I spent the past two months making a pair of swords for the kids.
The Inspiration
A few months ago, when I began making Fei Xue, I struggled with how few reference images existed. In both the movie and the adapted manhua, the sword was featured in significantly fewer scenes than Can Jian, and none of the shots focused closely on the sword itself. In order to supplement my knowledge with what swords from that era are supposed to look like, I turned to Pinterest.
After sampling a few dozen modern interpretations of Han Jian, or sword from around the Han Dynasty, I yearned more for my own creative expression than merely copying another fictional weapon from a movie. But I also needed a theme. After already having a full collection of weapon replicas by my desk, the next project needed to be designed for someone else to be meaningful. I asked if the girls would each like a sword of their own and was met with excitement. That was my answer, then – a pair of sister swords. I pressed on to complete Fei Xue, although by this point it had become a mere practice run for my next project.
The Design
Tailoring this project for Xuan and Ting meant kid sizes. I took some measurements and scaled down standard Han Jian proportions to just 80cm and 75cm in total length. It was a departure from my previous projects that were intentionally exaggerated in size.
The two swords are different in size but have the same proportions, to symbolize the sisters who people often mistaken for twins. I had initially contemplated making them identical for an easier manufacturing process. But the girls protested, demanding their age and height difference be taken into consideration. It was a good call.
On the other hand, the coloring had to have a strong contrast in order to reflect their opposite personalities. The decision was blue and white for my considerate, gentle, and studious older child, and red and black for the mischievous, creative, and daring little one. These color pairs may have subconsciously originated from Mo Dao Zu Shi, because Xuan is so much like Lan Wangji and Ting is basically Wei Wuxian. When our family started watching Avatar: the Last Airbender, we also explained the color schemes as Water Tribe and Fire Nation, the girls’ respective choice of element. However you think about it, the color choices matched the two of them perfectly.
These sister swords are of the 周式劍 Zhou style (a.k.a. 漢劍 Han Jian) from 2 millennia ago, during the transition period between bronze and iron ages in China. That was a no-brainer because I find the less ancient varieties of Chinese swords rather unattractive. My art history lesson from Baidu taught me about the components of these swords, particularly the decorative pieces that used to be made of jade (for the super upper class, anyway). For once, I stepped away from being a manhua fanboy into the realms of cultural heritage.
From top to bottom: 劍首 Jian Shou, 劍格 Jian Ge, [the top of the sheath doesn’t have a name], 劍璏 Jian Zhi, 劍珌 Jian Bi.
I was very excited to visit the National Palace Museum (故宮博物院) in Taiwan during spring break and see these 2,000-year-old artifacts. Yes, my painted cardboard pieces do correspond with these jade carvings.
The font and animal patterns used are also from the corresponding era. The font is pretty, but so old that many characters aren’t recognizable to the average person today. The dragon and tiger can be found as decorative patterns on bronze artifacts from the museum’s “beginning of Chinese civilization” section. Both took some practice to get right.
On the technical side of design, I wanted the key components of the swords to feel “real”. A legit sword has to be full tang, meaning the blade is a single piece of steel extending the length of the hilt, with the handle attached on the outside. It was a lot of extra work but I managed to make the 劍格 Jian Ge (crossguard) a solid connecting piece with the blade tunnel on one end and hilt tunnel on the other. These swords can be assembled and taken apart without needing any tools or glue. It’s extremely satisfying, and sets the bar higher for my future projects.
The Construction
The blades were made with Gift of College gift cards in the core, to ingrain my wish for my children’s future into these dress-up props. Compared to Fei Xue, I used more plastic and less cardboard to achieve an even thinner body. Then I sprayed these with a chrome paint.
The sheath was a challenge for precision, and the part of project that I was most concerned about not being able to pull off. It had to fit around a long and skinny blade. Too loose and it would look out of proportion; too tight and it would jam. I was lucky to have some glossy hardened cardboard on hand, else it’d be hard to hold shape at this length. Still, cutting those 0.4mm strips from Amazon boxes was a headache-inducing chore. Before closing it up, I covered the insides with a layer of duct tape to provide a smooth surface for the blade to slide in and out. The textured black color enhanced the look, too (though you can’t see much of it).
From there, it was decorating with a ton of small cardboard pieces, including the Jian Ge that I’m super proud of.
Then it was painting time. What I thought to be a quick step lasted two full weeks. Each pair of dragon or tiger took more than 30 minutes, so all the animal patterns alone was 6-7 hours of labor. I did some of it during Zoom calls, but it still felt like forever. Shout out to my brand new box of metallic acrylic paints. The blue and red looked beautiful!
Among what I looked forward to most was the 劍璏 Jian Zhi, the rectangle at the middle of the sheath also known as 劍鼻 Jian Bi (sword nose). It’s conventionally not just a decorative plate but also a belt clip. I needed to make a skinny U-shaped piece so it could be attached to the sheath with a cord, and was pretty sure no cardboard would be sturdy enough for this purpose. Back to gift cards, then! A lot of precision cutting was required, and I managed to slice right into a finger while doing this.
The very last step was cord wrapping, a common finish on both Asian and European swords. It is applied to the hilt for grip and sometimes also on the sheath. The nylon cords I got from Amazon had a nice shine but were slightly thinner than I hoped for. As a result, the wrapping took a while. On the outside of each sheath are two layers of roughly 80 loops… so that’s 320+ times wrapping around the sheaths!
The Completed Sister Swords
This is the most satisfactory project so far in my cardboard blacksmithing career. The two swords are color-coordinated, detailed, and technically precise. They make my early projects look real amateur in comparison.
Swords in:
Swords out:
Look at that nice fit!
Scope Creep: Sword Rack
As the swords slowly came together, I started wondering how they should be stored or displayed. The work-in-progress sat on a table in the office, but that wouldn’t be a long-term solution. They needed a dedicated rack. This parallel project began while I worked on the finishing touches on the swords.
This turned out to be a quick, easy, and yet very satisfying side quest. The ultra-premium double-layer cardboard, that our fancy new toilets came with earlier this year, was so nice to work with. Like the sword itself, I made the rack modular so it can be assembled without glue. With a wood-colored finish and some felt padding, it looked like real furniture.
The words read 侯女劍, or Hou Girls Swords.
The Cost
This project was on the splurge-y side:
- White, chrome, and brown spray paints: $27
- Twenty-color box of metallic acrylic paints: $20
- Black and white nylon cords: $13
- Total: $60
Some of the materials used were vehicles for some high-value stuff, such as the gift cards that transferred ~$6,000 in 529 account funding, and extra-sturdy cardboard box that contained our new Toto washlet toilet.
The Ownership Transfer
After two months of backbreaking labor, it came time to gift the swords to the girls. It’s generally hard to trust another adult to handle these creations that I poured my heart and soul into, and it was honestly a scary thought to be handing such delicate pieces of artwork to a couple of preteens. But, of course, these swords have been theirs since the conception. I cut into the very first piece of cardboard knowing that I will trust their handling of the finished product. Much like how the girls will one day grow up and leave home, my work is done and the rest is up to them.
It was worth it to see their excited happy faces.
The Forge Continues:
All together:
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