MY FIRST PROJECT : Eomer from Lord of the Rings

[ClaireD]

Hi everyone !
So, I'm new here and as I'm starting a big project I decided to start posting here!
Until now, I've only made a few stuff out of foam just for fun. It's really non professional cosplay and very cheap but I really liked making those stuff. Two years ago I made foam armor such as Thor's and Loki's armor in the first Thor movie for Paris Comic-Con and this year another foam armor for a personal project :
View attachment _MG_4378.jpg

as you can see it's not really pro, but I'm soon starting a costume designer scholarship and I want to go as professional as possible.
So this year, at a LotR event I met a guy and we started talking. I told him I wanted to start crafting some serious stuff and he told me he wished he had a Rohirrim armor. As he looked very much like Eomer I convinced him that if he wanted an armor, it could totally be Eomer's armor, and I was interested in making it for him.
So here I am with my first big project and my first commission. I saw that there was already two thread about Eomer on the forum, the one by Guri and the one by Grey Pilgrim. I read those and guessed I had to make my own here...

I have a 330$ budget. He wants the armor as real as possible, like real leather and metal and everything so he could wear it for LARP and fight easily not fearing it would crack or something.
for the moment I'm just working out how I'm supposed to do it, where can I find the cheapest material and making some sketch....


So for the moment I'm more working on the body armor. I thought about a layer of a random thick fabric, then thin metal (aluminium I guess), and then sewing a layer of leather on the top of it all.
so, if you guys have any advices to give me or some stuff, I'm all yours!
thanks !

 

[gothic]

hi ClaireD you need to re-up your attachments they didn't show. Thrift stores/charity shops are a good place to look for cheap leather jackets/trousers and other materail i dont know if you have a free paper where people just dont want. use tea/coffee/dirt as a free stain material invest in a sealant to keep your hard work intact.Builders skips are a good place for free materials but ask before you take anything the old favorite is Facebook/friends and family you can get a lot of build material for free just ask and smile and say please, works for me.

 

[ClaireD]

Thrift stores/charity shops are a good place to look for cheap leather jackets/trousers and other materail i dont know if you have a free paper where people just dont want. use tea/coffee/dirt as a free stain material invest in a sealant to keep your hard work intact.Builders skips are a good place for free materials but ask before you take anything the old favorite is Facebook/friends and family you can get a lot of build material for free just ask and smile and say please, works for me.

for the leather I'm going to special leather shop (there are two of them around) just to know the prices, and there is a LARP costume shop I think I'm going to ask them some advices, and check their scale mail shirts. Plus, for cheap leather I'm going on the countryside for the holidays, where they are some medieval events I guess I can ask someone, and then I'm going to Hungary, maybe, as they are many 'hand made leather accessories' shop, the leather is no very expensive there.
thanks for the tea and coffee, I never thought it might work on leather !

 

[ClaireD]

I finished my drawing of the main body part. I can work on the right scale template now.
I'm putting it here for those who are looking for one maybe:

the shaded part is where the head fits and there is a lacing in the back.

Good reference images for the front part are easy to find but I had more trouble finding some good pics of the back so I'm putting here those I have in case someone need one.

some screen caps and this amazing replica found on www.artesulcuoio.it

here there are three straps on the side but looking at the movie screen caps I think there are in fact only two and then the belt.

 

[ClaireD]

I noticed that there is a small design in the leather at the bottom of the front part on each side near the belt. I haven't seen it on other replicas so if you have any clear references you're welcome here!


I think it's just two horse heads facing each other...
guess it looks like this

but less creepy...

 

[gothic]

cool, look forward to how it comes out