I've made good progress on my Blackrazor replica this week, and actually thought this would be the last post about this project. As it stand, there will probably be at least one more update, but it is so close to being finished. I'm really excited with how it is turning out.
When last we left our legendary evil sword, I had gotten a finished hilt and a base-coated blade. The blade was primed in a satin black, which gave an idea of the overall look, but it still had too much albedo (that means reflectiveness). The blade was supposed to look like the black void of the night sky. We're talkin' the zero-light-pollution night skies a medieval society would know. Not the sad, diluted skies of today. A deep, dark void filled with countless brilliant pinpoints of light. The satin finish would never do.
The hilt had been painted with an old can of Krylon metallic gold spray paint. I hadn't really been happy with the results and since that can was old and running low, I bought some new paint. This time I picked up Rust-Oleum 2x Paint & Primer Metallic Gold. The difference in quality is night and day. I know there are high-end paints that can get really amazing results. But for an off the shelf rattle can, this is a really nice metallic finish. That brand will definitely be my go-to moving forward.
The jewels on the hilt were cast in tinted epoxy resin. Then sanded smooth. Then sanded smoother. Then smoother still, up to 2000 grit wet sanding. That made them super smooth, but they still had a frosted surface. To get that smooth, clear finish I brushed on a a few coats of Pledge floor polish. It turns out that this stuff is essentially glossy, clear acrylic paint medium and gives the same effect as a clear coat. The grip, on the other hand, was sprayed with truck bed liner to give it... well... grip. It's a grippy grip.
With the hilt completed, I could focus on the blade. I knew I wanted to use one of the new generation of blacker-than-black paints that all claim to be the world's darkest. I priced the two best known - Vantablack and Culture Hustle's Black 4.0 but both were very cost-prohibitive. After some looking online, I learned of another option that was much more accessibly priced. That was Musou Black. I acquired a 100ml bottle from Amazon for around $22. Not too bad, and turned out to be much more than I would need for this project.
After I got my airbrush cleaned up and working, I started testing out this fancy new paint. Once diluted with purified water, it flowed through the airbrush surprisingly well. I used a couple of failed prints as test samples and quickly got the hang of how the paint behaved. Then got a good finish on the production pieces itself. It did take about three coats to get complete, even coverage but with how well it worked in the airbrush, the painting went quickly. Now that was a properly dark night sky.
The only thing missing where the stars.
My original plan had been to install fairy light LEDs within the black so that it would have actual "stars" giving off light within the void. I still might still revisit that idea in the future, but for this version I had a different plan. I had discovered the Montana brand Hologram Glitter effect spray from a YouTube video in which it was applied over the top of Black 4.0 on a car finish. The results was brilliant and set off a light bulb for how I could approach this without electronics. In a stroke of luck, I was able to get a can of the Montana spray from Joann with a 60% off coupon. Less than $5 for a typically $12 rattle can. Nice.
I tested the spray on a couple of the scrap pieces I had painted black earlier. The initial results were great and showed promise for achieving what I was looking for. Once I was confident I gave the sword blade a good dusting of the spray. The trick was to hold the can a few feet away so that the accelerant would dissipate before reaching the blade. Otherwise the Musou black could be spoiled by the moisture. The suspended glitter would travel farther, dusting onto the target.
I was really loving how it was looking. But the "stars" resulting from the Montana glitter spray were very subtle. I didn't want to go too heavy with the spray and a dense field of sparkly bits, and the individual glitter particles were quite small. While I'm really close to being finished, now I'm searching for an option to add some more prominent and noticeable stars to the sky. I may have my solution. But that will be a topic for next post. Stay tuned.
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