Elven Doorstop
New Member
Hey guys! I've never made anything costume related, but the eventual goal is to make a spacesuit (or several)
So my question is do you think I could make a helmet out of wood? I'm primarily concerned about the grain, but I have a couple ideas of how I could possibly make it work.
First off I could make it using a solid block of wood (probably a section cut from a tree) that I would then carve down. This would obviously take a lot of time, but I'm actually more concerned about the fact that the grain might not be very strong if it runs from the bottom to the top of the helmet, it would be end grain at the top of the helmet and thin and relatively unsupported vertically oriented grain along the sides.
The second option I'm considering is to glue several boards together allowing me more control over grain direction, I would then carve away what is not needed. The main problem with this is gluing it together in a way that is strong and not likely to fall apart.
I've considered making a helmet using conventional methods (molding, casting, etc.) but I don't have any experience using such methods/materials, moreover I've heard it's not cheap (a couple hundred dollars at least) to make a helmet using something like resin.
So the bottom line is this, do you think that it is possible to make a sturdy enough helmet using wood, or should I just make it out of resin using a mold?
Thanks for any advice, I'm open to suggestions! Also if you have any other ideas for how I could make it out of wood I'd love to hear them!
So my question is do you think I could make a helmet out of wood? I'm primarily concerned about the grain, but I have a couple ideas of how I could possibly make it work.
First off I could make it using a solid block of wood (probably a section cut from a tree) that I would then carve down. This would obviously take a lot of time, but I'm actually more concerned about the fact that the grain might not be very strong if it runs from the bottom to the top of the helmet, it would be end grain at the top of the helmet and thin and relatively unsupported vertically oriented grain along the sides.
The second option I'm considering is to glue several boards together allowing me more control over grain direction, I would then carve away what is not needed. The main problem with this is gluing it together in a way that is strong and not likely to fall apart.
I've considered making a helmet using conventional methods (molding, casting, etc.) but I don't have any experience using such methods/materials, moreover I've heard it's not cheap (a couple hundred dollars at least) to make a helmet using something like resin.
So the bottom line is this, do you think that it is possible to make a sturdy enough helmet using wood, or should I just make it out of resin using a mold?
Thanks for any advice, I'm open to suggestions! Also if you have any other ideas for how I could make it out of wood I'd love to hear them!