Tag Archives: Doctor Who

First Links After the Eclipse

Star Wars set decorator who ‘cobbled together’ props reflects on film 40 years later – Roger Christian, one of the prop makers and set decorators on the original Star Wars film, takes a look back at how he made some of the most iconic props of the franchise.

Stage Properties student lives the dream behind the scenes – The University of North Carolina School of the Arts blog highlights one of their props students and where she worked over the summer.

The Death Of Local Craftsmanship Is Causing Problems For Costume Designers – Though this article is about costume design, you can see a similar thing happening with props. As more manufacturing moves overseas, we are left with less local craftspeople and shops who can fulfill our needs under the crazy time constraints of our jobs.

Genesis of the Cybermen – Part Six: Designing the new series Cybermen – WhoSFX takes a look at the team who designed the current Cybermen for Doctor Who.  They show how the design went from sketch to model to final product.

Turning Your Garage Into an Intergalactic Weapons Factory, with Prop & Model Maker Bill Doran – The “Busy Creator” podcast interviews Bill Doran, aka Punished Props, who has turned his cosplay and prop-making hobby into a full-fledged business in Seattle.

Fridays at the Props Shop

CinemaBlend checks out what’s actually in the fake cocaine actors snort in movies. Apparently it’s too tough on the budget to use real cocaine.

Jeremy Armstrong, the props master for Girl Meets World, has a Periscope where you can watch his daily prop adventures. If you don’t know what Periscope is, it’s like an Instagram with video.

Ever wonder how they make and pump Dalek goo on Doctor Who? I didn’t either, but this video from the BBC shows you how.

“She’s a hunter, a gatherer, a fixer, an artist, a craftsman and a wizard.” Find out what a prop master’s job entails. Hint: it involves a combination of skills.

Doctor Who Sword Cane Handle

Last spring, I was approached by a local pastor for a project. He walked with a cane, and he had found a sword cane he liked, but the handle had broken off. He wanted to know if I could make him a new one.

He was a dedicated Doctor Who fan, and wanted a handle in the shape of a question mark. He also wanted his name inscribed in Gallifreyan on it, and painted in Midnight Metallic Blue to match his Doctor Who-themed automobile.

I put together a video highlighting my whole process from start to finish.

I made the handle out of some of the ash I had left over from my Game of Thrones chest. This handle would need to be strong and hold a lot of weight. The shape of the question mark made me concerned that parts of it would split no matter which way I positioned the grain. I decided to laminate two thinner pieces together with the grains running perpendicular to each other.

Preparing the boards
Preparing the boards

As you can see in the video, the shape was cut out with a jigsaw and cleaned up with a belt sander and oscillating spindle sander. I then ran it through the router table with a large round-over bit.

Cut and rounded
Cut and rounded

A Dremel and a file helped clean up and refine the shape. If you are wondering about that strange file in the video, it is a Japanese saw file. I had just gotten it and this was my first project to use it on. It rasps like butter and is easy to keep unclogged.

He wanted his name carved in Gallifreyan. Gallifrey is Doctor Who’s home planet, and the language uses a series of interlocking circles and lines to write words. I found an online Gallifreyan transliterator and plugged his name in. I adapted the result to fit the shape of the handle, and mirrored it so it was the same on both sides.

Primed
Primed

It took a few coats of filler primer and a lot of sanding to get it smooth and shiny. The last pass was a wet sanding with 600 grit sandpaper. Then I sprayed a few light coats of the Midnight Metallic Blue paint which I had ordered from an automotive paint supplier. The paint also came with its own urethane clear coat, which I applied when everything was dry.

Doctor Who Sword Cane Handle
Doctor Who Sword Cane Handle

I threaded the end onto the sword part of the cane and glued it together with epoxy. He loved the final piece. So the next time you see a preacher in the woods fighting off snakes with his Doctor Who sword cane, you know where he got it from.