Tutorial: How to Make Twilight Princess Zelda’s Light Arrow

Twilight Princess Zelda’s light arrows differ from, say, Ocarina of Time Link’s light arrows in that they’re not regular arrows charged with the power of light. They are (it seems to me) arrows that are literally made out of light. The game designers seem to have interpreted that as arrows with swirling patterns of a light yellow-gold and a silvery sort of gold. I, in turn, interpreted that as a shiny gold arrow. I tried to find a pearlescent finish to make the arrow look more convincingly light-y but was unsuccessful. Still, I think the end product looks pretty good.

You will need:

• Two or three sheets of 3mm fun foam (I used Silly Winks brand)
• One dowel rod
• Gold puff paint
• Gold spray paint
• Clear varnish
• Glue; I used Elmer’s fabric glue
• Hot glue
• Tape (any kind will do)
• Air-dry clay
• A paintbrush
• A pottery knife (or something pointy but not sharp for scoring)
• A ball-point pen
• An X-Acto knife or other razor blade
• A cutting mat
• Optional: A permanent marker
• Optional: Sewing weights
• Optional: A small, airtight plastic bag
• Optional: A clothespin

Download and print the following pattern pieces. Tape pieces A1 and A2 together along the red line.

Arrowhead:

Fletching:

Trace the pattern pieces onto the foam using either the ballpoint pen or a permanent marker. I prefer the permanent marker for this because I don’t accidentally smudge the lines with my arm. Using sewing weights to hold down the pattern pieces will help greatly. You will need two of A, two of B, and four of C.

Using the razor blade and cutting mat, cut your pieces out. You could probably do this with scissors, but I highly recommend a razor blade because the cuts will look much neater.

For the moment you just need the four C pieces, the fletching. Set the others aside.

Using the ballpoint pen, draw the feather design on both sides of the pieces. I can’t give much advice for doing this; you’ll have to freehand it. Here’s the biggest picture of light arrows I could find for reference, as well as the design I used.

The advantage of the ballpoint pen is that, if you don’t like where one of your lines went, you can smudge it and draw over it.

Once you have traced your lines, score them with the pottery knife or other pointy-but-not-sharp object. The ballpoint pen may work for this.

Trace over your lines with the puff paint. You may want to practice with the puff paint before doing this, though if you make a mistake you can wipe it away quickly. Tip: the paint will go on much more smoothly if you shake it down to the tip of the bottle. Allow the paint to dry completely before flipping the pieces over and painting the other side.

While you are waiting for the paint to dry, you can put the arrowhead together.

Look at your two halves of A. You will hot glue the pointy, arrow-shaped parts flat against each other. Stop the glue at the widest part of the “v”.

Once the glue is cooled, you will glue the B pieces into the openings along the sides of the A pieces. The result will be a square-shaped tube. Continue hot gluing down the sides until they’re all stuck together. You will probably get hot glue on your hands while working on this, so resign yourself to it now. It’s not that bad.

Now, the boring step: the sealing. You really need to make sure that you do a good job sealing the foam, or your paint will just soak in and make an ugly texture later. Mix the fabric glue into a small amount of water until you have a liquid about the color and consistency of whole milk. I don’t bother measuring this part; the ratios don’t matter too much. You are simply watering down the glue so that it will not retain brush strokes. I recommend mixing this in a small, resealable plastic bag so that you can retain it easily between coats.

Brush this liquid onto the up-facing side of all your pieces. Allow to dry completely before applying the next coat. You can get away with as few as seven coats, but I recommend ten. This will take several days, if not a week or more. When you’re done the foam will have a noticeably smooth-looking, shiny surface that it did not have before. (It will feel slightly sticky when you touch it, though.)

Make absolutely sure that your last coat is dry before flipping the pieces over and sealing the other side. You want as little sticking as possible. In the case that your foam sticks to the newspaper underneath it, do not pull. Instead, tear the paper and leave as small a piece sticking to the foam as possible. Why? The sealant layer WILL pull off of the foam. A tiny piece of painted-over newspaper will be nearly unnoticeable, but a hole in your sealant will leave a dull spot that will really stick out.

Time to assemble the arrow. Squeeze a line of hot glue around the edge of one end of your dowel rod and shove it into the arrowhead. Get it in as far as you can; it will not go in all the way. Hold the arrowhead on straight while the glue cools. Turn the dowel rod around, put a line of glue down the straight edge of the fletching pieces, and stick them on in a + shape. I staggered the fletching with the downward-facing points of the arrowhead, but you can align them if you want. I forgot to take a picture of this step before I painted the arrow, so this next picture skips ahead a bit. You get the point.

From this point on, a clothespin clipped at the fletching end of the arrow will help the arrow sit stably on a flat surface.

To make the knot in the middle of the arrow shaft, take a small bit of air-dry clay and roll it into a short, thick rope. Wrap around the middle of the shaft. Do the same with two smaller bits of clay on either side of your first piece.

Wet your fingers and, going from the middle to the ends, blend and smooth the clay.

Allow to dry. You can help this along with a hairdryer if you’d like. If the clay cracks a bit, don’t worry about it.

You’re almost done. Take the arrow outside and spray-paint the top and sides. Bring it back inside and let it dry completely. Even if the can of spray paint says fifteen minutes like mine did, I recommend waiting a whole 24 hours before flipping the arrow over and painting the other side. If the paint sticks to the newspaper underneath it, it will pull off the paint as well as the sealant underneath it, and you will have to spend a whole lot of time re-sealing that little spot in order to re-paint it.

So, wait 24 hours, or at least several hours. Flip and spray. Allow to dry.

Go somewhere with really good light and examine the arrow. It should be very shiny, so you might not have realized if you missed a spot. I didn’t. If you missed any spots with the paint, paint over them now.

Looking good? Time to varnish. I used a paint-on varnish, but you could use a spray varnish as well. This will help keep the paint from chipping or, more likely, scratching. As before, make sure the varnish is completely dry before flipping the arrow over and varnishing the other side.

Take the arrow into good light again and check it a second time for any unpainted spots. If it’s completely gold, you’re done! If it’s not, paint and varnish those areas.

If you’ve done a good job, your arrow should stun Ganondorf plenty long enough for Link to get a good swing in with his sword.

Tutorial: How to Cast Your Head in Masking Tape

The cast resulting from this tutorial will not capture facial features well, if at all. You’ll have a vague idea where your nose and mouth are. This works best if you need something that is approximately the same size and shape as your head in order to sculpt something around it such as a helmet. Yes, you can do it all by yourself. I did. For that reason, there aren’t many photos in this tutorial, so I will do my best to explain.

You will need:

• Masking tape (duct tape may work better depending on your needs. I couldn’t find duct tape, and masking tape had the advantage of being easily tearable.)
• Pantyhose or knee-highs (at least one pair)
• One plastic shopping bag
• One styrofoam hobby head
• Pillow fluff or other stuffing (I used my crap handspun)

Do NOT put the plastic bag on your head until you prepare it. You hear me? Here’s how to prepare it.

WithOUT the plastic bag on your head, estimate the distance between your chin and the bridge of your nose. Cut a large chunk out of the plastic bag that is at least this size if not bigger. Do NOT even try putting the plastic bag on your head until you have done this.

Have you cut the chunk out? Good. Test it on your head, making SURE to position the hole over your mouth and nose. Your mouth and nose should be COMPLETELY clear of the plastic bag. If they’re not, take the bag off immediately and cut the hole bigger. You want NO PLASTIC  over ANY part of your mouth and nose. I don’t care how long you can hold your breath. Can you see the big hole? I’ve outlined it for you.

Take it off again. There’s more to prepare.

If you are using pantyhose, cut the hips out so you end up with two thigh-highs. If you are using knee-highs, cut off the band at the knee. You want that edge to be as stretchy as possible. I got a ten-pack of knee-highs at the grocery store for this purpose, for $5. You can also cut eye-holes in the bag if you think it will help. It didn’t help me.

Pull at least two knee-highs over your head. You want to have at least one that can stay on your head and one that you can cut off. You should be able to pull them down past your chin. If you can’t, cut the toe out too and layer them. This will squoosh your nose, flattening out your facial features on the final product. If you need your neck as well as your head to be cast, cut the toe out and pull it down to your neck.

If the pantyhose won’t fit over your head, you can cut them up the side and tape them inside the plastic bag to make a breathable screen. If you go this route, you should use two bags WITH SCREENS instead of one—again, one to cut off and one to protect your hair. Do NOT put a plastic bag on your head without securing your large hole for breathing.

Make sure your scissors are somewhere that you can reach them by feel. Pull the plastic bag over your head, ensuring again that the large hole leaves your nose and mouth unobstructed. Tie the handles at the base of your skull.

Cut/tear a piece of tape. This first one will go (loosely) around your neck to keep the pantyhose from riding up over your chin. It should not be so tight as to choke you; just tight enough to keep the pantyhose down. The tape will not stick well to the pantyhose. It will stick well to the plastic bag.

You should be able to breathe around the masking tape, but CHECK THIS before you go taping up your head. That said, going by feel, tape up your head. Make sure you cross pieces of tape for strength. Save the eyes and mouth for last. Here we have the one advantage of masking tape over duct tape—if you find you can’t breathe, or you’re getting claustrophobic, you can cut a small slit in the tape and tear the sucker right off your head quickly.

The taping of your head will go vastly more easily if you have a friend to assist. I could have asked someone, but I wanted to make sure it was possible to do solo. It is.

Feel all over your head. Patch up any spots where you feel plastic or nylon until it feels solid.

Find your scissors. Feel at the back of your neck until you can separate one layer of pantyhose from the next. Insert the scissors in between the two layers of pantyhose and cut carefully. You should be able to slide them up the back of your skull and cut the cast off easily. If you are very worried about your hair, you can cut a small slit in the tape and tear until you can pull the cast off.

Once the cast feels loose enough, pull it off. If you’ve done this right, the outer layer of pantyhose will go along with the tape and the inner layer will stay put. You can double-check that you didn’t cut any of your hair by checking for holes in the inner layer of pantyhose.

Shove in some pillow fluff. You don’t want very much yet.

Insert the styrofoam hobby head in your cast. Stuff in the pillow fluff to fill in any gaps. Tape up the back of the head. Make sure that the edges meet, or this head will be bigger than your real head.

This gap is far too big.

You now have an approximation of your own head.

Tutorial: How to Spin Plarn

Plarn, or plastic yarn, is becoming popular among environmentally-conscious knitters. Even though big-name stores have started putting plastic bag recycling bins outside their doors, we polymathic crafters like to do everything ourselves. (Sometimes to a fault? But even though Wilson from Home Improvement is one of my crafting heroes, I draw the line at making my own toilet paper.)

Notice that the title of this post says “How to Spin Plarn.” I’ll be taking you through the steps most people have for making plarn, and then some.

So! Plarn. Plarny plarny plarny plarny plarn. It’s made out of plastic shopping bags. So, you’ll need a big pile of them. A pile as tall as you are would be ideal, but if you like to keep your crafting to manageable proportions, I’d suggest at least 25 or so. You can always loop more on later. Just save them up whenever you go shopping—or, if you’re an overenthusiastic spinning fiend (who? me?) you can swipe/nick/gank them from the bins outside the stores. (DO rinse them off if you choose to obtain them in this manner; you’ll never know which ones were carrying raw meat.)

My pile wasn't even knee-high. Sob. But it'll do.

Flatten out the bags as nicely as you can.

Target, you owe me 50c in advertising for everyone who reads this blog entry.

Fold them in half, then in half again, however many times it takes until it’s a comfortable cutting width. Do try to get all the air out. It’ll make for more even cutting.

What perfect flatness. (Did I get the Doctor Who quote right?)

Cut the bag into one-inch strips. These don’t need to be exact; I don’t bother measuring. Just eyeball it. You will discard the top bit with the handles and, depending on how much time you feel like spending on this, the bottom bit where the plastic is fused as well. Do take the bits you discard to the big stores’ plastic bag recycling bins.

Don't worry, the bag didn't suffer any pain.

When you open these up, you’ll have plastic rings. Loop them together. When you pull the knots tight, try to avoid as much poofing of extra plastic as possible, because it will not spin out thinner. Don’t pull too hard, though, because you may stretch the plastic. If you do stretch the plastic, don’t worry too much, because you’ll be plying later.

This is a pretty good non-poofy knot.

At this point, all the other plarn tutorials I’ve found have told you to start knitting/crocheting/whatever with this stuff. But we’re not done yet. Nosireebob! Now we have what I call ploving–plastic roving. And you know what we do with roving besides rub our cheeks on it and hold it up to the light to admire it.

We’ll get there in a minute. Continue looping your ploving until:

• You run out of plastic bags, OR–
• You get tired of making ploving, OR–
• Your pile of ploving is nigh unmanageable.

This looks pretty close to unmanageable to me.

Now get out your spindle, because it’s spinning time! I recommend a Navajo spindle for ploving because of the spindle’s size/weight and the fact that it is a supported spindle. Of course, I’m also biased because I love my Navajo spindle to death and it’s the only spindle I own. Because spun ploving doesn’t hold its twist in quite the same way that normal roving does, if you don’t have a Navajo spindle, I would suggest another kind of supported spindle. I have no idea if this stuff will work on a spinning wheel.

You can either use a leader yarn to attach the ploving, or just tie it on with a good knot. I never use a leader yarn when I’m spinning wool because that’s not the way the Navajo do it. However, you’re not exactly going to get a tangle-and-spit-splice start with plastic.

Now spin. Spin, for the love of all that is soft and yarny! Spiiiiiiiin!

The spindle might be able to fit more on it, but I usually stop here because it's looking like about 100g.

Spin your ploving until:

• You run out of ploving, OR–
• You get tired of spinning, OR–
• Your spindle is full.

If you reach the end of your ploving and you want to keep spinning, it’s easy enough to loop some more onto the unspun end.

As a side note—if you’re new to spinning, plarn can be an excellent beginner’s project. Since you don’t have to worry about drafting, it can help you get the motion of the actual spinning down.

Now ply. I recommend a Navajo ply for plarn because I think it’s easier and tends to come out stronger. It also produces a superbulky-weight plarn, which is what I want. If you want lighter plarn, you’ll need to use a standard two-ply method.

Hello there, I'm plarn now. Aren't I gorgeous?

Take the plarn off the spindle. (Duh.) Measure yardage if you want. Weigh if you want. Skein or wind into a ball if you want. You’re ready to knit/crochet with it.

This is the resulting skein of plarn from this tutorial.

And this is a different skein of plarn I've made.

I try to spin about 100g of plarn each time because that’s the most common weight of a skein of yarn. However, my yardage varies quite a bit due to thickness of various plastic bags. The plarn from this tutorial was 100g and only 12 yards; another skein I’ve made was 100g and 30 yards.

Plarn knits up into excellent shopping bags. Not only does the irony make me giggle, but they’re good for putting raw meat in as you can wash them off very easily.