savmagoett
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the photo, it's nice to finally see some clear reference of this prop! Is there any other out there? (I don't understand your meaning "heading out the door")
My Witch King Cosplay WIP
- Thread starter savmagoett
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- lord of the rings
Thanks for the photo, it's nice to finally see some clear reference of this prop! Is there any other out there? (I don't understand your meaning "heading out the door")
He was leaving his home, but gave you a quick courtesy response before he left.
savmagoett
Well-Known Member
Oh, so deftspyder was talking about himself then, not the helm, ok I get it now
Still would like to know more about the whereabouts of this prop though, is it at a museum somewhere? in the Weta facilities? It would be so cool to have some decent reference of the screen used Witch King armor parts, I could never find anything useful outside the movie itself :/
deftspyder
New Member
I was at an auction of the largest private collection of LOTR items.
I was able to shoot pics and video of a real wraith costume, a full size Uruk-hai, and elven helm, saurons helm, gloves, the witch king, sting, saurumon and galdalfs staves, and many other props. it was pretty cool.
I was able to shoot pics and video of a real wraith costume, a full size Uruk-hai, and elven helm, saurons helm, gloves, the witch king, sting, saurumon and galdalfs staves, and many other props. it was pretty cool.
savmagoett
Well-Known Member
Ahw we're not going to take photos of it any time soon then, too bad :/
Thanks again for sharing these pictures (any chance you got more of the witch king? )
Thanks again for sharing these pictures (any chance you got more of the witch king?
)
savmagoett
Well-Known Member
I've found a nice photo of the original helmet, good reference of the witch king is so rare I'll share it here:
(don't hesitate to share the ones you find here as well guys)
(don't hesitate to share the ones you find here as well guys)
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deftspyder
New Member
I took lots of pictures of it for reference.. if you PM me an email I can send them over. I'm not on this site a ton, but seem to always get back here sooner or later
savmagoett
Well-Known Member
I took lots of pictures of it for reference.. if you PM me an email I can send them over. I'm not on this site a ton, but seem to always get back here sooner or later
PM sent
deftspyder
New Member
hey, turned out to be easier to to throw them up here. Enjoy all my WK bretheren.
Oh yeah, the gauntlet and robes are a ring wraith, but i imagine it could inform a WK costume.
Oh yeah, the gauntlet and robes are a ring wraith, but i imagine it could inform a WK costume.
savmagoett
Well-Known Member
Thanks deftspyder they're really cool
savmagoett
Well-Known Member
After seeing Adam Savage's recent video about the Witch King gauntlets, I realized I have not updated this thread for a long time. However the project has evolved quite a bit, and is still ongoing. Here's the costume at this point (alongside with a beautiful Dark Souls cosplay by Mazaki Props & Cosplay):
I upgraded the robe quite a bit, but it still need work.
I've made part of the Sollerets, but it tends to break often. I'll have to rethink them.
I made the gauntlets 2 years ago, it took me a long time to recreate the patterns from screenshots and very few photographs of the actual prop. It wasn't easy because other peoples work, like Kropserkel's gauntlets, are all over the internet, and I didn't want to go from someone else interpretation, they all vary from the movie in some way or another.
After the drawing of the patterns, I've cut out the shapes in hard paper (cereal boxes really), and strengthened the ridges by putting cyanoacrylate first.
Letting the cyanoacrylate on the palm parts dry.
Then I assembled them to get the shape and soaked them with two part resin to keep the bending. Rivets are actually split pins, so I can disassemble when needed.
Cutting all 66 finger bits (Do you feel my pain? :rolleyes)
Here's the result. The weathering is only a paint job. I plan to make another version that is physically eroded like in the movie, I have an idea how to do this easily... stay tuned
Resin soaked hard paper behaves more like actual steel than foam would, but it’s quite brittle.
Here is a short video of the right hand gauntlet:
(Note: I'm still hoping for the RPF staff to fix the photobucket fiasco in all RPF threads, if they say all hopes is lost, I will manually re-upload all the pictures of my threads.)
I upgraded the robe quite a bit, but it still need work.
I've made part of the Sollerets, but it tends to break often. I'll have to rethink them.
I made the gauntlets 2 years ago, it took me a long time to recreate the patterns from screenshots and very few photographs of the actual prop. It wasn't easy because other peoples work, like Kropserkel's gauntlets, are all over the internet, and I didn't want to go from someone else interpretation, they all vary from the movie in some way or another.
After the drawing of the patterns, I've cut out the shapes in hard paper (cereal boxes really), and strengthened the ridges by putting cyanoacrylate first.
Letting the cyanoacrylate on the palm parts dry.
Then I assembled them to get the shape and soaked them with two part resin to keep the bending. Rivets are actually split pins, so I can disassemble when needed.
Cutting all 66 finger bits (Do you feel my pain? :rolleyes)
Here's the result. The weathering is only a paint job. I plan to make another version that is physically eroded like in the movie, I have an idea how to do this easily... stay tuned
Resin soaked hard paper behaves more like actual steel than foam would, but it’s quite brittle.
Here is a short video of the right hand gauntlet:
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Mark LFV
Member
It's a very well done job especially that you have done it so economically... As far as weight is concerned, as you said that you are comfortable in it, then it should not be a problem.There is no hard and fast rule in cosplay, if you are comfortable and enjoy the cosplay, it's perfect...
savmagoett
Well-Known Member
Time for some big (and really belated) updates (this will be in several posts)
Witch King mark IV Part 1: the pauldrons (shoulders) with a new shoulder cape, and "proto" vambraces (forearm).
I was pushing this part back because I was not looking forward to do it, I suspected it was a difficult one, and boy it was. They were even more difficult to figure out than the helm, references materials are scarce and of poor quality, so I 3D modeled them progressively, going back and forth, and after many hours I got something I was happy with. I discovered that contrary to what I (and many other) though, the bat-wing shoulder piece is not front-back symmetrical, and the rerebraces (the 3 additional plates on the arm) are only covering the front.
Bellow is the left shoulder.
Going from my 3D model I unfolded the shapes, drew them in a vector drawing program, and then cut them in 5mm EVA foam…
Then I Glued them together wit contact cement. To achieve the raised ridges I used 2,5mm electrical wire (glued with cyanoacrylate), that also helped me keep the shape a little better…
The Inside of the pauldron. With my DremeI, I beveled the edges to give the illusion that they are thinner, I also placed two additional wires help keep the shape…
The rerebraces (additional pauldrons parts) are made in foamed PVC (Sintra), heat-gun formed. The ridges are the same copper wire.
I used black silicon to create a transition between the ridges and the part.
And smoothed it out with a wet finger, just like regular bathtub seal.
Once dried I weathered everything with some random tools, including smashing them with a file cleaner. ^^
The complete pauldrons assemblies.
Painting with several layers of metallic colors with an old sponge. (you can also see some damage I made with my Dremel)
The final result with the new shoulder cape, man that was long in the making!
(by the way I present you "half Marc" )
Because of the new shoulder cape, the sleeves must sit higher up the arm, so my forearms are visible now. I had to build something quick and dirty to dress up that part. I'll do them more precisely someday
The first layer of weathering, a brownish red for the rust.
They are too bright, they will be darkened by a coat of diluted black acrylic.
(this will be in several posts)Witch King mark IV Part 1: the pauldrons (shoulders) with a new shoulder cape, and "proto" vambraces (forearm).
I was pushing this part back because I was not looking forward to do it
, I suspected it was a difficult one, and boy it was. They were even more difficult to figure out than the helm, references materials are scarce and of poor quality, so I 3D modeled them progressively, going back and forth, and after many hours I got something I was happy with. I discovered that contrary to what I (and many other) though, the bat-wing shoulder piece is not front-back symmetrical, and the rerebraces (the 3 additional plates on the arm) are only covering the front.Bellow is the left shoulder.
Going from my 3D model I unfolded the shapes, drew them in a vector drawing program, and then cut them in 5mm EVA foam…
Then I Glued them together wit contact cement. To achieve the raised ridges I used 2,5mm electrical wire (glued with cyanoacrylate), that also helped me keep the shape a little better…
The Inside of the pauldron. With my DremeI, I beveled the edges to give the illusion that they are thinner, I also placed two additional wires help keep the shape…
The rerebraces (additional pauldrons parts) are made in foamed PVC (Sintra), heat-gun formed. The ridges are the same copper wire.
I used black silicon to create a transition between the ridges and the part.
And smoothed it out with a wet finger, just like regular bathtub seal.
Once dried I weathered everything with some random tools, including smashing them with a file cleaner. ^^
The complete pauldrons assemblies.
Painting with several layers of metallic colors with an old sponge. (you can also see some damage I made with my Dremel)
The final result with the new shoulder cape, man that was long in the making!
(by the way I present you "half Marc"
)Because of the new shoulder cape, the sleeves must sit higher up the arm, so my forearms are visible now. I had to build something quick and dirty to dress up that part. I'll do them more precisely someday
The first layer of weathering, a brownish red for the rust.
They are too bright, they will be darkened by a coat of diluted black acrylic.
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savmagoett
Well-Known Member
Witch King mark IV Part 2: The sword and it’s scabbard!
That was something I wanted to do for a long time, I did not want to buy a replica, because metal swords are not allowed at conventions, and I prefer my cosplay to be done all by myself anyways. I wanted to do it right, and some details needed a lot of attention. Especially the guard of the sword which has intricate details engraved. So I made a 3D model of the whole handle to be printed out on a FDM 3D printer.
After several trials and errors with the printer, I finally got something useful
(I wanted to use ABS, and I never used that material on that printer)
The pommel printed out.
The grip in two parts. The part on the right got a small offset near the end, but I was able to easily fix it later…
The blade was to big the print and it must be "convention safe", so I decided to make it in foamed PVC, a soft material, easy to work with… well not as easy as I would have hope it to be. I took me two evenings just to create the bevels and it is not perfect, but acceptable for the Witch King because of the severely aged look of him.
OMG look at that mess! But I'm so happy It's done!
I used a broken compass part tho age the whole thing…
Aaaand I had to dent it severely too, man it's painful to destroy something you just painstakingly created the day before!
The grip is entirely covered with leather, given the four large rings, I was expecting it to be difficult to achieve, but it was actually very easy, the fake leather I bought was so elastic, it worked like a charm. (Note that the WK sword from United Cutelry had a engraved metal middle section and also some engravings on the pommel, those are embellishments made by the replica company, but I wanted to make mine like the movie prop was)
United Cutlery. Movie prop.
The completed sword, I'm so happy I finally made it, now I'll have something to rest my arm, instead of it dangling awkwardly, and also I hear peoples say "wow" every time I draw the 140 cm out from their scabbard. ^^
Tadaaaah ^^
The scabbard was unexpectedly easy to do. I simply drew a basic shape on 5mm EVA foam, cut it out, heat-gun shaped it, contact-glued it, and…
…voilà, easy!
Same thing goes for the tip. I'll have to upgrade with a metal looking part later…
I quickly cut the entering out to match the shape of the sword guard.
Gluing the fake leather on the scabbard with contact cement…
The entering was not keeping its intended shape, so I inserted a copper wire through the edges.
Here the finished scabbard (for now) and the belts.
That cosplay's starting to look decent
Halflings better beware!
Yeah I'm soo happy, does-it shows? ^^
Also me inside:
I've found them, see boss, I did good, didn't I?
I nice photo by Paul Muylaert with my friend Gwendoline
That was something I wanted to do for a long time, I did not want to buy a replica, because metal swords are not allowed at conventions, and I prefer my cosplay to be done all by myself anyways. I wanted to do it right, and some details needed a lot of attention. Especially the guard of the sword which has intricate details engraved. So I made a 3D model of the whole handle to be printed out on a FDM 3D printer.
After several trials and errors with the printer, I finally got something useful
The pommel printed out.
The grip in two parts. The part on the right got a small offset near the end, but I was able to easily fix it later…
The blade was to big the print and it must be "convention safe", so I decided to make it in foamed PVC, a soft material, easy to work with… well not as easy as I would have hope it to be. I took me two evenings just to create the bevels
and it is not perfect, but acceptable for the Witch King because of the severely aged look of him.OMG look at that mess!
But I'm so happy It's done! I used a broken compass part tho age the whole thing…
Aaaand I had to dent it severely too, man it's painful to destroy something you just painstakingly created the day before!
The grip is entirely covered with leather, given the four large rings, I was expecting it to be difficult to achieve, but it was actually very easy, the fake leather I bought was so elastic, it worked like a charm. (Note that the WK sword from United Cutelry had a engraved metal middle section and also some engravings on the pommel, those are embellishments made by the replica company, but I wanted to make mine like the movie prop was)
United Cutlery. Movie prop.
The completed sword, I'm so happy I finally made it, now I'll have something to rest my arm, instead of it dangling awkwardly, and also I hear peoples say "wow" every time I draw the 140 cm out from their scabbard. ^^
Tadaaaah ^^
The scabbard was unexpectedly easy to do. I simply drew a basic shape on 5mm EVA foam, cut it out, heat-gun shaped it, contact-glued it, and…
…voilà, easy!
Same thing goes for the tip. I'll have to upgrade with a metal looking part later…
I quickly cut the entering out to match the shape of the sword guard.
Gluing the fake leather on the scabbard with contact cement…
The entering was not keeping its intended shape, so I inserted a copper wire through the edges.
Here the finished scabbard (for now) and the belts.
That cosplay's starting to look decent
Halflings better beware!
Yeah I'm soo happy, does-it shows? ^^
Also me inside:
I've found them, see boss, I did good, didn't I?
I nice photo by Paul Muylaert with my friend Gwendoline
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savmagoett
Well-Known Member
Witch King mark V: The dagger and it's scabbard!
Well started as I was with the previous update, I quickly followed with the next natural addition, the famous "Morgul Blade", the very one that injured Frodo at Whether Top!
One of the original props used in the films, for once I had good reference pictures to work with.
The 3D model with every parts separated.
An architecture project? No, just the dagger grip with the 3d printing supports
The handle being covered in faux leather. I used the file only to push the leather against the ridges of the handle. I used contact cement this time around.
Aging the cross guard, ABS is tougher than foamed PVC, so I used a pyrograph.
First steps building the blade. I had to thicken the aluminum core witch was too thin (2mm) to match with the foamed PVC (3mm) with two 0,5 mm sheets of polystyrene. Next, cutting of the three layers, with a hollow shape in the middle one for the aluminum core.
This time around I saved a lot of time using a Stanley "Surform", sort of a cheese grater for wood.
The dagger blade has four fullers, I begun with the exterior ones. I'm using a scalpel here to better control the curvy shape near the guard.
I worked the fullers with two scalpels, a regular rounded edge one, and a customized, all round one, I made a long time ago, it doesn't have a cutting edge any more, but the straight edge is sharp enough to allow me to dig through the pvc quite nicely.
Always nice to have Indy's approval. Here I'm sanding the fullers.
Weathering with random tools, here with the tip of a file.
Oops, that's weathering too far, nothing cyanoacrylate won't fix
After a few hours of stamping with various brownish metallic shades, here is the final result, I'm quite satisfied!
The dagger scabbard is done like the sword one, a simple 5mm EVA foam folding.
Just as for the sword I had to strengthen the entrance of the sheath with copper wire.
Faux leather cover with contact cement.
Done for now (I’ll add the metal endings later)
I re-worked the sword belts, as now with the dagger, I understand better how all those belts works. I also added a third strap on the sword scabbard to help it tilt like it should (the two original ones weren’t enough because the sword is not balanced like a real one)
Ready for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields with Gothmog the lieutenant of Minas Morgul.
A nice photo by Johan Verplancke with my friend, cosplayer Celia Hopperton.
An awesome photo by JSPhotos
Well started as I was with the previous update, I quickly followed with the next natural addition, the famous "Morgul Blade", the very one that injured Frodo at Whether Top!
One of the original props used in the films, for once I had good reference pictures to work with.
The 3D model with every parts separated.
An architecture project? No, just the dagger grip with the 3d printing supports
The handle being covered in faux leather. I used the file only to push the leather against the ridges of the handle. I used contact cement this time around.
Aging the cross guard, ABS is tougher than foamed PVC, so I used a pyrograph.
First steps building the blade. I had to thicken the aluminum core witch was too thin (2mm) to match with the foamed PVC (3mm) with two 0,5 mm sheets of polystyrene. Next, cutting of the three layers, with a hollow shape in the middle one for the aluminum core.
This time around I saved a lot of time using a Stanley "Surform", sort of a cheese grater for wood.
The dagger blade has four fullers, I begun with the exterior ones. I'm using a scalpel here to better control the curvy shape near the guard.
I worked the fullers with two scalpels, a regular rounded edge one, and a customized, all round one, I made a long time ago, it doesn't have a cutting edge any more, but the straight edge is sharp enough to allow me to dig through the pvc quite nicely.
Always nice to have Indy's approval.
Here I'm sanding the fullers.Weathering with random tools, here with the tip of a file.
Oops, that's weathering too far, nothing cyanoacrylate won't fix
After a few hours of stamping with various brownish metallic shades, here is the final result, I'm quite satisfied!
The dagger scabbard is done like the sword one, a simple 5mm EVA foam folding.
Just as for the sword I had to strengthen the entrance of the sheath with copper wire.
Faux leather cover with contact cement.
Done for now (I’ll add the metal endings later)
I re-worked the sword belts, as now with the dagger, I understand better how all those belts works. I also added a third strap on the sword scabbard to help it tilt like it should (the two original ones weren’t enough because the sword is not balanced like a real one)
Ready for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields with Gothmog the lieutenant of Minas Morgul.
A nice photo by Johan Verplancke with my friend, cosplayer Celia Hopperton.
An awesome photo by JSPhotos
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