Arrow costume (2014 Halloween)

Decided a while back that I was gonna give this costume a shot for Halloween if I could. Not the craftiest person, so it's been more a matter of finding decent costumers to work with/commission and piece it together.

I figure, I can always get all the intricacies correct down the road, but needed a solid base to build off of.

Found some people to help with the costume, as well as someone for the boots. Right now I have a pair of black gloves that I had used years ago as part of a "Dexter" costume, and a cheap (ahem, "affordable") recurve bow to use as a placeholder prop. Not the greatest, but it'll work for the holiday.

BUT, the exciting development that got me wanting to start posting is that I found a person on Etsy who does orders for the mask, and mine just came in the mail yesterday!



The piece fits damn near perfectly, almost as if it was sculpted to fit a cast of me. I'm not terribly crazy about the straps that are on it at the moment and may change those up (possibly with something elastic).

I know it's not much, and that it's more of a project along the lines of Frankensteining parts together rather than building from scratch, but I felt like sharing it nonetheless. Wish me luck with the rest of the build (term used loosely in this situation), and I'll update with some more pics as I get the opportunities!

Good luck, man! As an alternative to straps, you could use spirit gum to attach the mask to your face. And if you need any other help, check out the Definitive Arrow Thread in this forum. There is a lot of information on exact parts, plus alternatives, to the Arrow costume.

Thanks, Vox!

Been checking out that thread on/off for a bit now.

And I was thinking of using spirit gum if it came down to it as well, though I'm thinking a strap would be wiser considering our Octobers in SoCal tend to be hot (last thing I'd want to do is end up sweating it off by the end of the day at work). But I'll likely use one of these weekends and do a test to see how long it'll hold. Thanks for the tip!

Keelan562 said:

Thanks, Vox!

Been checking out that thread on/off for a bit now.

And I was thinking of using spirit gum if it came down to it as well, though I'm thinking a strap would be wiser considering our Octobers in SoCal tend to be hot (last thing I'd want to do is end up sweating it off by the end of the day at work). But I'll likely use one of these weekends and do a test to see how long it'll hold. Thanks for the tip!

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Happy to help! Spirit Gum should hold through sweat (hence why you need legitimate "Spirit Gum Remover" to get it off). But definitely test it out for comfort. Over a long convention day, some people prefer not to have something glued to their face, at which point a strap is totally the way to go.

Exactly!

Plus, I'm taking into consideration that I'll be at work that day. Might be nice to take the mask off for a bit during the one period when I don't have any students to teach.

Okay, so I FINALLY got word from the company overseas I've had helping with the green leather portion of the costume and quivers (which are the only parts that I'm waiting on) that they've been sent, and they could POSSIBLY be arriving on Thursday...potentially Friday, but I'm still hoping for Thursday so that I can wear the costume at work.

Some of you know, I teach English at a high school. So, obviously, I have an issue to work around being that we can't really have me running around campus with any sort of weapons.

SO, I figured I'd have to make something that would look right without being any sort of threat or violation of district code.

Here's what I came up with...

I'm going to make the end portions of the arrow shafts (think the last foot or so) to be slipped in the quivers, and the smaller arrows strapped on the forearm, using a combination of wood dowels with painted EVA foam sheet pieces.

I had some wood dowels left over from what I've done for my "Tom Clancy's The Division" costume that I'm using as the shaft. They'll be painted black for the final product.

The small triangular bits are going to be the blades for the faux Slick Trick Grizztrick2 heads (I'm having each with 3 blades rather than just 2 at the moment, though I might end up with 2 in the end depending on how I feel they come out). They'll be done over with a metallic silver.

I cut out the ends for the fletching out of the green foam sheets...because, y'know, it was just appropriate. These I intend to go over with a light layer of Hunter Green (again, appropriate).

And these are the paints that I'm using. Mostly, this was out of convenience, a they were currently on sale so I got them for a decent price.

I should be doing most of the painting and probably start some gluing tomorrow afternoon once I get in from work, so if all goes according to plan, I can have the faux arrows ready for the rest of the costume's arrival by Thursday evening.

OH! And for those curious about the bow situation, I have a plain ol' black recurve bow (Blazer model by DeerHunter) that I'm using for the moment, though I'll make sure to not have the bowstring attached.

I'll post some pics of the in-progress stuff and such in the coming couple of days.

UPDATE TIME!!!

Started on the arrows right away once I got in from work this afternoon...


So the wood dowels were simply painted black. Nothing special there. The foam fletchings were painted in Hunter Green: you can see one piece flipped over so you can see the difference between the original shade of green and the painted version. I didn't really paint them much, just a very light coat, almost as if "dusting" them with the darker shade.


Once the fletching is clued to the dowel, this is the result.

And while I was at it, I figured I may as well do something about that strap that I wasn't too savvy about with the mask...

A simple couple drops of superglue and a piece of braided elastic strap solved that problem in less than 30 seconds.

So the costume arrived this morning (nothing like it arriving in the 11th hour, right?!), but before I tried any of the parts on, I wanted to get finished making the little accessories.

Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of pics, as my little step-sister was around and wanted to help me out, so it was mostly my walking her through what I was doing and why than taking photos of the progress. BUT, I did still manage to get some good ones.

Here's a shot of the quiver with the faux arrows placed within. Had to stuff the bottom with some balled up newspaper, then a piece of styrofoam. The ends of the shafts were pushed through the styrofoam to keep them from bunching together too much. Overall, I like how it turned out.

Now we have the small arrows for the arm guard. I was originally going to just have two blades each when putting them together, but the lil' sis really liked the way they looked with three, so I went with that.

Unfortunately, because of the material the loops of the arm guard are made of, the arrows had to be glued in place (though, since I do plan to update the costume slowly after this, it's a small inconvenience). Got a decent shot when putting on the jacket portion of the costume to test the fit before the battery on my iPod died.

A note on the fit of the costume: It doesn't fit nearly as snug as I was hoping it would, especially considering the amount of measurements the person helping with the sewing was given. But overall I'm pleased with how it came out. Again, it's a good base costume that can be improved over time. All goes well, I'll hopefully be able to gather some decent pics tomorrow (or during a friend's Halloween party the following weekend) to share with everyone.

Which bow will you be using? First or Second season?

HyruleInfantry said:

Which bow will you be using? First or Second season?

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If I'd had the time to prep to do either, I'd have likely gone for the second season (I just like the look of modern recurve bows more).

Since I didn't have time for that, I ended up just using a simple recurve that I found at a local Big 5 a short while back.

I'll post a pic of the bow and costume in a short while.

Here's a shot of the bow (partially to show it, partially to answer HyruleInfantry's question in post #9)



And here's a quick body shot (best I could do by myself; prob should have had one of those students take a pic with my iPod while they were flocking me during their lunch to take pictures with me,huh? )

Looks great! I'll bet you were a hit with the students. And you're right, you got a great suit there that can be improved as time allows. Nice!

Thanks Vox!

Yeah; a student dressed as Katniss was the first to ask to take a picture. Once that was done, I turned around to head back to my room to finish grading some papers but discovered there was a semi-line of students all wanting a pic.

The nice thing is that, for the most part, it's just getting things to fit a bit more snugly in terms of the alterations. Better to be in this situation where it's trimming down excess rather than the opposite and having to add on, right? I do plan to revise the gauntlet, and possibly the quiver. Most everything else I'm fairly pleased with.

Where did you get the dowels and what size?

Archer21 said:

Where did you get the dowels and what size?

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I went to a local Micheal's art supply store. They have a few different sizes for them, so I sort of played it by what looked correct when I got there. Same place where I got the spray paints and the sheets of foam to use.

Nice work, working on mine too for Comicon and Halloween fun

I am also the same height as Stephan at 6 ft 1 inch

Looking great with all the work you do!

What is the name of the bow? I have a medium size recurve, but like yours better!

Keelan562 said:

Here's a shot of the bow (partially to show it, partially to answer HyruleInfantry's question in post #9)

View attachment 398151

And here's a quick body shot (best I could do by myself; prob should have had one of those students take a pic with my iPod while they were flocking me during their lunch to take pictures with me,huh? )

View attachment 398153

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OV Arrow said:

Looking great with all the work you do!

What is the name of the bow? I have a medium size recurve, but like yours better!

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It's a Blazer by Hunter Dan, I believe. I picked it up at a local Big 5 Sporting Goods near me, so likely you can find one there as well.

I ordered one tonight, almost out o production, on Amazon and others, only Turner Outdoors had one.

Thank you!