jewels in the Storm Lord symbol for my Yasha cosplay.
I've been making quick progress on this latest effort. The sword is printed, assembled, sanded to a nice finish, and has a base coat of gold and satin black spray paint, with black truck bed liner sprayed onto the grip. Just a little bit more refinement on the blade, and it will be ready for the final paint.
Speaking of the Yasha cosplay, you should see an update on that soon. Work has slowed on that as I've put attention into this and other side projects. But there should be some progress to show in the near future.
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