Community Spotlight is about giving extra attention to everyday players that go the extra mile and help make Warframe an awesome community to be part of.

Artists, comedians, writers and YouTube personalities sacrifice a lot of time and energy just to share their passion with others. Community member and superstar craftsman, Arkyhead, is no exception.

Creating real-life replicas of Warframe's most iconic weaponry is not easy. Arkyhead's creation of Warframe weaponry has captured the imagination of players around the world -- who wouldn't want their own Glaive? -- but it's his recent contribution to Child's Play that has set Arkyhead apart.

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Well, my name is Jochem. On the Warframe forums I'm also known as Arkyhead to most people. I make replicas of the in-game items like the Skana and the Kama. I also did a replica Nikana. It's basically what I do!

What got you into Warframe?

Well, I started Warframe when it was in open beta. I think around Update 8. I just had some negative stuff, and Warframe was a distraction from all of it. I just kind of stayed with Warframe from that point. I have never found a game that amazed me in so many ways.

The overall style of the game just sucked me right in.

How long have you been making your own weapons?

I've made a few Halo helmets before. The first one was a Halo Reach helmet from the character Carter. That was just an on and off thing that I did. At first I wanted to make a whole Spartan suit, but then I realized that was a whole hell of a work. All the parts I made back then were made from paper models, which then were coated with fiberglass and resin.

When I played Warframe for a couple weeks, the Glaive came in...I'm not sure when it was. I believe sometime around Update 8 or 9, and when I got my hands on the weapon the first thing I thought was how awesome would it be to have this in real life. Back then Prime Time had just started and they mentioned this needed to be on Prime Time.

Right then I only had about six days left until the next Prime Time, and I rushed that build so hard to make sure it would be ready for the next Prime Time episode. -laughs-

The whole Glaive took about 7-8 days to complete from scratch.

Wow!

From that moment something just fired up in me and I just started building more. I believe the next one that went right was the Skana, which you guys now have! I have done some other experimental builds, but eventually I screwed them up.

Can you walk us through a bit of your process?

A basic weapon that I'll make by hand is actually quite a simple concept! I just use MDF wood, because it's a composite and has an evenly distributed hardness. It's easy to carve into the shape you want to have.

The only thing that's bad about MDF is that it's very dry. Just like a sponge. If you want to paint it the paint just sucks right into the wood. It takes around 3 cans of spray paint to cover it with a primer. Unless you use a heavier base primer used on cars for example.

Anyway, I lay the weapon or item flat, figure out how many layers it would take to fill out the whole model and just draw a silhouette on the wood and cut the excess off with a bandsaw -- or any saw laying around. Once the parts are cut I glue them together and that gives us with a big chunk of wood! From there you carve all the parts into shape using a file and sandpaper.

That's basically it. After that I just spray paint it until it has a solid layer of primer. Once it has the primer I add some sculpt epoxy -- a two component clay that takes around 3 hours to harden. It gets almost as hard as rock or porcelain which you can file down into shape for the more detailed stuff.

Once you have the details sculpted on and sanded it just a matter of painting the whole replica. I always make sure I have a solid layer of primer on the whole piece. After that I bring the replica on its base color.

After that I mask of detailed parts of the replica that need a custom color on it. Most of the time I use my airbrush for custom colors and shading. When these finer spots are done I just weather the whole piece and finally I put on a good layer of clearcoat to seal in all the paint.

How many weapons have you produced so far?

Not as many as I wanted to do actually. I've done the Skana that I sent to you guys, a Kama that went through an auction for Childs Play, a Nikana -- and now I'm working on a new Skana because I miss mine.

-laughs-

I might make a mold of the new Skana. If it works, I can cast a candle wax version and make a plaster mold around it. Then I could take it to the smith and get an aluminum cast out of it. It would be awesome to do, but is probably very expensive.

What made you pick the Kama?

Basically, the essential style of it. I've always liked the Hate that the Stalker uses, but it's a pretty big weapon. The Kama is like a scaled down version of it. I like that it's cool to have a scythe in one hand that you can dual wield.

I don't really pick a weapon for any particular reason. I pick a weapon for its looks, not on how it performs in the game. It's just my personal taste, really.

Do you think your work on creating weapons influences what weapons you enjoy using in Warframe?

I think it does, somewhat. I honestly keep switching my weapons around a lot, but when I'm not experimenting I mostly play Excalibur with the normal Skana. I'm currently Rank 14 and still working the Skana! -laughs-

How long did the Kama take to make?

The Kama was a bit of a longer process than the Glaive because I didn't rush it. I think it took about 2-3 weeks with around 2-3 hours a day spent working on it. It might seem like a lot, but that's making it from scratch and all by hand.

Shortly after showing us the final product you arranged to have the weapon posted on eBay for Childs Play, with a portion of the winnings going toward funding a new weapon. How did the eBay bid go?

Yeah actually, I was pretty happy. I posted it for 50 bucks on eBay so it would be approachable for a lot of people. Not just rich kids or college guys. When someone bid I was already happy, and eventually on the last two days some kinda poopstorm happened! Everyone started a bidding war. Eventually it went up to $212.50 which totally blew my mind. I didn't really expect the work I made would bring so much attention for Childs play or any other good cause.

It was an amazing moment for me, to see how many others enjoyed this weapon I made. At the start of the auction I mentioned I would calculate 10% for the materials that were used to make the Kama. But I will never put that 10% in my own pocket. I will use that to craft a new piece in time, and offer it up for auction again to support another good cause. Next time I will let the Warframe fanbase decide which cause we will be supporting.

Do you know what you're going to work on next?

Sort of! I'm not totally certain yet. I still need to finish the Skana that's currently laying around right now. I have some ideas and a very special and large project that I'm working on -- but I can't say much about that one. It's a surprise. But if you want to guess, I have posted a sneak peak on my Facebook page.

I still want to do a Dragon Nikana, even though it's kind of the same to the Nikana that I've already done. But I'd love to do a new kind of weapon that I haven't approached yet, If anyone has any ideas on what I should do next I would be totally open to that.

I'm sure the community would love to give you suggestions on what weapon to make next.

Melee weapons are the most fun and fast to make, but any other weapon would be a fun challenge as well.

Do you have any advice for would-be weapon makers in the community?

When I started building stuff, especially with those Halo helmets, I learned that you shouldn't expect too much from yourself when you do something for the first time. You're probably going to mess up, but don't mind that. It's a learning process.

I've been doing this for a few years but I'm still learning. Every time I do something it starts with me saying 'this looks good' and ends with me saying 'it looks alright'. But after two weeks I'm looking at it and thinking 'this looks horrible, let's make something new'.

Basically, every step you're learning. Don't be afraid to screw up. Screwing things up will teach you the most!

Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us, we're definitely excited to see what you can do next!

Thank you for having me in the Community Spotlight! It's an honor to be selected for this.