2015
Christchurch Armageddon Cosplay 2015
Dragonborn – Steel Armour Emma Simo
Reference Images Full Body
Gloves
Shirt
Belt
Skirt
Boots
Method Design The first thing I did when planning this cosplay was to break the costume down into sections and then break each section down into components. This allowed me to visualise how to fit the costume together and plan what materials I would need to construct it and what compromises with the reference design I would need to make. Starting from the bottom up the feet would require a pair of boots, several metal plates and trim and a leather and fur topping. The trousers appeared to be made from fur with metal knee plates. The skirt would be padded leather with metal plates on the sides and a metal rim around the top. This rim caused some thought as the metal substitutes I was using would be too fragile or too
stiff for this, so in the end I settled with spray painting vinyl. The belt consisted of metal plates and leather straps. The backing for the belt could have been metal from the reference pictures but instead vinyl was used to make the belt sturdier and more flexible. The breastplate required more metal plates and a leather shirt trimmed with fur. Finally the gloves followed the same pattern of leather fur and metal plates. I initially considered using vinyl for the leather portions of the costume due to the costs of buying so much leather, but I was able to purchase a couple of second hand leather jackets relatively cheaply to salvage for material. The limited amount of leather obtained from the jackets however lead to the use of fabric and vinyl for hidden or less 1 - My source of leather noticeable parts of the costume. I was also careful to keep the fabrics to natural undyed tones so that if/when they do show they look a natural part of the armour.
2 - Creating patterns for the torso and belt
For my next step I designed patterns. I used chalk on a tight fitting shirt to create the outlines and then created paper templates over those. I had to compromise a little here as I found I had a shorter torso than the game character and had to squash the breastplate pattern to fit all components in. I tried my best to avoid missing parts of the armour shown in the reference pictures by slightly altering the shape and size of other pieces, but in some cases I did need to drop a feature. The most notable example of this is the lower metal layer of the breastplate which I dropped to lack of space on the front and the chest pates already looking too vertically squashed.
Techniques Metal The metal plates were the biggest challenge for me in this costume. I decided to steer away from foam methods as I didn’t like the too-even finish that they gave, I wanted something that looked more beaten and weathered which would have been too much effort to achieve with foam. I also had the idea that foam would be too expensive, although in hindsight this is likely not the case. Paper mache was voided because the surface wold be too uneven. The cost issue prohibited me from using other methods like wonderflex, worbla and fiberglass, so in the end I settled for developing my own method. The cardboard patterns provided a base for me to work with. I recognised that I needed to smooth out the edges and build up a surface that I could press the detailing into. I had come across joint compound during house renovation and thought it might suit the purpose. My first tests immediately proved that it was very fragile, cracking under even a little pressure. It also did not adhere to the cardboard base very well and flaked off. Lastly it was very hard to get a smooth edge with the plaster as when wet it was hard to shape. However it was easy to embed a design into and I very much liked the finish that it gave. My second try attempted to solve the cracking problem by making the cardboard base stiff, in the hope that it would prevent the movement that lead to cracking. I used paper mache for this, it was cheap and easy to make. I tied both methods, layering strips of paper with glue between, and making a paper mache 1 -Armour Plate Construction; paper mache base. pulp. The pulp worked best for me, it was much quicker as it only needed one layer and it gave a rough textured surface for the plaster. To solve the issue of the smooth edges I used air dry modelling clay to border the pieces, this worked really well to further stiffen the plates and give an edge that would resist flaking or chipping better than plaster would. The clay was a
bit of an expense for me but I found it well worth it for making the plates more durable. I was also able to use clay as a patch filler in the occasions when the plaster did flake off. The flaking was a problem on some of my earlier pieces, (in this case the glove plates) however I found that attempting 2 - Armour Plate Construction; fixing flaking plaster to keep the plaster layer around 5mm thick or more prevented this. The plaster was mixed using powdered joint compound (plaster) to a slightly thicker consistency than usual. Doing so made it easier to apply, especially when pressing the detailing. For each armour piece I would coat the upper side with plaster and smooth it down as much as possible with a trowel (or flat piece of 3- Armour Plate Construction; Coat the edges with clay plastic). I would then use my scraper tool to scratch out the outline of the detailing.
4 - Armour Plate Construction; layer with plaster.
After that I sometimes needed to let the plaster dry a little before I could use the same tool to press dents into the plaster filling in the detailing. Some interpretations of this armour imagine a wire mesh inset into the steel plates to create the design but it seems more lore friendly to me to have the designs beaten into the steel.
5 - Armour Plate Construction; Outline details
After leaving this to dry I would once again use the scraper to improve the definition of the detailing outlines and sand the whole thing down to a smooth surface. I purposefully left some imperfections in the plaster surface to give the pieces a beaten and almost crudely made look.
I then covered it with two coats of silver metallic spray paint and then weathered it by pushing dark grey acrylic paint into the cracks and dents and wiping it off the surface with a damp paper towel. This was done in sections to prevent the paint drying and leaving too much residue behind. The result was a
7 - Metal Plate Construction; waiting for plaster to dry
6 - Armour Plate Construction; Filling the details
much less clean and shiny look that still had a metallic glow against the light and looked far more realistic. Finally I lined the completed plates with felt to give a neat finish on the inside. I also attached rivets using by sticking on googly eyes then painting them with silver and grey acrylic paint. 108 - Metal Plate Construction; after spray painting
11- Metal Plate Construction; weathering
10 Metal Plate Construction; after painting.
9 - Armour Plate Construction; rivets
11- Armour Plate construction; Lining
Leather and Fur The leather and fur pieces of the armour required no fancy techniques. The fur was hand-sewn using blanket stitch when sewing fur to fur, and a basic slash stitch when sewing fur to leather. I also stitched around the raw edges of the fur, although I don’t expect any fraying anyway. The leather was machine sewn using a heavy duty thread and visible seams glued down with PVA glue. Where possible I tried to make the seams match the reference images, particularly in the hand portion of the gloves.
Pattern drafting I had no patterns to work with for this costume so had to create them all from scratch. My technique for doing this was to use newspaper to create a basic pattern that had the correct proportions. For the leather skirt I copied this onto a clean paper sheet and filled the outline with the patchwork pattern. This was a fairly simple shape so I was confident that I could do so accurately. For the gloves I wrapped my hand in pieces of newspaper the rough sizes and shapes and sizes as the glove sections and trimmed and refined these until I was happy 13 - Pattern Drafting; Skirt with a newspaper version that fit. For the shirt I made a rough pattern with newspaper and cut the leather pieces oversized then trimmed them to fit my body as I assembled the garment.
12 - Leather Construction; adjusting the shirt to fit.
Putting it all together As all the metal armour pieces are lined with felt these pieces are held onto the costume either by sewing the felt to the base garment (gloves and skirt), gluing it (boots, belt lower layer) or by attaching straps to hold everything together (belt upper layer, breastplate). The glue used was simple PVA, however where there was too much stress on the pieces a contact adhesive was used instead. In most cases where fasteners were required press studs were used, except for the belt buckle holding the skirt up around the waist. The shirt and belt lower layer have eyelets along the left hand allowing these to be laced closed. I could have used zips, but lacing looks more lore friendly and is adjustable. 14 – Fastenings, shirt lacing
Final Overview Gloves: Metal-like hand cover and arm guard plates over leather base. Leather glove and arm guard constructed separately and connected with fur, fur trim at top of arm guard. Leather strips glued to inside of arms. Currently complete. Breastplate: Metal-like breastplate, two pieces, plus side and back plates. Gorget in two pieces. Shoulder guard is a wire base (coat hanger) coated with clay and painted, straps to hold breastplate and back-plate pieces attached directly to the wire. Underneath is a leather shirt, laced at the side with fur sleeves
attached. Sleeves are not lined to prevent the bulky look of fur folded around the edges. Still need to attach some rivets.
Belt: Vinyl and fabric lower layer with metallike trim glued and sewn to top and bottom edges. Trim is cardboard coated with clay, no plaster is used due to the small size. Lower layer is held together by lacing through eyelets at one side. Outer layer has side, back and buckle metal-like plates held together with wide leather straps either glued (top) or sewn to the lining of (underneath) plates. Leather cushions in centre of side and back plates are corrugated cardboard and EVA foam with leather stretched and glued over top. This is fastened with press studs behind the buckle. Side plates have fur peplums sewn to the felt lining. Still need to sew a pouch for the back of the belt. Skirt: Leather patchwork outer layer and rough fabric lining, filled with synthetic batting and with metallic painted vinyl trim at the top. Metal-like plates on either side glued to a felt base that is sewn directly into the patchwork. Leather straps sewn to top of lining with buckles to hold the skirt in place around the waist. Still need to add rivets.
Trousers: Fur cut using a pair of jeans as a pattern, attached to store bought tights with elastic waist. Metal-like knee caps. Boots: Store bought boots, repainted from black to brown using spray paint (purposefully avoided an even coat to give a weathered look). Fur and leather trim with metal-like trim plates attached using glue. Footplates and shin guards also attached with glue (contact adhesive). Still need to glue leather straps to back of boots as bindings and attach rivets. Hair and Makeup: Ponytail with a plat on each side. Using my own hair. Makeup is minimal except for eyeliner and mascara, and darkish, reddish lipstick to match character.