How to Make Rey's Staff From 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'
Kat Kosplay teaches us how to make Rey's most vital weapon.
When we were introduced to Daisy Ridley’s Rey, the Jakku-raised scavenger and friend to BB-8, in the The Force Awakens, she was a stranded but resourceful scavenger. Fiercely independent and extremely patient, she fended for herself and warded off trouble using a quarterstaff. Naturally, after the movie was over and the ashes settled, we wanted a staff of our own.
Who buys a staff retail? No self-respecting force-user. So we called upon 28-year-old Kat Kosplay, enthusiastic creator of probably the best imitation Rey staff on the internet, and asked for some guidance. Here’s what she told us.
Kat used two different sizes of lightweight PVC pipe for the main body of the staff. Using The Force Awakens trailer as a reference, she decided to use the smaller pipe (1/2 inch) for the main body of the staff and the wider pipe for the bulkier segments. For the tan-colored segments with fin-like structures, she covered the smaller PVC pipe in a thermoplastic called “worbla,” and then used EVA foam to create the smaller parts that jut out. The other segments of the pipe (that contain the smaller fin-like structures) she made by covering a shot glass in worbla, heating it, and molding it to the shape of the glass. Then, she attached the smaller fin-like structures to it. She fashioned the ridged section on the staff by tightly winding a jump rope around the thinner pipe.
The different segments of Rey's staff, most of which are made out of worbla
After constructing all the different sections for the staff — which she outlines in great detail in the tutorial below — she cut out the necessary parts of the wider PVC pipe to slip over the thinner body frame. In order to hold the wider pipe in place, she lined the inside with pieces of EVA foam before slipping it over the thinner pipe— that way, the thinner pipe doesn’t jostle around inside the wider one. Then using superglue and silicon, she reinforced the position and sealed up any holes. After she had the body of the staff finished, she spray painted it black and silver to give it the finishing touches.
The finished, spray painted staff
Kat has seen other versions of Rey’s staff on the Internet made using laser printers, which is surely an art form in and of itself, but her DIY process is a more hands-on, arts and crafts project, doable by anyone with the right materials. The rest of Rey’s costume consists of some basic loose-fitting garments and a leather wrist band that can be made easily. Check out the video below, and follow the step-by-step tutorial to create your very own staff.
