Two Projects, One Productive Night

Some nights in the workshop are all about one build. Other nights, I end up jumping between projects, and tonight was one of those evenings.

The biggest milestone was the **final painting session** on Leia's Meliodas sword. I had to mix the green paint from scratch because I didn't have quite the right shade on hand. After a bit of experimenting, I finally landed on a colour I'm really happy with.

Peeling off the masking tape is always one of those nervous moments. You never quite know whether it's going to reveal a crisp paint line or lift half your hard work with it! Thankfully everything came away nicely, apart from one tiny spot where the tape lifted a little paint. Fortunately it was small enough that I could colour-match it and touch it up without it being noticeable.

One thing that really surprised me tonight was how much difference a simple clean made. After wiping the blade down with a damp cloth and buffing it dry, the metallic finish suddenly came alive. It reflected the light far better than it had before, almost like the paint had taken on a whole new finish.

I did spend a few minutes debating whether to weather the sword. Personally, I think a little battle wear would have looked fantastic, but this sword belongs to my daughter, and she wanted it to match the rest of her collection. In the end, I left it looking clean and fresh from the forge, and I think that was the right decision.

Tomorrow morning brings the final challenge—the Japanese-style handle wrap. It's something I've never attempted before, but after years of making whips I'm curious to see how much those skills will carry across. It'll be an interesting experiment.

While the sword was reaching the finish line, the **Chainsaw Man** project quietly reached a major milestone of its own.

After what feels like weeks of sanding, I've finally finished smoothing the UV resin on every single part of the costume. It's a huge relief to have that stage behind me because it means the entire build is now ready for high-build primer.

The plan for this weekend is to move the car out of the garage, lay down a large drop sheet and spray every piece at the same time. After that, it'll be another week of sanding the primer before I can finally move on to the stage I've been looking forward to the most—painting.

It's satisfying to have one project almost finished while another is getting so close to that exciting painting stage. Nights like this remind me that even when progress feels slow, those small steps really do add up.

**Have you ever found yourself working on two completely different projects at the same time? Or do you prefer to finish one before starting the next? I'd love to hear how you tackle your own workshop projects.**