I recently received the charming visit of the journalist Marie-Claude Veillette and his team in my small workshop. I answered a question that several people have asked me in the past (I ask this question to myself as well sometimes..).

The question that Marie-Claude posed was: What made you interested in the world of foam swords?

I have studied for several years in the area of mobile robotics. I decided to put that knowledge on hold for a while to start my company of design and manufacture of foam swords. This uncommon project aroused the interest of Marie-Claude who then made a television report on my team and me. The whole report was then presented to Québécois television channel TQS.

Marie-Claude is a true professional. During the report one can see images of our workshop there (without revealing too much of our secrets). In one shot, you can see me holding a sword made from our very latest collection; the sword of the character Amos Daragon written by the author Bryan Perro. This collection was done for the summer LARP camp for kids, named Sanctuaire des Barves (The Sanctuary of the Brave Men). We also discussed the first tests there were taken when we began to manufacture the foam swords. And finally, along with my blacksmith Denis, we were able to show some weapon skill by using our Calimacil swords through a combat.

In short it was an excellent meeting with Marie-Claude that I have been able to share bits and pieces with you.

The report on Calimacil was presented on the French Quebecois Broadcast channel TQS for the Reflet de l’Estrie show presented by Genevieve Côté.

Note: This interview will soon be added on our Calimacil YouTube Channel.

People are often interested in learning our process at Calimacil when we create our realistic foam swords. Let me share part of the process with you when we created our Viking Warlord Sword in regards to the legend of Ragnar Lodbrok.

Our blacksmiths at Calimacil have designed with precision a sword that was originally created in the ninth century with a sword length of 92 cm. This blade was known to be one of the heaviest swords created in the Viking age. Twisted silver and copper wire separated two rows of decoration found on the pommel, which is made up of four lobes.

The Viking sword was for single-handed use that was to be combined with a shield, with a blade length of 60–80 cm. The shape of the sword was based upon the swords used during the Dark Ages, with a tight grip, long deep fuller and having no pronounced cross guard.

When we get inspired by such a story we start the process of creation through many steps a new foam sword is something need a lot of works. First, following the research phase we need to design and create draft. A physical mockup is then created in order to be used as a matrix for the mold. After we use the Matrix and create the mold it will then be use to contain our Calimacil foam.

You can see a video of Daniel Besnier our artist while it was sculpting the matrix of swords as we did for the Ragnar (unfortunately we do not have a video of this one). In the video you will notice on the left side a white paper draft made by Daniel as a initial phase of the Sword creation.