SkunkyArt | Soynuts — Syaoran's Night Staff Tutorial

Prototype [link]

I highly recommend prototyping the top part of the staff before using any of your real materials. For the prototype, we will be using posterboard/cardboard (your choice, I personally used both when I did it [you will need at least 3-4 pieces large enough for a 10.5 inch diameter circle]), a pencil, eraser, ruler, and string.

Here is a sketch for steps 3-11. [link]

Measure out about 10-10.5 inches of string. (make this bigger or smaller depending on how big you want the outter arc to be, you will need to adjust future measurements in this guide if you do so)

Attach the string to your pencil with tape and tape the other end to the middle of the posterboard/cardboard

With the string taut make a nice big circle.

Cut another piece of string about 7.75-8.25 inches long (this gives the main arc a width of 2.25 inches)

Attach the string to your pencil with tape and tape the other end to the middle of the posterboard/cardboard

With the string taut make a nice big circle.

With a ruler draw a nice straight line down the center of your circles (this now represents the pole)

On the bottom half of the circle, draw lines through the arc. These will be the pointy ends. I have no measurements for these. I guesstimated and drew the points how I thought looked best. The best I can say is on the left side, the "cut" should be around 45 degrees from the bottom while the right side "cut" should be about 27 degrees from the bottom. This is when I used my eraser a lot until I got it the way I wanted.

Now cut out this large arc. This will now be the base template for our 3 main layers.

Here is a sketch for steps 13-18. [link] And here is what layer #1 looks like complete: [link]

Tape this cut out template to a new sheet of posterboard/cardboard. Trace out the template, and then remove it. Draw a line straight down the middle (you should still have the original one on the arc). This represents the main staff and will help us in drawing the 3 other arcs.

Will will first start with the bottom layer, which contains the half arc.

From the top of the inner arc, measure down about 2.5 inches and make a mark on the line you just drew.

Now measure down 1.5 inches down from this new mark. This will make our inner half arc 1.5 inches in width.

I did not use the string method for this arc as I could not get a satisfactory length to cross at the points I wanted. So I just free hand drew the arcs. I did make sure that they ended up at the same point on both sides. So once you draw one side, use a ruler to mark the other side to match.

The first layer is now done, we can cut this layer out.

Here is a sketch for steps 20-26. [link] And here is what layer #2 + #3 looks like complete: [link]

Tape this cut out template to a new sheet of posterboard/cardboard. Trace out the template, and then remove it. Draw a line straight down the middle again.

From the top of the inner arc, measure down 4.25 inches and make a mark on the line you just drew.

Now measure down 1.5 inches down from this new mark. This will make our inner quarter arc 1.5 inches in width.

Using your measuring tape, measure 6 inches on the inner main arc to the left and make a mark.

Then from this point, measure 1.5 inches along the arc to the left.

Now free hand the small arc between theses 2 new points and the points we marked on the staff line.

The second layer is now done, we can cut this layer out.

Here is a sketch for steps 28-34. [link] And here is what layer #2 + #3 looks like complete: [link]

Tape this cut out template to a new sheet of posterboard/cardboard. Trace out the template, and then remove it. Draw a line straight down the middle again.

From the top of the inner arc, measure down 11.5 inches and make a mark on the line you just drew.

Now measure down 1.5 inches down from this new mark. This will make our final inner quarter arc 1.5 inches in width.

Using your measuring tape, measure 6 inches on the inner main arc to the right and make a mark.

Then from this point, measure 2.5 inches along the arc to the right.

Now free hand the small arc between theses 2 new points and the points we marked on the staff line.

The third layer is now done, we can cut this layer out.

The fourth and final layer we need for the prototype is the very top of the staff that contains the jewel. This part is up to you on how you want it to look. I tried to make mine similiar to the art. Here is a sketch of mine. [link]

We can now finally put all the layers together to make the prototype complete. Start with Layer #1, then 2, 3, and finally 4. Tape them together to see how looks and make any adjustments or redo a part if needed. Finally, tape it on to a broom stick to see how it would look on a staff.

At the point, if you are satisfied with how it looks, move on to the "Actual" steps below. Take apart your prototype as we will now be using each piece to trace onto the foam board.

Actual

Do the prototype! The steps can be applied similiarly to other Tsubasa staffs. Of course the template will be different and you will not be able to follow the prototype steps exactly.

Grab prototype layer #1 and #4. Tape them together properly and trace it out onto your foam board. Using an x-acto knife, cut out your trace. It should look like this: [link]

Grab prototype layer #2 and #4. Tape them together properly and trace it out onto your foam board. Using an x-acto knife, cut out your trace. It should look like this: [link]

Grab prototype layer #3 and #4. Tape them together properly and trace it out onto your foam board. Using an x-acto knife, cut out your trace. It should look like this: [link]

When you put the 3 layers together, it should look like this: [link]

Grab prototype layer #4. Trace and cut out 2 copies of it on your foam board. Also cut out the triangle shape we had traced on the prototype on both of these copies. 2 of these: [link]

Make any adjustments needed to these 5 layers that we now have. If you need to redo one of them, now is the time to do it.

We are now ready to glue all 5 layers together, use either E-6000 or plain white elmers glue, both work. Glue them in the following order: 1, 2, 3. Next glue 4 on the bottom and 5 on the top. I do not have a picture for this step.

Once the 5 pieces have all dried together, we are now ready to sand the edges. I recommend a low grit such as 60, to do a rough sand to get rid of any bumps. Follow up by sanding with a higher grit of 150 or higher. Be careful when sanding the tips.

For the triangle cut out at the top of the staff, I recommend beveling the edges a bit

We are now ready to put glue around all of the exposed foam board edges. I recommend 2 layers of elmers white glue. Similiar to this image (disregard the hole the pvc is going through) [link]

The glue phase is time consuming as you can not do the whole thing at once without glue dripping everywhere. Sand out any big bumps with a high grit sand paper, 150 or higher

We are now ready to being painting!

Please do this in a well ventillated area. And cover the area with newspaper or cardboard so that you don't paint other objects in the process

First, apply 2 layers of paint primer to both sides. We do 2 layers to make sure we covered everything.

Now sand the primer layer with sand paper of at least 200 grit or higher. Don't go crazy, we just want to smooth out any bumps

We are now read to paint it all black. Yes, I did say the whole thing. We will do 2 layers of black paint. Sand between layers and use wet paper towel to clear off the dust. It should look like this: [link]

Now take some masking tape and tape up the inside of the triangle at the top on both sides. Just use small pieces, use an x-acto knife to help cut the tape better.

We can now paint the entire thing gold. The reason we did a black layer was partly for the triangle, but also to give the gold a duller color.

For this step, I recommend at least 3 layers of gold paint. Sand between layers with a high grit sand paper to remove bumps.

Once you are done painting, you can remove the masking tape from the triangle. You should now have your staff looking like this: [link]