JmanTurtleMan
New Member
Hello there everyone! I'm very happy to be a part of this forum, and I thought for my first thread I would share with you guys what I consider my first attempt at costuming. I've lurked around here for awhile now just reading and getting info, and I would consider myself a beginner cosplayer. I've been doing it for a few years now and a lot of my knowledge as come from just browsing on this forum. I also must say that the level of acceptance, helpfulness, and just overall niceness on here (at least from what I've seen and experienced 
) is just a breath of fresh air from the rest of the internet.
I am a HUGE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan, and I really wanted to make a Ninja Turtle costume for my main cosplay choice (ambitious, right?) so about 2 1/2 years ago I set out to make one, so the first thing a started with was the shell. Now please keep in mind this is before I found this forum and didn't know much about cosplay in general, with that being said, if I knew what I did know back then, I probably would have made it a different way, but I still thought it be fun to share, because even though it's my first attempt, I'm still really proud of how it turned out.
I stared with a basic shell shape I formed using some old bed sheets and tape. I then put plastic wrap over the whole thing.
Paper-mache' is the base foundation of the whole thing. I just layered strips of newspaper and paper-mache' mix (flour and water) until it seemed solid enough, about five
layers.
I was mainly using the Turtles from the 2007 CGI movie "TMNT" for the shell design. I had a toy Raphael that was a very willing model.
Here is where I wish I took more pictures. For the out edge of the shell I needed something sort of curved and round, so I used a foam wreath base cut into pieces and slightly trimmed so they fit around the whole sell. Then for the scutes, the individual sections of the shell, I layered cut pieces of craft foam. I got the idea for that from a picture I saw somewhere on the Internet.
Then paper-mache' again, the bottom (inside) and the sides to smooth it out and make it all one piece.
For the top of the shell I wanted to keep the detail of the scutes, so I didn't paper-mache but put several layers of mod-podge and then painted it. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the whole process but it went mod-podge, paint; mod-podge, paint; etc, until all the little nooks and crannies were filled.
Then lastly, after detail painting, to make it hard and rigid like a turtle shell, I covered the whole thing in fiberglass resign, a few layers of that.
And there you have it. While the whole of my turtle suit as seen many changes, I still use the shell, and it still holds up. Maybe one day I'll make a new one, maybe
Here's some shots of me at this years Long Beach Comic-Con. Thanks for reading! COWABUNGA!
) is just a breath of fresh air from the rest of the internet. I am a HUGE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan, and I really wanted to make a Ninja Turtle costume for my main cosplay choice (ambitious, right?) so about 2 1/2 years ago I set out to make one, so the first thing a started with was the shell. Now please keep in mind this is before I found this forum and didn't know much about cosplay in general, with that being said, if I knew what I did know back then, I probably would have made it a different way, but I still thought it be fun to share, because even though it's my first attempt, I'm still really proud of how it turned out.
I stared with a basic shell shape I formed using some old bed sheets and tape. I then put plastic wrap over the whole thing.
Paper-mache' is the base foundation of the whole thing. I just layered strips of newspaper and paper-mache' mix (flour and water) until it seemed solid enough, about five
layers.
I was mainly using the Turtles from the 2007 CGI movie "TMNT" for the shell design. I had a toy Raphael that was a very willing model.
Here is where I wish I took more pictures. For the out edge of the shell I needed something sort of curved and round, so I used a foam wreath base cut into pieces and slightly trimmed so they fit around the whole sell. Then for the scutes, the individual sections of the shell, I layered cut pieces of craft foam. I got the idea for that from a picture I saw somewhere on the Internet.
Then paper-mache' again, the bottom (inside) and the sides to smooth it out and make it all one piece.
For the top of the shell I wanted to keep the detail of the scutes, so I didn't paper-mache but put several layers of mod-podge and then painted it. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the whole process but it went mod-podge, paint; mod-podge, paint; etc, until all the little nooks and crannies were filled.
Then lastly, after detail painting, to make it hard and rigid like a turtle shell, I covered the whole thing in fiberglass resign, a few layers of that.
And there you have it. While the whole of my turtle suit as seen many changes, I still use the shell, and it still holds up. Maybe one day I'll make a new one, maybe
Here's some shots of me at this years Long Beach Comic-Con. Thanks for reading! COWABUNGA!
