Leather work questions - thinking about a Dr. Doom costume

[hydin]

Ok... I know exactly this about leather work :
- Smells like a wet cow when it gets wet.

That's it.

Completely stumped on anything else. Dunno if there is fake leather, if it's cheap to do, who can do it, where to do it, etc.

A friend of mine recently read the Fantastic Four where Doom gets a new armor suit made out of his ex girlfriends skin, and thought "Hey! That would be an insanely creepy thing to make!" so he started asking me questions.

I have no idea how to answer him , other than to quote Silence of the Lambs to him.

So, does anyone do leather armor work? If so, can you please let me know so I can email you and get some details about how to do this, or who to hire to do this?

Here's a pic :

Any help is appreciated!
Chris

 

[superDrool]

Lots of invested time, money and thick leather to be had here if you are seriously considering it in hide. JUst puttin' it out there. Your looking at 3-5 oz leather in at least 3 hides worth of leather. Not to mention the molding of the mask, lacing and eyelets and carving for the red details.
Time is your friend on this one. If I had the time, and materials ready, this would be an awesome undertaking.

 

[hydin]

Thinking we might go the foamies route in this one.

Neither one of us has a surplus of talent, and he's pretty much broke with a kid on the way :lol

Chris

 

[superDrool]

Roger that hydin. I can see that being much easier to deal with time and on the wallet. I'm looking foward to seeing your progress on this, as I'm really diggin' the details and the idea of it being diffrent that metal is pretty intriguing.

 

[Shendorion]

Leather is going to cost you a lot more than foam, and will be harder to work and less forgiving of mistakes. Doing that suit in stiff leather would also give you a shorter range of motion than a C-3PO suit, because the illustrator didn't articulate the joints at all.

I'm also mystified by the absence of closures. There's no lacing, no stitching, no clasps or any other indication that the suit comes off his body - it looks like he was encased in it permanently. You might be able to pull that effect off with some velcro strips at the seams, though.

 

[PepMaster]

From what I can see I agree with you Shendorion, but with how the armor looks partially medieval and partially Iron Man styled then strapping it like you would for Iron Man armor would work fine I would assume.

 

[Auryn]

I would definitely go foam if I were you.
I have been making leather armor for about 5 years now and that is not an easy piece to make.
Its definitely beyond a beginner level- theres a lot of wet molding involved.

it looks like he was encased in it permanently. You might be able to pull that effect off with some velcro strips at the seams, though.

I agree with that, I would definitely do the closures in velcro to keep it seamless.
Just remember that velcro will give you a raised edge and sharp edges that will be against the skin so you will have to line the back of the velcro tape with something so the skin doesnt get all scratched up.

You know what though, the more I look at it, you could definitely do the skintight parts in a thin garment sued.
Basically create a skin tight catsuit and create fake seam edges to give it the appearance of different pieces.

 

[wondersquid]

I actually have made a foam Dr. Doom already, maybe I can find my patterns somewhere here. The mask was made fiberglass, but the rest is all foam. Here are some pics, PM me if this will help. Oh and I agree, the leather work would be fantastic, but having done what you need to do, the learning curve for beginners is VERY expensive. Just my two cents.

 

[Apocodaddy]

In that story line, Dr. Doom gets a super boost in his magic abilities. That's probably why it has no practical or mobile look to it.

 

[OptimusWang]

Doing that suit in stiff leather would also give you a shorter range of motion than a C-3PO suit, because the illustrator didn't articulate the joints at all.

Historically, much of the later armor didn't rely on articulation. The knees and elbows in the OP look almost like cut-down couters (aka giant elbows), which generally provide a better range of motion than their lamed counterparts.

If it helps, this is what a 15th-century arm looked like with them:

It's just two big tubes with a giant elbow in the middle overlapping - simple and effective.

 

[hydin]

Well, the good news is if we do the costume, even in foamies, it's for a mannequin

That makes it both a lot easier, and a lot harder, cause we don't have to worry about "Can it move?" but we do have to worry about "can we ever remove this if we need to" :lol

Chris

 

[Shendorion]

Historically, much of the later armor didn't rely on articulation. The knees and elbows in the OP look almost like cut-down couters (aka giant elbows), which generally provide a better range of motion than their lamed counterparts.

If it helps, this is what a 15th-century arm looked like with them:

It's just two big tubes with a giant elbow in the middle overlapping - simple and effective.

Right, but those two big tubes would have a gap in the front that allows them to come together as the wearer bends his arm. That's why the couter has to be so big - it floats over the gap between the two, shielding the space between the bracer and vam when the arm is relaxed, while providing enough space for them to come together.

Doom's armor in those illustrations doesn't have any of those things - the bracer and vam completely encase his forearm and upper arm without any gap to allow them to come together, and the couter encircles the joint tightly and completely. The pieces would have to be stretchy and flexible to allow any bending at the elbow, becoming shorter in length and increasing their inner diameters as the arm flexes.

 

[hydin]

Also... Doom's armor is (jazz hands) MAGIC (jazz hands).

Seriously, it's made from the flesh of his ex girlfriend, and lets him survive getting his neck snapped by Ben Grimm, and it mends itself.

It's kinda on par with his regular armor as far as being a huge pain in the ass to translate into real life, but with the extra added kick in the nuts of being completely not like any other pre made armor I have seen :lol

We have a few options, but as I mentioned, it's going on a mannequin, so worst case we have a velcro option or a "glue onto bodysuit" option.

Chris

 

[OptimusWang]

Also... Doom's armor is (jazz hands) MAGIC (jazz hands).

LOL point taken :lol

 

[Looch]

A buddy of mine is a comic book artist, and always bends my ear for info on how costumes would really be put together. Nobody ever draws Doom realistically, as far as how his armour would be done. Definitely get yourself a mannequin and start gluing foam, my friend.

 

[hydin]

The only time I have ever seen a semi realistic Doom was in 1408 or whatever the first year of that sub series was.

He had Nazgul style gauntlets, and a pretty bitching cloak.

But NOOOOO. My friend couldn't want to do THAT costume cause it'd be too damned easy. Gotta pick the silence of the lambs version... ******.

Eh, least it gives us something to do :lol
Chris