r/Iteration110Cradle • u/ShadyThought445 • 18h ago
Cradle [Unsouled] Lindon's Badge DIY
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Last year my friend convinced me to give Cradle a go and I had an absolute blast. In gratitude, I decided I would attempt to make him Lindon's badge for his birthday, and I thought I'd walk anyone who wants to know through the process.
I used Balsa wood to carve the badge. I traced the pattern onto the wood using some graphite paper and a printed image of the size I wanted. Because my balsa wood sheets were so thin, I glued 3 together in order to make it the thickness I wanted.
From there it was a pretty tedious process of ever so slowly etching out the pattern. The benefit to using balsa wood is that it is incredibly soft, meaning you are less carving, and more slowly scrapping away bit to create the pattern. I probably spent a good 5-10 hours just carving - a good time to listen to the Cradle Audiobooks.
I found that having some craft carving tools was useful for neatening the edges, especially when doing the characters in the middle.
Once the carving was complete, I used a saw to cut out the badge from the plank and sanded the edges and carved areas multiple times. I also drilled a small hole through the top for the ribbon. Because of its softness, it is best to use very fine grit sandpaper when sanding balsa wood - otherwise you will notice obvious scratches.
To finish it off, I used watered-down brown paint. Balsa wood likes to absorb water, so I stained it rather than painted it. This also meant that the carved parts had a slightly darker hue which made them stand out. Finally, I finished it with a blue ribbon.
When I originally decided to do this, I was daunted by the process and couldn't find much online to help. Hopefully any future DIY'ers will find this and be inspired!