ACParadise Forums

This year at Dragon*Con, one of my costumes I was considering was Lina Inverse from Slayers. I, of course, would try to create the costume in its entirety on my own.

Only one thing concerns me though.

I've never made armour before or anything of the sort. I know for the jems I was thinking of cutting plastic Christmas ornaments in half and such but when it comes to the armour itself...

Anyone know what one would traditionally use to make them? I'm pretty creative so I'm up for trying just about anything.

If it comes to it, I could get someone to do it for me, I suppose but that's definitely not really what I want to do at this point.

Incase you don't know, here's a picture of the general armour I'm speaking of:



I do realize, either way, it's going to be quite a project. I'm up for it; I do have quite a few months.

Hehe I will be at Dragoncon too maybe I will see you. ^^

As for the armor. Depends on your budget. You could always use foamies if you want to go cheaper. I love foamies. ^^ Cutting them out into shapes then painting them? Or try wonderflex or abs (polystyrene) plastic. It's really up to you. People have used the Xmas ornament method with her before, so I know that will work for you. A lot of it is what works for you. But as a beginner armor maker, I think you should use foamies. Or at least use foamies as a base then cover it with abs plastic or wonderflex (which you will have to order somewhere online. http://www.usplastic.com is a good site, it's where I get mine. I get my wonderflex from http://www.cosworx.com Also here is a tutorial you might want to check out :

http://amethyst-angel.com/armormaking.html

Right now, I'm trying this tutorial I found online as well as... o.O Sculpy. Someone suggested sculpy to me.

Blah, The thing about foam... wont that be really... crappy looking? I mean, I'm very much willing to work HARD on it and I do have a few people to help me.
I just want it to look... GOOD, you know?

What are you going as, if I may ask?

Well it takes a long time and practice to be able to work with foam to the point where it looks good (at least for me it did >_<) My Aigis cosplay is made of foam and plastics for example. Sculptey is a good idea however, you will have to buy lots of it and it tends to get very very heavy plus you have to bake it. If you want to go this molding method, I suggest model magic. It's super light, molds like sculptey, you don't have to bake, it is less messy and it takes a long time to dry, maybe a couple days to fully cure (which is a good thing because that way you have more time to smooth things out as it dries then once it is dry you can sand it.) I've made staves, props and armor with model magic. And it's super durable too! ^^

I'm not sure yet, I'm thinking some version of Poison Ivy from Batman. Green is my favorite color.