My Little Pony; Starlight Glimmers' Staff Cosplay Prop

Starlight Glimmer, from the My Little Pony franchise is outright my favorite pony out of all of them, and as any reasonable person with a hyper-fixation does, they make random cosplays.

Mod podge

Tin foil

Scissors

Painters tape (thin or thick)

Newspaper

Scrap newspaper/paper

One long paper towel roll: ~29 inch OR around 5-6 small toilet rolls

Four more small toilet rolls

Hot glue (optional based off of decisions for certain steps)

Unroll the original shape of the toilet paper roll and re-curl it into a cone-ish shape or a thinner and longer roll, then, make sure to secure the shape with painters tape or hotglue.

Stick both cones into one end of the long/longest cardboard roll (or one end of the 5-6 built up cardboard rolls if you do not have a long one) in a Y position. To secure the thin cones, add extra tape around and between the rolls and larger roll to keep it mostly in place and to add a smooth transition from roll to roll. You can also use hotglue to secure it in place although I would still recommend using painters tape to make the transition between the rolls for later steps.

Do the same rolling process for two more toilet paper rolls, the connect and secure them on top of the other cones, slightly pointed outward like a Y but a bit more upright. Secure then again with painters tape, or hotglue and painters tape. As I did, you can also re-secure it all together with a wider/thicker painters tape all around it to hold them all in place better.

Always step back to look at your work whenever you find it necessary or need a break.

Stuff in scrap newspaper, yarn, paper, stuffing, ect into the bottom of the longest roll. This step is meant to help make sure the prop - when finished - doesn't bend easily. Use a longer tool, like scissors or a longer stick to push the material and scraps all the way down the roll to make sure it is fully filled. After fully filling the roll, you can simply tape it up with painters tape or you can used a round-ish ball made of painters tape (shown in image) to push into the bottom and tape it. This ball is not intended to fit all the way in but is meant to make a smooth-ish transition for the end of the prop instead of just a flat bottom.

Crumple up different lengths of tin foil, the same kind used for food, into lumpy or round shapes depending on how you want it to look. Be sure that if you want the prop to be a 360 prop, to add this to both the back and the front of the prop, one crumple of tin foil can reach off onto the other side of it to give not only a smoother transition between lumps, but to also make sure that not only one side has these details on it.

As I had to do multiple times throughout this project, I took a moment to step back and to see if I wanted to add anything, and as many would- I did. I decided that the top Y shape needed a smoother transition from the thick lumps to the thin extension, and overall needed to be thick for stability reasons, to thicken it I simply wrapped around as much tin foil as I desired, and taped over it with painters tape.

For one of the final steps, you need Mod Podge or a different kind of glue that can hold paper for a long period of time / permanently. Hot glue will NOT work for this step. Use scrap paper, newspaper, and or magazines, though I do not recommend using magazine scrap since it hasn't stuck well to other projects I have used it for in the past. Ripping up or cutting up whatver you decide to used into smaller and medium size pieces will also made applying easier.

(THIS STEP IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL, I DID IT ONLY BECAUSE I DECIDED IT WOULD HELP THE STRUCTURE OF MY PROP) While applying my paper scraps with mod podge onto my prop, I realized that the top of my prop wasn't as straight as I would've liked it since the characters is a Y shape, but instead of going straight outward, it went directly upward halfway into the outward shape. I hot-glued a thick wire, bent to my desired shape/structure to the inside of my prop, making sure it was securely in place before going over it with my paper scraps how I was with the rest of my prop.

Do as many layers as you deem necessary! I had to do more layers around the lumps and where my wire was because I wanted it to be smoother in some places and end in rough edges in other places, and many places didn't need as much layering as other places did, in my opinion. If you think you should do another layer, go at it! Once you are finished with this step, make sure all edges of the scraps are held/secured down, don't be afraid to apply more mod podge or glue to keep it that way! (also say hi to Nalu :))

After the glue has dried, and you have enough paint, paint! It could take up the 2-5 layers of paint, depending on how thick the paint is, until you have a sold color, if you wish to add the illusion of texture without hafting to paint it on you can always use darker or lighter shades of crayons!

Add anything else you feel like! I added some leather strips with beads from an old hiking stick, although you can add something else, or nothing at all!