As a final project for Minecraft Month over at CairdyCrafts, we will be making diamond swords out of foam board! Check out the video below for a step by step video guide to go with this Instructable!

Edit: There may be a bonus Minecraft project coming out this coming Friday! Stay tuned...

Step 1: Collect Your Tools and Materials

For this project, you will need these tools and materials:

Download the sword templates from this step and print out in colour.
- Enlarging them to A3 gives you a nice size for your finished sword, but A4 works just as well.
- Printing on glossy paper adds a real sheen to the sword!
- Make sure you have:
  - 2 coloured sword templates
  - If printing A3: 4 black and white sword templates
  - If printing A4: 2 black and white sword templates
  - 1 sheet of tabs
1 A2 sheet of 5mm foamboard
Metal ruler (at least 50cm)
Scissors
Xacto/Stanley/Craft knife
Healing cutting board
Tacky glue stick
Or Hot glue gun with spare glue sticks (not necessary)
A couple of hours!

With tools and materials all sorted, let's begin!

Diamond sword templates separate tabs.docx
Download

Step 2: Cut Out Your Templates

First, use your scissors to cut out all your sword and tab templates.

When you're done, separate the tabs into like-coloured piles and set the tabs and coloured templates aside for later.

Step 3: Prepare and Cut Your Foam Board Swords

Next, take your black and white sword templates...

4 if you're working with A3
2 if you're working with A4

...and use your tacky glue stick to attach them onto your foam board.

You can actually line up the notches on the swords to save space on the foam board!

Next, using your metal ruler and Xacto/Stanley/Craft knife, carefully cut along all the black lines to cut out the swords.

You may find you need to flip the foam board over and go over your cuts to finish them off!

Step 4: Join Your Sword Pieces Together

Next up, take your 2/4 sword pieces and your tacky glue stick.

Take one of the sword pieces and apply a generous amount of glue to one side.

While it's tacky, press another sword piece on top and apply gentle but firm pressure for around 10 seconds.

Then, apply glue to the top of your stacked sword again and press your 3rd foam sword on top.

Finally, glue the face off the top of your stack and add your final sword.

Hey presto, a stacked foam board sword!

Now, it's time to make it a DIAMOND sword!

Step 5: Add Your Tabs to the Sides

Now comes the most time-consuming part. I recommend an episode of CSI in the background :)

Take your stack of tabs and one of the coloured sword templates.

Using the coloured template as a guide, glue each tab and wrap it around each square edge of the sword.

As a general guide:

Light blue tabs: Sword blade
Dark blue tabs: Sword hilt and pommel
Light brown tabs: Side of sword grip
Dark brown tabs: Other side of sword grip

See pictures and video from 7:05 onwards!

I would suggest starting at the tip of the sword blade and work your way down the blade, around the hilt and over the pommel. Just keep checking the coloured template to make sure the correct tab goes in the right place!

When you're finished, don't worry about all the 'TAB' lettering you can see. That'll be covered up in the final step!