thnkling
New Member
Hi all,
So for my next costume (my second costume I've ever built) I've been wanting to do some armor and do it right-ish. I've decided to do Faora because her armor is so complex and challenging. I started my research in March and started building in late April. I had no idea how much work this costume would be. With all the intricacies of the layers of fabric to building all the different little armor parts. I'm basing most of the armor off the figurine version
Here's a reference for those who don't know what she looks like:
Progress Details
As of right now, I've completed 90% of the armor parts, painted 70% of the armor parts, 0% on the undersuit (I have all the fabric and a screen to screenprint but it's too difficult to do it on my own). I chose not to do a cape because I feel that it would take away from the rest of the costume.. But I could be convinced otherwise.
Since I'm so new to this costuming stuff really (second costume I've made) I redid a bunch of things. I'll dig up those photos later.
Materials:
I started out using wonderflex but hated the fabric that's intertwined so I ended up learning how to use worbla (2 large sheets and 1 extra large sheet). I also used repair putty from Wal-mart (protip: don't heat up worbla after you applied repair putty). Tried using wood glue for a couple armor pieces and got too impatient with them drying in between layers so I ended up spray painting the rest of the pieces with filler primer spray paint. I also used EVA foam (bought from sears - it has a pattern on one side though
). Also used foamies or really thin foam for details. Also used the obvious spray paints (black metallic, silver metallic, dark brown metallic). Then acrylic paint for detail work.
Techniques:
1. Worbla over foam: For the shin armor I did the sandwich method, which is basically sandwiching foam with worbla. I found this to be inefficient use of worbla because there is a lot of waste. So for the larger armor pieces I did one side with worbla and wrapped it around the edges. So with the more complex armor pieces like the kneepad I heated up a cutout piece of worbla over the finished foam kneepad. When it became pliable I started from the center front of the foam piece and started pushing down and around the foam so it went into all the creases and edges. I used a variety of tools to push in the worbla so it could have sharper corners, divets and whatnot. Then heating up the edges again and wrapping the worbla around the edges of the armor. For the corners I just squeeze the corners so I can get a nice 90 degree corner. Then use scissors to cut off the excess.
2. Dremel: After I was happy with the piece I worked on I moved to dremeling. There will be some overlapping of worbla or folds from trying to form it around the foam. I used my dremel on the high setting with a sanding cylinder and went to town. It's way easier than trying to dremel foam where a slight move can ruin your armor. I dremel around the edges of the armor usually where it's too thick or wherever I'm not really happy with yet. I also sand the edges and corners of the worbla so I can get a sharper edge.
3. Makeup:
So I went to Sephora and splurged on some makeup thanks to suggestions from /r/makeupaddiction and faora makeup videos from Youtube. She has grey/silver eyeshadow with pinkish-orange lipstick, here's a test makeup photo along with the wig I bought from a local wig store that I trimmed up. Sorry for the non-straight-on shot, can only take "badass" pictures. Think I might add more highlighter on the corners of my jaw since her face is more square.
4. Sewing: I don't really have much to say about this yet as I've never sewn before and I just bought a sewing machine/table from Goodwill for $15 and hoping I can learn how to sew on that. I went to a local fabric store and got some 2 way stretch lycra that has a little bit of see-through-ness. Then the under-layer of silver lycra. I was hoping for 4-way stretch but this'll do for now, plus the kwik-sew pattern I'm using calls for two-way stretch. A co-worker also snagged an adjustable dress form from Goodwill too! WEE!
5. Screenprinting: I got a screenprinting screen from etsy using that chain mail pattern but it's proved to be a problem so far, I hope I can resolve the kinks! Here's a test print but the problems I'm having is lining up one print next to and seamless with the previous print so its one big seamless pattern. Also the ink is very patchy.. Any tips would be so great!
6. Contacts: I just got my new contact prescription and looking to get some natural-ish light blue eyed hand painted contacts.
Other photos:
I will post more photos tonight as I seem to have left most of them on my home computer, bhaha.
PS. If you're going to dragoncon I hope I can be there too! Let's meetup!
So for my next costume (my second costume I've ever built) I've been wanting to do some armor and do it right-ish. I've decided to do Faora because her armor is so complex and challenging. I started my research in March and started building in late April. I had no idea how much work this costume would be. With all the intricacies of the layers of fabric to building all the different little armor parts. I'm basing most of the armor off the figurine version
Here's a reference for those who don't know what she looks like:
Progress Details
As of right now, I've completed 90% of the armor parts, painted 70% of the armor parts, 0% on the undersuit (I have all the fabric and a screen to screenprint but it's too difficult to do it on my own). I chose not to do a cape because I feel that it would take away from the rest of the costume.. But I could be convinced otherwise.
Since I'm so new to this costuming stuff really (second costume I've made) I redid a bunch of things. I'll dig up those photos later.
Materials:
I started out using wonderflex but hated the fabric that's intertwined so I ended up learning how to use worbla (2 large sheets and 1 extra large sheet). I also used repair putty from Wal-mart (protip: don't heat up worbla after you applied repair putty). Tried using wood glue for a couple armor pieces and got too impatient with them drying in between layers so I ended up spray painting the rest of the pieces with filler primer spray paint. I also used EVA foam (bought from sears - it has a pattern on one side though
). Also used foamies or really thin foam for details. Also used the obvious spray paints (black metallic, silver metallic, dark brown metallic). Then acrylic paint for detail work.Techniques:
1. Worbla over foam: For the shin armor I did the sandwich method, which is basically sandwiching foam with worbla. I found this to be inefficient use of worbla because there is a lot of waste. So for the larger armor pieces I did one side with worbla and wrapped it around the edges. So with the more complex armor pieces like the kneepad I heated up a cutout piece of worbla over the finished foam kneepad. When it became pliable I started from the center front of the foam piece and started pushing down and around the foam so it went into all the creases and edges. I used a variety of tools to push in the worbla so it could have sharper corners, divets and whatnot. Then heating up the edges again and wrapping the worbla around the edges of the armor. For the corners I just squeeze the corners so I can get a nice 90 degree corner. Then use scissors to cut off the excess.
2. Dremel: After I was happy with the piece I worked on I moved to dremeling. There will be some overlapping of worbla or folds from trying to form it around the foam. I used my dremel on the high setting with a sanding cylinder and went to town. It's way easier than trying to dremel foam where a slight move can ruin your armor. I dremel around the edges of the armor usually where it's too thick or wherever I'm not really happy with yet. I also sand the edges and corners of the worbla so I can get a sharper edge.
3. Makeup:
So I went to Sephora and splurged on some makeup thanks to suggestions from /r/makeupaddiction and faora makeup videos from Youtube. She has grey/silver eyeshadow with pinkish-orange lipstick, here's a test makeup photo along with the wig I bought from a local wig store that I trimmed up. Sorry for the non-straight-on shot, can only take "badass" pictures.
Think I might add more highlighter on the corners of my jaw since her face is more square.4. Sewing: I don't really have much to say about this yet as I've never sewn before and I just bought a sewing machine/table from Goodwill for $15 and hoping I can learn how to sew on that. I went to a local fabric store and got some 2 way stretch lycra that has a little bit of see-through-ness. Then the under-layer of silver lycra. I was hoping for 4-way stretch but this'll do for now, plus the kwik-sew pattern I'm using calls for two-way stretch. A co-worker also snagged an adjustable dress form from Goodwill too! WEE!
5. Screenprinting: I got a screenprinting screen from etsy using that chain mail pattern but it's proved to be a problem so far, I hope I can resolve the kinks! Here's a test print but the problems I'm having is lining up one print next to and seamless with the previous print so its one big seamless pattern. Also the ink is very patchy.. Any tips would be so great!
6. Contacts: I just got my new contact prescription and looking to get some natural-ish light blue eyed hand painted contacts.
Other photos:
I will post more photos tonight as I seem to have left most of them on my home computer, bhaha.
PS. If you're going to dragoncon I hope I can be there too! Let's meetup!
