Re: Vacuum Formed Batman Cowl
So – this is my journey in creating a Bat Cowl and vacuum forming it using craft foam ( foamies )
Here is the final result-
The Bat Cowl is a vacuumed formed foamie with a black cloth overlay to blend it into the cape…
My suit is kind of a hybrid batsuit – comic style with some TDK and a “Dead End” inspired "snarling". Boots are Converse special “bat” edition and the suit is Brad’s sub-dye batsuit
http://www.spidey4fun.ncable.net.au (Great suit, but you’ll notice I need to do additional “tailoring” to the suit - the thigh area is too loose.)
Here is a close up of the near final cowl:
The pic on the right shows off a feature for the eyes that I call a “privacy screen“ – it’s a one way see through black that you can flip down at any time– great for times when you don’t want to wear black eye make-up or when you want to be that really “mysterious” guy. (I’ve made other costumes with this “blind” look and it always seems to attract attention and curiosity – more stories about that later…)
Here is the original sculpt that I vacuum formed…
So, the results here do not tell you about the journey I went through to get to this point. It’s been interesting at times, fun at other times, and frustrating also - but I learned alot! I’m gonna re-count this journey and maybe it’ll help out others with a curiosity for cowl making…
I’ve been a “bat” fan ever since I was a kid. I’ve made my own costumes through the years.
I work in the video game industry and even got to work on a Batman game – Batman Forever arcade. I even got to visit the “batcave” set in the Long Beach just as Jim Carey was destroying it as the Riddler.
Here is more of my work…
Cyrus Lum.com
My first foamie bat cowl.
While I like the rubber cowls, at that time, I wanted a bat mask that was “party friendly” – not a sauna, didn’t require eye make-up and could easily be taken off if I wanted to just “hang-out” and talk…Basically the mask was like a hat, I could wear it forward to be batman, or backwards so I could show my face and not have to hang onto the mask – it just sat on my head so my hands were free to carry things like beers
This hat sat on top of a black balaclava.
I also covered the foamie with a black “see through” material to hide my eyes but still allow me to see out.
That worked out great so, 6 years later… I decided to do another “foamie” bat mask, but this time I wanted to do something more advanced – try to vacuum form the foamie like this guy…
I found out how to do this from this site
www.TK560.com :: View topic - fun with craft foam (EVA foam), w/pictures
www.TK560.com :: View topic - Bast (cat-headed Egyptian goddess) mask in craft foam
I also found plans for a vacuum former from this site
Vacuum Former Plans
Here is a pic of someone making a full bat cowl with vacuum formed foamies – or maybe just “heat formed”
Well, I still wanted to make a “party friendly” mask, so I stuck with my old design – (hat-like), but because I could vacuum form more complex shapes, I decided to “sculpt-out” a new bat mask.
For inspiration, I always loved the “etched” batman mask by Jeff Fowler - I loved his stylization
I also liked the look of the “Dead End” cowl – especially the nose and “snarl” expression. My favorite version of this is Shawn Reeves' version.
Reevz666
While it’s not an exact replica of Sandy’s design (IMHO), I find that Reeves' creative changes made the mask look more cool.
So, with these as inspiration, I set out to make my mask. I thought it would be pretty straight forward…HAHAHA
Now, I’ve done sculpting in the past…
I even sculpted a design for a Batgirl concept
I’ve also done molding and casting in the past too…
So, I thought I knew what I was doing – HA! - I was wrong...
In my next several posts, I’ll break things down and actually go into all of the steps I took to sculpt the bat cowl, mold and cast a master, vacuum form a foamie on top of that to make the mask, then overlay a material on top of that to finish it off...
..so check back on this thread...
Cyrus Lum
