Okay, so it might be a little bit dated, but there's a chance I'm a few years older than some of you. As a 24 year old girl, I look back upon SC2 very fondly and remember kicking butt and taking names in many tourneys amongst friends many, many nights of my life.

One of my personal favorite characters in the Soul Calibur saga is Voldo, who fights with dual handed katars and is more of a dancing warrior than anything else. His move set is almost like a graceful, yet deadly ballet- made especially so by his weapons, all of which have special names. His default set of katars, as many of you probably know, are called Manus & Ayus.

Fun fact: Manus and Ayus are both names. Manus meaning "great" in Gaelic; Ayus meaning "age" or "life" in Sanskrit. So, for this project, I was happy to recreate them with some simple household items. Here's how!

Note: There is a video tutorial for this project, coming tomorrow, a the bottom of this page.

Materials needed:

• 8 paper towel rolls (full size, any brand)
• Masking tape (A LOT of it)
• Duct tape (do not skimp- grab a fresh roll if you're almost out)
• Scissors
• X-acto blade
• Hot glue gun
• No. 2 or soft 2b pencil
• Foam board (about 2 sheets)
• Tracing paper
• A ruler
• sandpaper
• VERY fine tip brush
• 1/8 th to 1/4 th in. flat tip brush
• Silver spray paint (flat or metallic* is your choice- you can also use acrylic or enamel for this part)
• Metallic* gold paint or a gold leafing pen (we used Krylon brand gold leafing pen in 18kt)
• Burgundy or wine colored acrylic paint
• Flat gold acrylic paint
• Metallic* bronze enamel (or acrylic)
• Paint thinner ONLY if you're using enamel
• Foam (approx. a 6x10" piece) If you do not have foam, you can use anything you can find that is circular and able to be painted over.
• Approx. 4 feet of telephone wire
• *Generally, metallic paint is always a better choice for mimicking metal*

•  First, print out the template for the plate design and the blades. Set them aside- you'll need these later on. (The Template is right here)

Take a paper towel roll and measure it lengthwise. Cut a 6" piece, then split that down the middle with your scissors.

As shown in the video (bottom of this page), roll the cardboard up into itself, making a tighter tube. Cover it in masking tape to keep it in place. You will need to do this step TWO (2) times, because these are the handles for the katars.

Now, take a full sized paper towel roll and cut it lengthwise. Repeat the same steps to roll this cardboard tube into a tighter tube like you did before and once again cover the entire thing in masking tape. You will need a total of FOUR (4) of these to start. Two for each katar.

Now you should have 4 long tubes and 2 short tubes- excellent. Grab two long tubes and one short tube- it's time to assemble them!

On each long tube, use your ruler to measure 6 inches down (from the top) and mark it with a pencil. This is where you're going to put the handle.

Take the handle and line it up where you marked 6 inches on the long tubes. Make sure you like that placement- if you don't always remember this is your project and you have full creative control. Put the handle where ever you feel it looks best. Assuming you like the tutorial placement, grab your pencil again and mark a semi-circle shape on each end of the horizontal handle. The video shows some good detail shots of this process. The reason for this step is because you're going to cut out those semi-circles, giving the longer tubes a place to nestle in the handle where you'll be gluing them in the next step.

PLEASE READ A AND B BELOW.

a. The semi-circle shapes should be roughly the size of the tubes that are going to nestle into them. So, in this instance, approximately a half-inch wide. Sizes will probably vary, use your best judgment.

b. It should also be noted that you want the tubes on the side to angle slightly inward as shown in the videos. Making a shape that is literally half-way between the letter A and the letter H. See video for more details.

Using the hot glue gun, apply a liberal amount of glue to the shapes you just cut out in the handle, and line the top of the handle up with the 6" mark on your longer tubes. Adhere the pieces together. Do this on both sides. You will probably need to apply a very thick layer of glue around the whole seam where the pieces join together. The more glue the better, really. So use as much as you need until you feel they are securely stuck together.

•  Repeat this exact process with the other set of tubes you set aside.

Let's continue with this tutorial

Soul Calibur II After the ancient sword called Soul Edge was broken to pieces, the shards were scattered across the world. The mighty weapon that destroyed it, Soul Calibur, has since disappeared -- and the evil magic of the sword has begun reasserting itself.

• Become any of the warriors from the original monster hit, or two new characters, as you seek the fragments of Soul Edge and the secret of Soul Calibur's disappearance
• Face the greatest hand-to-hand fighters in the world and use your combos and techniques to eliminate them from the playing field
• Battle your way up the ranks as you follow the fascinating storylines of each character

McFarlane Toys Soul Calibur 2 Boxed Action Figure Voldo

The premiere fighting game of all time moves to the next level. Hand-to-hand combat as art. Game-based action figures include beautifully detailed base and weapons.

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