First Cosplay Prop - a knife - (+Dark Alice) (Patreon)

Hiiii so I wanted to share progress pics for my first attempt at making a cosplay prop - a knife for my Dark Alice in Wonderland cosplay for October. I'm going to dive into Alice: Madness Returns for the first time on twitch and I'm super excited about that as well. I thought this cosplay would be the perfect addition to the experience.

I am just that, a super novice beginner!!! The point of this post is to share with you all what I do and what I am learning along the way <3 I refer to youtube videos and others with more experience making props! Please be sure to wear a mask when sanding/using toxic chemicals of any kind.

Okay, on to the steps!!

First, I traced a real kitchen knife I had that was similar in shape/size to the one I wanted to make. I did this with a pencil and white paper.

Second, I cut the tracing out and laid the tracings over black EVA foam. I used a box cutter type knife to cut the foam in the shape of the knife tracings I had made. Please be careful if you are doing this!!! Thicker foam was harder for me to cut and I can see how someone could very easily injure themselves...thankfully I didn't.

Once the EVA foam was cut in the knife tracings, I used a hand sander to sand down the edges because the knife left the foam with lots of rough edges. This took a lot of time and just experimenting with different speeds and things to get the right shape. Once I was happy with the shape, it was time to paint!

I got a matte black and a silver armour metallic acryllic paints. I have heard acryllic paints are great options for EVA foam. I primed the silver portion with the primer shown below, but for the black I didn't bother because the foam was black already and didn't feel like it needed it.

I did several coats of both, and felt like I could have primed the silver part again or just needed more coats of silver. I let parts dry for at least an hour in between fresh coats, flipping to make sure I got both sides.

I wanted an extra flair so I took some coagulated blood I had bought for the cosplay (I would have just gotten red acryllic paint but this is all I had so worth a try). It was quite thick so I mixed it with a little water and flicked it onto the knife to make it look more natural.

Once the red paint dried, I hot glued the blade and handle together and BAM all done with my first cosplay prop!!! It really wasn't that bad at all, and I would certainly suggest a knife for a first prop because it is smaller than a sword for example so not as daunting of a project. If you make mistakes, its okay!! You can repaint or even start over with new EVA foam since it's really not expensive!

Last, for a super simple touch up, but something that made my thrifted costume dress feel a little more "Alice", I ironed on a deck of card patch which was SUPER EASY and turned out great!

And that's it :)) what do you think?? For those who have experience making cosplay props, do you have any suggestions or tips?

I will be posting my full Dark Alice in Wonderland cosplay here within the next week or two, so if you want to see those consider subscribing! Thanks for reading and being here <3