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Description
Alright! Continuing from last week's update in which I showed my original sketches and plans for my Flying Dragon Katana (shown here if you missed it), here are all the pieces in more or less finished state. It was my first time making all the various bits and pieces that go into authentic katana. And it was also my first time molding some parts in silicone rubber and casting them in resin.

I'll go ahead and describe the fittings from left to right. On the far left on the top picture would be the habaki. This is the final piece I used cast from resin. The original was made from two pieces of aspen carved out to hug the blade. The piece to the right of the habaki would be the first seppa. It too was originally carved out of aspen and then cast in resin. It has those two curves in the upper-left and lower-right corners because the clouds on the tsuba ended up too close together by accident when I glued them. The next fitting would be the tsuba. Which, again, was originally cut from aspen with balsa detailing for the raised lip and more aspen for the clouds. I actually only made the top half of the tsuba for the molding process. This way I could just cast two of the halves and glue them together to make it perfect. The second seppa is another resin casting of the first, making it a perfect match.

Obviously, the next piece to the right of the tsuba is the tsuka which is no different from others I have made, except for the extra mekugi pin hole I made. Below the tsuka on the left would be the fuchi, the top collar piece, which was made from one 1/4 in. thick piece of aspen glued ontop of a hollow piece of 1/2 piece of aspen which fits around the top of the tsuka. Next to the fuchi are the two mekugi pins I cut from a pine dowel. And the last piece on the end would be the kashira which was made from two 1/2 in. pieces of aspen. One was hollow to fit around the tsuka and had a small rectangle filed out to fit the tsuka-ito (I used bias-tape, ha!) through. The other piece was just a plain piece that I sanded to shape.

The last pic is a shot of the two menuki I made to decorate the tsuka. First time I had ever bothered to make a menuki. They're made of three layers of styrene plastic (I forgot how thick the plastic was, but it was very thin; down to millimeters) because I was worried that if I tried to make it out of wood it would break too easily, being so thin. It was my first time using styrene for something like this and I feel that I was fairly successful at it. These pieces, too, were molded and cast in resin.

Welp, I apologize for the long description, but I feel I might as well lay out some information for the curious. I hope you all found this interesting or enlightening. I'm rather proud of the work I put into these.

Finished Product

Description
Alright! Continuing from last week's update in which I showed my original sketches and plans for my Flying Dragon Katana (shown here if you missed it), here are all the pieces in more or less finished state. It was my first time making all the various bits and pieces that go into authentic katana. And it was also my first time molding some parts in silicone rubber and casting them in resin.

I'll go ahead and describe the fittings from left to right. On the far left on the top picture would be the habaki. This is the final piece I used cast from resin. The original was made from two pieces of aspen carved out to hug the blade. The piece to the right of the habaki would be the first seppa. It too was originally carved out of aspen and then cast in resin. It has those two curves in the upper-left and lower-right corners because the clouds on the tsuba ended up too close together by accident when I glued them. The next fitting would be the tsuba. Which, again, was originally cut from aspen with balsa detailing for the raised lip and more aspen for the clouds. I actually only made the top half of the tsuba for the molding process. This way I could just cast two of the halves and glue them together to make it perfect. The second seppa is another resin casting of the first, making it a perfect match.

Obviously, the next piece to the right of the tsuba is the tsuka which is no different from others I have made, except for the extra mekugi pin hole I made. Below the tsuka on the left would be the fuchi, the top collar piece, which was made from one 1/4 in. thick piece of aspen glued ontop of a hollow piece of 1/2 piece of aspen which fits around the top of the tsuka. Next to the fuchi are the two mekugi pins I cut from a pine dowel. And the last piece on the end would be the kashira which was made from two 1/2 in. pieces of aspen. One was hollow to fit around the tsuka and had a small rectangle filed out to fit the tsuka-ito (I used bias-tape, ha!) through. The other piece was just a plain piece that I sanded to shape.

The last pic is a shot of the two menuki I made to decorate the tsuka. First time I had ever bothered to make a menuki. They're made of three layers of styrene plastic (I forgot how thick the plastic was, but it was very thin; down to millimeters) because I was worried that if I tried to make it out of wood it would break too easily, being so thin. It was my first time using styrene for something like this and I feel that I was fairly successful at it. These pieces, too, were molded and cast in resin.

Welp, I apologize for the long description, but I feel I might as well lay out some information for the curious. I hope you all found this interesting or enlightening. I'm rather proud of the work I put into these.

Finished Product