Shrakakoom
New Member
Hi everyone. I've been stalking for a while and decided to finally start posting my work on Aquaman from the video game Injustice: Gods Among Us. I'll be posting the build work over several posts, based on the part of the costume.
Reference
This version of the character is an update of the traditional Aquaman outfit, adding various pieces of armor to the existing scale mail shirt. In addition, this version exchanges the traditional green tights for leather pants.
Part I: Scale Armor
My Aquaman build started with the decision to make an authentic top out of metal scale mail. I felt that the metal would give a more eye-catching look and would be more visually accurate.
After much searching, I found the raw materials from The Ring Lord out of Canada. They are one of the only distributers of the material online. In late October I placed my order.
I chose a bronze color aluminum scale and steel jump rings. I felt that the bronze color would lend better to a real-life interpretation of the character, as opposed to the more traditional orange.
With no prior experience working with scales mail or chain mail I began by reading a few tutorials before deciding to jump right in.
The process seemed pretty basic: you start by opening a ring with two pair of pliers, putting two scales together back to back, and then closing the ring. After that you attach another scale to the first ring and begin working down in a triangular pattern. Every inner scale ends up with four rings total in the little hole.
Each row of this design has an additional scale then the last, which creates a larger piece as you work your way down.
This was the longest portion of the build, as I learned to weave the scales together to create sheets of scale “fabric”.
After making a few of these larger sections I decided to start patterning my shirt. I used a basic t-shirt for inspiration and, beginning at the shoulders, working my way down from there.
Once I had buildt the majority of the front torso, I realized that the original idea of a t-shirt style would not be the most effective. The tops of the shoulders were not producing the clean lines that I wanted, the scales there were sticking up, and there were gaps at the sleeves.
I decided to deconstruct the shirt back to the individual panels and remove the shoulder area. I found an orange running shirt during this time as a back-up in case my scales were not ready for the convention. I realized that I could use this shirt as the inspiration for a new pattern, with a back and torso built in a more of a triangular shape that pointed towards the neck.
This change in shape would allow for the shoulder scales to be built as a separate piece from the rest of the shirt that pointed down towards my hands. By changing the direction that the shoulders pointed, it would allow the upper-most scales to lay flatter at the top when reassembled.
During this time I also realized that I needed to be able to get the shirt on and off, which could be a challenge.
Traditional scale mail armor is was either built to pull over like a t-shirt and hang loose or had leather straps to allow the piece to be pulled tight.
I knew that I wanted to shirt to fit snug, so I added a zipper in the back (see the edges of the picture below). The zipper is a heavy weight jacket grade and has a bronze metal look to it. In order to help hide the zipper, I added an extra row of scales over the top. Unless you are looking close you typically cannot see it when I am wearing the suit.
The final build of the scale shirt ended up being short sleeved, due to the restrictions on movement from the original sleeves, but I still wanted to have long sleeves as an option.
My solution was to make fabric sleeves from a bronze-gold lame and cover them with fishnet. From the typical 10 foot picture range the shininess of the fabric gives the illusion of a full top.
In total, this portion of the build took almost three months of consistent work during the evenings, weekends, and throughout my Christmas vacation.
Reference
This version of the character is an update of the traditional Aquaman outfit, adding various pieces of armor to the existing scale mail shirt. In addition, this version exchanges the traditional green tights for leather pants.
Part I: Scale Armor
My Aquaman build started with the decision to make an authentic top out of metal scale mail. I felt that the metal would give a more eye-catching look and would be more visually accurate.
After much searching, I found the raw materials from The Ring Lord out of Canada. They are one of the only distributers of the material online. In late October I placed my order.
I chose a bronze color aluminum scale and steel jump rings. I felt that the bronze color would lend better to a real-life interpretation of the character, as opposed to the more traditional orange.
With no prior experience working with scales mail or chain mail I began by reading a few tutorials before deciding to jump right in.
The process seemed pretty basic: you start by opening a ring with two pair of pliers, putting two scales together back to back, and then closing the ring. After that you attach another scale to the first ring and begin working down in a triangular pattern. Every inner scale ends up with four rings total in the little hole.
Each row of this design has an additional scale then the last, which creates a larger piece as you work your way down.
This was the longest portion of the build, as I learned to weave the scales together to create sheets of scale “fabric”.
After making a few of these larger sections I decided to start patterning my shirt. I used a basic t-shirt for inspiration and, beginning at the shoulders, working my way down from there.
Once I had buildt the majority of the front torso, I realized that the original idea of a t-shirt style would not be the most effective. The tops of the shoulders were not producing the clean lines that I wanted, the scales there were sticking up, and there were gaps at the sleeves.
I decided to deconstruct the shirt back to the individual panels and remove the shoulder area. I found an orange running shirt during this time as a back-up in case my scales were not ready for the convention. I realized that I could use this shirt as the inspiration for a new pattern, with a back and torso built in a more of a triangular shape that pointed towards the neck.
This change in shape would allow for the shoulder scales to be built as a separate piece from the rest of the shirt that pointed down towards my hands. By changing the direction that the shoulders pointed, it would allow the upper-most scales to lay flatter at the top when reassembled.
During this time I also realized that I needed to be able to get the shirt on and off, which could be a challenge.
Traditional scale mail armor is was either built to pull over like a t-shirt and hang loose or had leather straps to allow the piece to be pulled tight.
I knew that I wanted to shirt to fit snug, so I added a zipper in the back (see the edges of the picture below). The zipper is a heavy weight jacket grade and has a bronze metal look to it. In order to help hide the zipper, I added an extra row of scales over the top. Unless you are looking close you typically cannot see it when I am wearing the suit.
The final build of the scale shirt ended up being short sleeved, due to the restrictions on movement from the original sleeves, but I still wanted to have long sleeves as an option.
My solution was to make fabric sleeves from a bronze-gold lame and cover them with fishnet. From the typical 10 foot picture range the shininess of the fabric gives the illusion of a full top.
In total, this portion of the build took almost three months of consistent work during the evenings, weekends, and throughout my Christmas vacation.
