Costumes, ahoy!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

I thought it might be nice to post some "how-to's" of the costumes I've been working on lately. So, here goes! I shall now attempt to explain how I made Sheik's Lyre. (A side note, I have changed my blog design in honor of C.S. Lewis' book "Perelandra".)

First, you start with a wooden base. I used a 5-ply board which was light-weight, but
also sturdy.

Now the strings are attached. I just used elastic from my local fabric store. I would recommend elastic over string, because it's easy to pluck, but won't lose it's tightness or bend the wood.

Now comes a fun and messy part, applying the goop to give the harp it's shape. I used paper mache clay, it was easy to work with and quite sturdy, once it's dry.

Here's what it looks like once it's completely covered. Pretty cool looking, but still quite bumpy. We'll get rid of that. :)

Once you've applied the clay to both sides, (and let it dry properly) it's time to cover your harp with joint compound. (Aka, dry-wall mud.)

Now it's covered with dry-wall and sanded so it's uber-smooth!

Now comes my favorite part, painting it!

There, the harp is done! ..and although it may not play music, it looks sweet.

3 comments:

  1. Would you recommend this construction to be used with real music strings at all? Any way you can think it would work with musical strings? (You can reply back to my deviantART if you wish, I probably won't see it if you post it on your blog, but for other's reference it might be cool. :) )

  1. Anonymous said...:

    Could you use rubber bands and make sound or not??

  1. Anonymous said...:

    To make it into a musical instrument u will need guitar/harp strings, plywood is bad for sound bass wood is a creat carving wood its soft an more expensive. Don't go to a craft store go to hardware store for help an for cutting. It must be full wood no paper MACHET or it will fall apart later on unless u resin over the paper MACHET after u use a sealant, u need the tuning string holders and string brackets on bottom. An have someone tune it or get a tuning device but they r not great. U can shape and round but make the upper wood thicker than normal so it won't break when strings are taught/tight. U also can go to your local music store who sells instruments an they might have a better idea for stringing thr harp even bring in your design an they r always willing to help. Hope this helps but no partical board or plywood for making a real instrument. U can even ask the dealer a better type wood an u will perfect your harp maybe to even play a Zelda tune lol. Good luck.