Construction: Keyblades

Keyblades

Keyblades come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from lengths of 30 to 60 inches. A Keyblade changes in both appearance and strength with different keychains, which augment its wielder's fighting capabilities. Most Keyblades also have some theme, usually a world or a person associated with that world, that will reflect in its appearance. But every keyblade is made to reflect the specific person.

How to Construct Your Keyblade

Depending on the keyblade you're making, as far as designs, you'll need the basic boffer supplies like Duct Tape, PVC Pipe or a Wooden Dowel, and either a pool noodle or camp matt foam.

Basic Keyblade A basic "Kingdom" or regular keyblade can be made with a pool noodle, a wooden dowel or PVC pipe, and the duct tape. You'll need a serrated edged knife to cut the pool noodle with. In order to figure find the right length for your keyblade, you need to use a measuring tape. Once you have all the supplies and are ready to build, use the measuring tape to measure how much noodle you need to cut off. I recommend about 3-4 inches of pool noodle. Then cut the other piece of pool noodle to your desired length. Use the basic boffer building skills to tape the pieces of noodle to the wooden dowel, the bigger noodle piece for the body, and the smaller piece for the bottom of the handle. After you get the main body of the keyblade built, cut out the teeth of the keyblade from a piece or two of camp matt foam. The teeth of the keyblade needs to be 7 inches long and 5 inches wide, depending on the design of the teeth. Then you need to make a guard for your weapon. The guard can be made from 2 pieces of pool noodle split in half. Arrange the halves of pool noodle so that it attaches to the bottom of the handle, and the beginning of the blade's body. I recommend using metallic duct tape for the body and teeth of the blade. Since the handle is made out of the wooden dowel or PVC pipe, you can cover it with electrician's tape to make it look like it has a grip on it. The guard can have whatever color of duct tape you want. Once you know how to build this keyblade, you can move on to making the more complicated designs.

Advanced Keyblades

These keyblades are more intricately designed than the regular Kingdom Key. It all depends on the wielder's preference for what design they make. But if you want my opinion and have seen the Kingdom Hearts games, then you'll be able to choose from one of those designs. Obviously the Ultimate keyblades are the most difficult to make, but some of them look better after you've worked hard at their design. I would try looking up pictures of the different keyblades and pick a design to build. The building of these keyblades is a little different. First, you get the supplies you need, just use the items listed above in the basic building description and switch some camp mat foam for the pool noodle. The rest can still be used normally. With the camp mat foam, I would suggest that you get at least 4-6 sheets, so that you can cut the design out of each sheet. Once you trace the design on the foam and cut it out of each peace, use the duct tape and make sure that the first two sheet cut outs are taped securely onto the wooden dowel. Then just keep adding on layers of design cut outs until you are sure that the weapon is strong enough and safe enough to use in battle. Just make sure that the finished design uses the right colors, or just customize the colors yourself.