International Women’s Day Sword Work in Progress

March 8^th is International Women’s Day. It commemorates the cultural, political, and socioeconomic contributions of women. Some things IWD aims to bring to light include gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence against women.

IWD originated in North American and Europe in the early 20^th century. The Socialist Party of America in New York held a “Women’s Day” event on February 28^th, 1909. In 1910, German delegates at the 1910 International Socialist Woman’s Conference proposed “a special Women’s Day” but no date was set. In 1911, the first “International Women’s Day commemorations were held across Europe.

International Women’s Day would be recognized as a national holiday on March 8^{th after women of Soviet Russia gained suffrage in 1917. In the 1960’s the global feminist movement adopted IWD. In 1977 IWD became a mainstream global holiday after being adopted by the United Nations.}

Recognition of International Women’s Day is handled differently in each country. Some recognize it as a public holiday, others observe it locally or socially. The United Nations recognizes the holiday in connection with issues, campaigns, or themes connected to women’s rights. Other countries still see IWD as a political event marking it with protests, calls for change, etc. In North America IWD is recognized as a day for womanhood.

Creating the International Women’s Day sword

I am on TikTok and have found myself on the side of the app with women working through some personal issue. Might be physical stuff relating directly with their bodies, might be discussing their getting out of an abusive relationship, etc. I began referring to these ladies as warriors for having survived their ordeals and still find it within to love others and to try and love themselves.

Everyone knows that women are often referred to as “queens’ so that one doesn’t need much explanation.

We all know, or have heard, Kings and Queens by Ava Max by now. If not, I am embedding the official music video below. Please note, this is purely for the sake of those that do not know the song and to help them understand where I am going with this sword thing.

I was at my day job when the idea of creating something for International Women’s Day hit me. It was about 1:30 on Monday afternoon and I did not get off work till 4:30 (we are on overtime hours right now). I was thinking what I can do to commemorate this day. First, I was thinking a crown. Then I was like, nah, it must be something cooler.

Ava Max’s song came up in my song rotation in the next 20 minutes and that is when it hit me. She sings a section about appearing weak because she does not have a sword. I decided then to make a sword. I was then tasked with figuring out HOW to make sword.

A machine we use at my day job cuts three-inch pieces of metal off to “square” the remaining part up. I took two of those three-inch pieces and did a light break in the middle then broke a half inch flange on one side. I then put the two pieces together and smashed the flanges.

This gave me the blade of the International Women’s Day sword. I cut the tip to the desired angle and was done with that part.

Making the handle for the IWD sword

This was tricky. I have created things in Perler beads before. Such as the Game Boy below. I had plenty of these on hand and ultimately ended up using them. I played with the idea of making the handle out of metal as well but quickly gave that idea up. It would require more work than I had time with shop equipment to create.

That meant coming up with a design for the handle. I pulled out the colors I wanted to use, glow in the dark being one. Then I pulled out my big bead board.

I marked out a design on the bead board that I was happy with. I used the sword to make sure the handle was big enough. This allowed me to play with the shape of the handle.

Once I had a shape, I was happy with, I laid out the IWD initials in the handle.

Once that was done, I set out laying different color beads on the board to see what popped and where. The only color that was massively changed was where you see black now. That was gray the first run through.

I only have one side of the handle done now and will be completing the mirror image of this for the other side. Once that is done, I will put a flatter piece of wood in the handle and slide that into the sword. This will give the handle the necessary stiffness for the bearer to hold the sword properly.

I will also be making a crown to go with the sword. I am planning on surprising a certain TikToker with the sword as a gift because she has been awesome and helped me through some tough times. Don’t tell her though.

What do y’all think?