Finished Roadhog Hook in Worbla.
So if you follow me on Instagram you have probably seen the progress of the hog holster. Here I will try and go through the progress made from Hog Gun Holster part 1. As you can see above, the next stage was to make the gun handle. I did this the same way I made the holster, by marking out a grid around an image of Roadhog's holster and scaling it up. Once I cut out 3 pieces of foam I glues the pieces together then slide the handle into place. I added the extra foam on the outside to make sure it was nice and flat.
As you can see from the reference pictures the holster has lots of small details which I needed to create. For this I traced out each shape separate and then cut these out of a thin crafting foam.
Where there is more raised detail I have simply glued layers of the foam together. Originally, I thought I would need to glue gun them all...which would have been
expensive. I then wondered if I could use double sided tape. After all, everything was going to be covered in worbla anyway. It worked like a charm!
Once I had all of the pieces cut out it was time to see what it would look like all put together. You can see the rough draft above, then with more details added below. Some of these pieces were to be attached before I placed one large piece of worbla over, and others I wanted to cover individually and add on after.
Worbla time!
One large piece of worbla was the base. I worked slowly, heating the warble along as I went to make sure I got all the details. Don't overheat the warble here if possible as it will stretch and could potentially weaken or pull apart.
You can see above there is a seam line along the gun part of the prop. This seam will be smoothed out. Even though you can cut warble roughly to shape when starting, when working on a big piece like this which has lots of details in you're bound to end up with some parts not fitting 100%.
The main part covered, I can now start adding the extras like the ear and the pig badge. I kept the back similar, with some details, but as this will be against my back it's not really necessary.
In the video to the left you can see how I started to cover the foam. The angle is slightly off, so I apologise as I'm starting to work out how best to document everything as I go. I cut a rough shape of worbla out and placed it over the foam shape. I then heated it up with a heat gun
till it starts to go lighter in colour and is pliable.
WARNING - this is hot! Please use a heat mat underneath and be careful. I am using wooden sculpting tools to help push the worbla into place.
As the worbla cools it hardens, leaving whatever shape you like. It is also very sturdy, which is one of the many reasons I love it so much. Not only are my props sturdier in general, they're also less likely to fall apart if assembled correctly.
Once all these smaller details were done I was able to heat up the back and the spot where they were going to be placed, then simply stuck them to the main piece!
I know this is vaguer then my last posts, I got a little carried away and forgot to take progress photos. Below you can see the final prop ready for spraying!
Until next time!
Cheers Love! xxxx
So what have I been up to? Let’s start with the hook. Once I was happy with the rough shape it was time to start covering it with the extremely magical worbla. I’m in love with this product. Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s worth it. The prop is stronger and I can sculpt in details. I feel like every time I use worbla I’m a bit more confident in my abilities. It’s a fascinating medium to work with and I highly recommend it if you are able to get your hands on some.
I tried to cut out the correct shapes for the hooks and do it neatly..yeah, that didn’t happen! I do feel more confident merging worbla together though when it overlaps. It’s not the easiest of things to do, and the molten hot plastic can burn your fingers if you get impatient like I do. Best tip is to let it rest and cool then go back to it. I heat it till it goes white which means it’s much easier to mold into shape – it takes the consistency of grainy playdoh? Or something similar.
Once the main hook was covered I placed the plastic pipe onto the bottom and used some hot glue to roughly put it in place before covering with worbla (1). That’s one of the amazing things about this product, it makes an awesome hard shell for your props meaning if you use different materials underneath it won’t show up. Plastic and foam look the same when covered.
I wanted to give the hook a sharper looking blade. To do this I heated up thin long strips of worbla together (2). The way I did this was to first heat the strip longways along a piece of foil so I got a 90* angle. I did the same with a second piece then heated them together so the shape was an upside down Y shape. I could now heat up the two open edges and run them along and around the edge of the hook blade giving it a ‘sharper’ appearance without it actually being sharp (3).
I then added some more details including the protruding screws that run through the blade near the top of the handle and the small strips around the handle of the hook.
I also added the loop at the bottom ready for the chain to hang from.
In preparation I bought some plastic-dip spray paint cans ready for when I want to prep the prop. With my tracer cosplay I missed this step and payed for it with chipping paint which was heartbreaking. This time I hope covering it in plasti-dip will be enough as a good base coat. My
dad is an awesome spray painter, so I will probably ask him to do this for, especially so it gets a good even coat.
Next steps before I do this is to smooth down all the hard edges that are still possible..or melt down seeing as it’s worbla. I then intend to add the three nails on the top and bottom of the blade. Once this is complete I think I’ll be ready for the base coat! I do have some plastic chain already made, though might make my own out of worbla so it’s nice and chunky. Not sure yet, I need to think it through more.
I think that’s the biggest lesson when making any prop. I may plan everything, but at the end of the day I go with my gut feeling or end up being spontaneous and trying something new.
Until next time!
Cheers love!
xoxo
