how i made darling’s sword: a thread!

most of my crafts are trial and error: i actually made 3 different swords to see which would turn out the best, and this was it! i didn’t use any instructions for this, just messed around with what i had until something worked

MATERIALS:
cardboard, fimo soft clay, silver spray paint, acrylic paint, mod podge, a knife, a pencil / pen, a paintbrush, a ruler, and scissors

i first drew out my design onto cardboard. i looked at my reference picture and used a ruler and my doll to measure how long it should be (6.5 inches!) then i used my ruler and pencil to sketch out a design and cut it out with my scissors and knife (for the smaller ends)

next i rolled out a piece of fimo white soft clay (i recommend doing this on palette paper or parchment paper if you can because it’s easier to remove, but it’s not necessary), put the cardboard cutout on top, and traced it. after tracing i still had to go in to fix some pieces

i baked it using the instructions on the package! it was very bendy which worried me but i did some tests on another piece of the same clay and it’s very strong, you can bend it a lot and it won’t break!

once it was all baked, i took it outside and sprayed both sides with silver spray paint. you can absolutely use acrylic if you want, i just liked the finish of the spray paint plus it’s really fun and quick! i left it to dry for a few hours but i don’t think it needed that long

then it was time to paint the handle! you can see in the reference picture that her handle is a deeper blue but because i was making this sword to match her first chapter doll instead of her dragon games one, i make it a light blue to match her dress sleeves!

to get the color i used i mixed blue, white, and a bit of yellow but it’s really just trial and error until you mix a shade that you like! (i used the same color on my shield so everything matched)

once the paint fully dried (acrylic only takes a few minutes!), i coated everything with mod podge just to seal it all in, and that was it! the doll obviously can’t hold it in fighting position because of how long it is, but you can lean it against her leg and it’s the right +

size that you can put her hand over it as if she’s holding it there! this was a lot of fun to do and if any of y’all use this thread for a sword or any other doll prop please let me know, i’d love to see!

here’s how it looks with her! and i put the tutorial i used for the shield in the thread https://twitter.com/j4dewest/status/1309868565714079745