BeanFactory
Member
Long time lurker, first time posting a new thread. I discovered a love for costuming this summer and this is my third one so far. I've been meaning to make myself some kind of Tolkien dwarf costume for a while now, but I've been dragging my feet because I swore to myself that my next costume wouldn't involve a fake beard. Still, I have the body type and the nose for a decent dwarf, so I figured I'd cope with beard sweat and spend my summer break elbows-deep in fur, leather, and other things that I'll regret when August rolls around. For a while I played around with a Fili costume (I'm a dead ringer for Dean O'Gorman in his dwarf nose), but my students insisted I could pull off a great Thorin. I can hide my dreads under the longer, darker wig a bit better and that armor looks like way too much fun to pass up.
So far I've gotten a good start on the boots (see the bajilliondy photos) and I'm waiting on the materials for the rest. Here's my progress so far:
Toe cap pattern. I had to make these a couple of times because they were always just a smidge too small for dwarf feet. Thanks, art school, for teaching me to save all of my patterns just in case.
Toe caps. I made these out of Worbla and I'm pretty happy with the result. They're still waiting for another coat to give them more of a copper color, though I quite like this rusty iron look.
Boot hardware. I made the texture on the originals by rolling a ball of twine over the clay. It left perfect ridges and scratches. Then I cast them in resin and aluminum powder and rubbed paint into the scratches to weather them up a bit.
The boots as they are so far. There's still a ton to do (sculpt/mold the buckles, finish the fur, add the leather spines up the back, finish painting the toe caps, weather the hell out of everything...) but I like them so far.
I've been wearing them around the house despite the heat. My cat hates them. I wish they were a touch bigger, but still, they definitely make my feet look much more dwarf-y than my usual size nines. I think these are about a size fifteen?
I'll post more progress shots as I make more progress. Fingers crossed for cool evenings so I don't die up in my hundred-degree attic studio.
So far I've gotten a good start on the boots (see the bajilliondy photos) and I'm waiting on the materials for the rest. Here's my progress so far:
Toe cap pattern. I had to make these a couple of times because they were always just a smidge too small for dwarf feet. Thanks, art school, for teaching me to save all of my patterns just in case.
Toe caps. I made these out of Worbla and I'm pretty happy with the result. They're still waiting for another coat to give them more of a copper color, though I quite like this rusty iron look.
Boot hardware. I made the texture on the originals by rolling a ball of twine over the clay. It left perfect ridges and scratches. Then I cast them in resin and aluminum powder and rubbed paint into the scratches to weather them up a bit.
The boots as they are so far. There's still a ton to do (sculpt/mold the buckles, finish the fur, add the leather spines up the back, finish painting the toe caps, weather the hell out of everything...) but I like them so far.
I've been wearing them around the house despite the heat. My cat hates them. I wish they were a touch bigger, but still, they definitely make my feet look much more dwarf-y than my usual size nines. I think these are about a size fifteen?
I'll post more progress shots as I make more progress. Fingers crossed for cool evenings so I don't die up in my hundred-degree attic studio.