Miniature makers of the arena: how to make a sword?

[Mewtwofan1]

Hi! This isn’t exactly pony related, so feel free to move if it doesn’t belong.
    I’m working on my next doll, and this character has a sword. I could make her without the sword, but she is a knight. So the sword is somewhat important. Thing is, I tried to make a sword out of clay and it fell to bits when I tried painting it. Yeah, not sure quite what happened. But now I turn to you. How does one make a miniature sword that looks like this? I can paint, just need help making the structure itself.
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[BlackCurtains]

What kind of clay did you use?

[banditpony]

I used 2 part epoxy putties when I used to sculpt stuff...

http://www.scalewarmachines.com/allcontent/tamiya-quick-type-putty
^ That kind specifically.

[Mewtwofan1]

What kind of clay did you use?

I used air dry clay, since it’s the only real sculpting medium I have hon hand.

I used 2 part epoxy putties when I used to sculpt stuff...

http://www.scalewarmachines.com/allcontent/tamiya-quick-type-putty
^ That kind specifically.

Oh! I’ll have a look at that. I am thinking of some sort of epoxy stuff, since the clay didn’t seem to work so well on such a small scale.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Air dry clay tends to be more miss than hit for me, at least the varieties I get tend to crumple. I would second an epoxy putty of some sort, but I wonder if sculpey could fair about as well if it is more easily at your disposal.

[Griffin]

I've made swords for custom ponies using Apoxie Sculpt - it's not brittle and can be carved and sanded after curing.

https://www.deviantart.com/haawan/art/Renji-II-316892772
https://www.deviantart.com/haawan/art/Princess-Zelda-251767742
(I don't have better close up pics of the accessories, sorry!)

[BlackCurtains]

I've worked with Apoxie Sculpt and polymer clay and I much prefer the clay, especially for miniatures. I'd try Premo if you can find that. It's not too soft or too firm.

[Thimble]

You could also experiment with UV resin and a mold of your apoxie-sculpted sword. It's strong and you could get that transparent gradient effect with various techniques. I have seen some really cool minis done that way. And a bonus of making a mold is that you can make several copies and pick the best one.
If resin isn't your cup of tea, I'd suggest looking up some miniature weapons tutorials on youtube
e, there's tons of really great ideas and how-to there.
And the low effort version: I usually cannibalize a sword from another figure. You can get some very cool ones with anime toys. A little tweaking and you could customize an existing blade.

[Aeryala]

The Tamiya epoxy putty should work just fine; if it crumbles after drying, it was not mixed properly or it might be old or something.  It's very important that the two components are equal proportions and that they are completely blended together.  You could also use a toothpick or a wire or something for structural stability.

[Mewtwofan1]

Thanks for all the recommendations! I will look into epoxy sculpt in th future, but for now I think I have a solution. I found a company that 3d prints objects, and have ordered a toothpick length sword.