Skyrim Glass Armor (with WIP images)

NefeniCosplay

New Member
Hi everyone! My name is June and I've always loved the Elder Scrolls series! When Skyrim came out, I spent many sleepless nights wandering in dungeons and exploring vast cities. Needless to say, it's a game that's close to my heart and when I was able to craft the Glass Armor in the game, I fell in love with the set. After attending a few conventions and seeing all the talent cosplayers had in creating beautiful armor sets, I decided to make my very own Glass Armor set!

I started with the reference picture by the amazing Ray Lederer:
Glass_Armor_Female.jpg
And began to pattern all my armor pieces in photoshop. I printed out numerous versions of my drafts and did test fittings with paper. I went back into photoshop multiple times to re-scale it for a better fit and redo some curves for a more aesthetically pleasing look.Here is an example of the bracer I did with 4 different layers:

Glass Armor_Final_3_x4.jpg


Then I used worbla and craft foam to sculpt the bracer. I used the sandwich method for the bracer and double-layer worbla strips for the details. Here is the final result before priming and painting:
10329819_466465130123874_2089490691587050514_o.jpg10577053_481963258574061_969272493791866442_n.jpg

I the repeated this process for my leg armor. On the detail of the upper leg armor, I cut out a v-shaped design out of craft foam and covered it with worbla. Then I carefully placed each one on starting from the top.

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Then I moved on to the breastplate (which was pretty difficult to figure out the cups!) I picked up a 6-inch acrylic globe used for lighting from home depot and heated up a double layer of worbla and draped it over the acrylic globe. After it cooled, I attached it to my base and used a bra to shape the top. After the base was done, all I had left was to add a bunch of details! The cutouts were made by taking a panel of double layer of worbla and cutting away the triangle shapes to make grooves / etches. The same technique was used for the details on the breastplate cups.

skyrim_glass_armor___breastplate_by_nefenicosplay-d7syaub.jpg10609417_484349451668775_3288330047195997378_n.jpg10632847_494095404027513_7021940773193264496_n.jpg

Then I moved on to fastenings and did a trial & errors on how I wanted the glass part to look like. I primed everything with 4 to 5 layers of Gorilla wood glue. I used green iridescent paint over a dark blue/green/gold acrylic paint base and added acrylic gel medium to get the shiny/glossy glass look.

10666013_495993753837678_3359323098219720360_n.jpg10687179_494915410612179_4870100758929299809_n.jpg

Here are some of the completed pieces after the painting process:
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It's been an amazing journey so far! I still have the hip armor, helmet and weapon/prop to finish but I've had a bunch of help & support throughout and I would like to share my experiences with you too! You can follow more updates on my fb page. Happy crafting! :)

-June (Nefeni Cosplay)
 

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Your glass effect is brilliant! I am very impressed, it looks exactly like I imagine it should. Great idea with the gorilla glue layering, I have to try that out.
 
Wow! Thanks guys! I've been working on the belt all weekend long and it's driving me nuts trying to get the right curve and shape. I want the hanging pieces to stay put when I walk so I came up with a crazy mechanism to hold it in place. It turned out much heavier than I anticipated too...! I'll put up a picture later of the fixings when I get a chance.
 
Hey everyone! Here's an update...I finished my hip armor and started the construction of my weapon, Glass Battleaxe. So all I have left is that and the helmet! :)

This took over 300+ small worbla pieces to heat up, bond together and shape. And then I had to figure out how to secure it to the belt so that it stayed put and didn't twist or move away from my body in an awkward way. This was the hardest part and tried many different methods. I found one that worked and you can see the inner workings in the bottom right picture. I used suede craft lace to tie everything together and used a tetris/woven method to fan out the hanging pieces uniformly.

You can see more of my progess on my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nefenicosplay

10440850_522398151197238_287152582575095478_n.jpg
 
I'm unfamiliar with the subject matter, but this looks stunning, especially the "glass" part of the paint job. If you want it to look really glassy you can always put 2 part epoxy over it, when it dries it's super shiny.
 
If you want it to look really glassy you can always put 2 part epoxy over it, when it dries it's super shiny.
Ruddigger Thank you for the advice! Question, does the 2 part epoxy add too much weight to the piece? If not, can you recommend me a brand that would work well as application over acrylic paints?
 
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