Making Dawn armor using foam and plastic tutorial.
O.k lets talk about armor. Yay armor the stuff that puts the "Cost" in Costume. But does it. Hmmm nope not if you use other means of making your armor. This tutorial will cover Foam armor and palstic armor. First lets talk about Foam armor. This is the cheapest and easiest way to make armor for the first time. I highly recommend this is you are starting out cuz this gives you the idea of how to do plastic armor later down the line. For the foam armor I'm gonna show you the site that I used to make this since there are tons of foam armor tutorials it would'nt make since to make on.
The site that I went to is the most popular one and in my opinion the best it's http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html
I used this for my Dawn costume in "07"
My gauntlets
Back of the armor
Here is the foam pieces I used to make the armor I did'nt used a regular sheet to make them oh no I used foam on a roll!!! You get almost 2 yards of foam which is great for making large armor. However it is thin so when you do the foam armor tutorial makse sure to double the fabric backing if you want the armor to be thicker and stronger.
Also if you have a "Joanns" in your area check it out and see if it has the foam rolls in the craft foam section. The one that is in my area has it and so check out fayettville Ga. It cost around 8.00 bucks so go for it if not order it from this site...
http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?requestURI=processProductsCatalog&categoryId=377320&BP=2111&cm_mmc=Shopzilla-_-datafeed-_-datafeed-_-datafeed&sku=57/2194&srccode=cii_10043468&cpncode=22-3305302-2
Or you can check out the craft foam websties as well.
O.k that covers craft foam for now so go check it out cuz not only you can do armor you can do accessories as well. I used it to make my Minmay bracelots and chocker. Now on to plastic armor.
Supplies:
1. For sale signs or any other foams of palstic sheets. Any size will do.
2. Glue gun
3. Elmers glue ( get a huge bottle)
4. Muslin or any other fabric cotton any other broadcloh is good.
5. Craft foam sheets or roll( a good value pack would be good)
6. Spray paint in the armor you want. I used Kryron fusion plastic.
7. Heat gun or heat source ( I used my stove top)
8. Acylic panint to pain the trim ( Optional)
9. A pattern drafted and set. If you can't draw like me then start with a good cosutme pattern.
10. Acrylic spray sealer
O.k lets get started. The patterns I used for my past 3 Dawn costumes were this one Simplcity 4088 and 4942 ( I used the gauntlet pattern for my armor this pattern also has an awesome bootcover pattern as well)
Once I got my peices cut out of the craft foam I got my sheets together and made my mock up. This was the design I had in mind for my Dawn last year. I decided to alter the shoulder section inorder for the skulls to fit. Also it is a good time to do the fabric backing to the craft foam. This make it easy to wear and makes the armo pieces a little more sturder.
Now lets get out plastic pieces together. Here is a pic of the smaller pieces of plastic signs.
Here is an image of the sheets I am gonna use. I puchased the larger sheets and the smaller ones for smaller pieces. The larger the sheet the more you can make out of it. This large sheets is big enough for one gaunlet and Shoulder armor.
Here is the pices I have for my gauntlets. I hot glued the foam piece to the design side of the sheet. I let it cool and then I cut it out. I heated it over my stove in order to mold it in a curved shape. You can curve it while you are glueing it to the plastic sheet as well inorder for it to hold it's curved shape.
Once you have your pieces glued and cut it's time to paint it. Once you are done make sure to add acrillc in order to seal it and give it a nice shine.
Now I'm gonna show an example to trim your armor. I used craft foam to outline it and youcan cover that in palstic as well or do the craft foam armor tutorial and seal it instead like I did my Dawn armor.
Here is the belt piece I used for my skull belt for my costume.
Hot glue it.
Cut it.
Cut out the trim that matchs your piece.
Placed it to make sure ir fit. Once it did I panited the belt added my skull and sealed the faom. I then painted the trim silver acrylic bottle paint and I sprayed it with arylic in order to seal it.
O.k there you have it. I will be posting more armor projects in the future so be on the look out. Also if you want to know how I made the skull on my belt I use paperclay , and old skull shaped cup I got at dragoncon's parade years ago, and I used that as a mold. When it dried I placed it on my belt.
The site that I went to is the most popular one and in my opinion the best it's http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html
I used this for my Dawn costume in "07"
My gauntlets
Back of the armor
Here is the foam pieces I used to make the armor I did'nt used a regular sheet to make them oh no I used foam on a roll!!! You get almost 2 yards of foam which is great for making large armor. However it is thin so when you do the foam armor tutorial makse sure to double the fabric backing if you want the armor to be thicker and stronger.
Also if you have a "Joanns" in your area check it out and see if it has the foam rolls in the craft foam section. The one that is in my area has it and so check out fayettville Ga. It cost around 8.00 bucks so go for it if not order it from this site...
http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?requestURI=processProductsCatalog&categoryId=377320&BP=2111&cm_mmc=Shopzilla-_-datafeed-_-datafeed-_-datafeed&sku=57/2194&srccode=cii_10043468&cpncode=22-3305302-2
Or you can check out the craft foam websties as well.
O.k that covers craft foam for now so go check it out cuz not only you can do armor you can do accessories as well. I used it to make my Minmay bracelots and chocker. Now on to plastic armor.
Supplies:
1. For sale signs or any other foams of palstic sheets. Any size will do.
2. Glue gun
3. Elmers glue ( get a huge bottle)
4. Muslin or any other fabric cotton any other broadcloh is good.
5. Craft foam sheets or roll( a good value pack would be good)
6. Spray paint in the armor you want. I used Kryron fusion plastic.
7. Heat gun or heat source ( I used my stove top)
8. Acylic panint to pain the trim ( Optional)
9. A pattern drafted and set. If you can't draw like me then start with a good cosutme pattern.
10. Acrylic spray sealer
O.k lets get started. The patterns I used for my past 3 Dawn costumes were this one Simplcity 4088 and 4942 ( I used the gauntlet pattern for my armor this pattern also has an awesome bootcover pattern as well)
Once I got my peices cut out of the craft foam I got my sheets together and made my mock up. This was the design I had in mind for my Dawn last year. I decided to alter the shoulder section inorder for the skulls to fit. Also it is a good time to do the fabric backing to the craft foam. This make it easy to wear and makes the armo pieces a little more sturder.
Now lets get out plastic pieces together. Here is a pic of the smaller pieces of plastic signs.
Here is an image of the sheets I am gonna use. I puchased the larger sheets and the smaller ones for smaller pieces. The larger the sheet the more you can make out of it. This large sheets is big enough for one gaunlet and Shoulder armor.
Here is the pices I have for my gauntlets. I hot glued the foam piece to the design side of the sheet. I let it cool and then I cut it out. I heated it over my stove in order to mold it in a curved shape. You can curve it while you are glueing it to the plastic sheet as well inorder for it to hold it's curved shape.
Once you have your pieces glued and cut it's time to paint it. Once you are done make sure to add acrillc in order to seal it and give it a nice shine.
Now I'm gonna show an example to trim your armor. I used craft foam to outline it and youcan cover that in palstic as well or do the craft foam armor tutorial and seal it instead like I did my Dawn armor.
Here is the belt piece I used for my skull belt for my costume.
Hot glue it.
Cut it.
Cut out the trim that matchs your piece.
Placed it to make sure ir fit. Once it did I panited the belt added my skull and sealed the faom. I then painted the trim silver acrylic bottle paint and I sprayed it with arylic in order to seal it.
O.k there you have it. I will be posting more armor projects in the future so be on the look out. Also if you want to know how I made the skull on my belt I use paperclay , and old skull shaped cup I got at dragoncon's parade years ago, and I used that as a mold. When it dried I placed it on my belt.