Living Code

Boffers are foam swords for safer swordfighting. Here’s how to build boffers easily.

Make Simple boffers

And here is my first link on the Make blog, also on boffers.

Boffers on Make (my first entry in the Make blog!)

Remember to follow the rules and take care of your sword.

OK, after we get the boffers done, we can get into more child-friendly swordsmanship with these instructions for how to build a lightsabre with common plumbing parts for about US$33. It looks pretty cool, too. Then we can use these rotoscoping instructions and the Crimson application (designed just for rotoscoping lightsaber effects) to film the kids having a nice healthy duel.

Crimson is OS X only, and has trouble running under Tiger, but it’s open source, so I’ll try to get in and fix it. Some of the Windows lightsabre rotoscoping tools (yes, it’s a whole category of applications now) also add neato features like sound effects and flashes (from the blades touching), which would be fun to add as well.