Lord Zen
07-13-2013, 06:58 AM
Hi Everyone,
I thought I would share my first attempt at weathering.
I decided to test this on a spare blade holder before trying it on a full lightsaber:
http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y420/LordZenSaber/th_IMG_1403_zpsc8a5e053.jpg (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/LordZenSaber/media/IMG_1403_zpsc8a5e053.jpg.html)
http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y420/LordZenSaber/th_IMG_1401_zpsd760a2c4.jpg (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/LordZenSaber/media/IMG_1401_zpsd760a2c4.jpg.html)
http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y420/LordZenSaber/th_IMG_1400_zps24366e6f.jpg (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/LordZenSaber/media/IMG_1400_zps24366e6f.jpg.html)
http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y420/LordZenSaber/IMG_1402_zpsc2ca2fe8.jpg (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/LordZenSaber/media/IMG_1402_zpsc2ca2fe8.jpg.html)
I was aiming for a used, worn look of a saber that was still cared for - as opposed to one abandoned to the ravages of time.
So the aluminium is dulled a little, and the grooves have gathered a little grime.
Also, as this is the "business end" of the lightsaber, I wanted it to look like it had been exposed to the imagined heat of a blade. So some sort of charing effect on the inside and slight blackening at the end.
The gear section behind was left untreated, so I would have a before and after comparison.
This was quite an experimental approach, so I will detail what I tried below:
I cleaned the aluminium with white spirit, making sure I had my trusty latex gloves on - to avoid any untoward interaction between my skin and chemicals.
Once clean, I tried neat Aluminium Black (AB) applied into the grooves using a Q-tip, or ear-bud as we call them in the old-world.
I found that this applied the Aluminium Black too much to the outside of the grooves, and not enough inside - giving the strange look that the grooves were cleaner than the outer edges. I flushed the AB off the emitter by dunking the whole thing in a water pot.
I then tried neat AB via a Q-tip in the area between gear section and grooves. This coloured the metal really quickly and it ended up patchy and not at all realistic looking.
Again, cleaning off in the water pot and using an old cloth to dry.
Next I used the AB within the inside of the blade emitter, and left it for some time while making circular motions to keep the application even. This created a pleasing charred metal look.
To give some visual interest I used a sharp point to make tiny divits and cuts along the edge of the blade holder opening, and a couple of surface scratches. Followed up with a quick swab of a Q-tip dipped in AB followed by dipping it in water. This caused the AB to react slower, and flow better into the scratches. Before it became too dark I wiped the remainder off with a cloth an dunked the emitter in water.
I then decided to use a diluted mix of 10:1 Water:Aluminium Black and stood the blade emitter in the mixture for about 4mins. This really blackened up the end point of the emitter. A little too much in my opinion.
For the grooves that weren't submerged in the 10:1 mix I used the Q-tip to apply the mixture. The diluted form allowed for a more controlled application.
Not entirely happy how black some parts had become I used P600 wet and dry to lightly sand off the top levels - this gave a lovely dull finish to the look.
And that was the best learning - if I really messed up the look, as I had in places, I could "reset" it all with the sand paper. This gives a great freedom to try things out.
Then, a couple of applications of 10:1 mix in places, especially the join to the gear and it was done
So, that was my experiment with weathering. I was happy with the result, and how close it was to what I was aiming for
Thanks for reading
I thought I would share my first attempt at weathering.
I decided to test this on a spare blade holder before trying it on a full lightsaber:
http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y420/LordZenSaber/th_IMG_1403_zpsc8a5e053.jpg (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/LordZenSaber/media/IMG_1403_zpsc8a5e053.jpg.html)
http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y420/LordZenSaber/th_IMG_1401_zpsd760a2c4.jpg (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/LordZenSaber/media/IMG_1401_zpsd760a2c4.jpg.html)
http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y420/LordZenSaber/th_IMG_1400_zps24366e6f.jpg (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/LordZenSaber/media/IMG_1400_zps24366e6f.jpg.html)
http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y420/LordZenSaber/IMG_1402_zpsc2ca2fe8.jpg (http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/LordZenSaber/media/IMG_1402_zpsc2ca2fe8.jpg.html)
I was aiming for a used, worn look of a saber that was still cared for - as opposed to one abandoned to the ravages of time.
So the aluminium is dulled a little, and the grooves have gathered a little grime.
Also, as this is the "business end" of the lightsaber, I wanted it to look like it had been exposed to the imagined heat of a blade. So some sort of charing effect on the inside and slight blackening at the end.
The gear section behind was left untreated, so I would have a before and after comparison.
This was quite an experimental approach, so I will detail what I tried below:
I cleaned the aluminium with white spirit, making sure I had my trusty latex gloves on - to avoid any untoward interaction between my skin and chemicals.
Once clean, I tried neat Aluminium Black (AB) applied into the grooves using a Q-tip, or ear-bud as we call them in the old-world.
I found that this applied the Aluminium Black too much to the outside of the grooves, and not enough inside - giving the strange look that the grooves were cleaner than the outer edges. I flushed the AB off the emitter by dunking the whole thing in a water pot.
I then tried neat AB via a Q-tip in the area between gear section and grooves. This coloured the metal really quickly and it ended up patchy and not at all realistic looking.
Again, cleaning off in the water pot and using an old cloth to dry.
Next I used the AB within the inside of the blade emitter, and left it for some time while making circular motions to keep the application even. This created a pleasing charred metal look.
To give some visual interest I used a sharp point to make tiny divits and cuts along the edge of the blade holder opening, and a couple of surface scratches. Followed up with a quick swab of a Q-tip dipped in AB followed by dipping it in water. This caused the AB to react slower, and flow better into the scratches. Before it became too dark I wiped the remainder off with a cloth an dunked the emitter in water.
I then decided to use a diluted mix of 10:1 Water:Aluminium Black and stood the blade emitter in the mixture for about 4mins. This really blackened up the end point of the emitter. A little too much in my opinion.
For the grooves that weren't submerged in the 10:1 mix I used the Q-tip to apply the mixture. The diluted form allowed for a more controlled application.
Not entirely happy how black some parts had become I used P600 wet and dry to lightly sand off the top levels - this gave a lovely dull finish to the look.
And that was the best learning - if I really messed up the look, as I had in places, I could "reset" it all with the sand paper. This gives a great freedom to try things out.
Then, a couple of applications of 10:1 mix in places, especially the join to the gear and it was done
So, that was my experiment with weathering. I was happy with the result, and how close it was to what I was aiming for
Thanks for reading