Sanding alll day every day! I first cut away some of the material and then used my trusty dremel to do the rest. (You can see the difference in the first picture) There's still one side to go and I'm already looking like a statue from all the dust! #wip

Done with the sanding (for now)! Onto the more detailed parts, then. As you can see from my reference and the blueprint, the blade has a pretty detailed middle part. I transferred my blueprint onto 3mm and 5mm craft foam, cut everything out and put a mockup together. Looking good so far! #wip #ffxiv

Aaand the puzzle is solved! 😊 #wip

Cut my template completely apart to get a better idea of how the different layers of the crossguard work.
I... think I figured it out? #wip

This is going surprisingly well! Now that I know everything works more or less as intended, I'll try to make some step-by-step pictures as I'm assembling the other side. #wip

So, I promised more details! I first cut out the first batch of lines out of 3mm craft foam, traced their position on the sword, applied contact cement on both areas and glues everything together. Handy tip: Use sewing pins to hold even the most stubborn foam pieces in place!
After that, I sanded everything for some nice edges and to clean everything up!

After that, I cut out the second batch of details, mostly out of 5mm EVA foam. These needed to be sanded first because my dremel and I are bad with reaching very small corners. Because I needed to sand and trim the foam anyway, it didn't matter much that my cuts were actually pretty horrible!
After that, I glues everything place as well with contact cement. I also used some teeny tiny foam dots for some final detailing.

Ok, so unto the handle and pommel! By now, the building was pretty straightforward. To achieve the round shape on the handle, I covered the wood in contact cement and wrapped some foam around it. I wasn't quite satisfies with the result and later added another layer, which I partly sanded away again to make it oval.

Then I added some more layers of foam for detail. If you cut into the foam and then heat it up, the cuts widen and make some extra fancy decoration, as you can see! (Left one is before, right one is after heating)
For the pommel, I sanded some material away to make room for the wooden dowel before sandwiching everything together. And then it was puzzle time!

Okay. I cleaned up the edges as good as I could, superglued some wobbly pieces into place aaaaand the primary build of Aymeric's sword is done! #wip #foamsmith #ffxiv

Alright. Priming! I don't have any footage because I just pushed through and there's not much to show anyway since the primer is transparent when dry. So imagine the sword as it is, but shiny!

First, I heat-sealed the foam with my heat gun. That closes the pores inside the foam and already makes it smoother. The heat can also open up some seams tho, so watch out for that and make repairs as necessary.
Then I applied some coats of Flexbond, a primer designed for EVA foam and Worbla. You can also use Plasti Dip - or wood glue/mod podge for a more accessible option. But keep in mind that the latter won't be as flexible when dry and can crack!

I'm calling it "The four stages of painting"
An even black layer because we have to start somewhere. A silver layer because I want the blade to look like metal - at least a bit. A blue layer because that's its primary colour. A whole lot of masking and a golden layer on what is looking like a really shitty christmas present by now! #wip #ffxiv