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DeepWoodian — Ser Livilla's armor project: Helmet
#age #armor #armour #cardboard #cosplay #dragon #hand #helmet #ser #templar #wearable #livilla #made #tregalion
Published: 2018-08-30 20:15:37 +0000 UTC; Views: 407; Favourites: 2; Downloads: 0
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Description
Well, let's reveal it here too.For some time now I have had an idea to create a 1:1 sized wearable armor of one of my drawing characters. The character in question is my original character Ser Livilla Tregalion from the Dragon Age universe and the armor would therefore be her Templar armor (or more precisely my take on the templar armor).
Now, I am not a cosplayer, but armors have always been my interest and already during last spring I started to think would I be able to create one using cosplaying methods. I was not very familiar with those methods before but I have always loved to build things with my hands so finally I gave myself a GO-sign. It has been quitte slowly moving project and I really can't say at this moment will I ever be able to finish it. So far I have worked mainly with the helmet, although I have started to work with the pauldrons and breast plate too.
Making helmet is perhaps most familiar for me when it comes to making armors. I have once before worked with one and while that was never finished, I learned quite few "tricks" which you have to take into an account when making one. Ser Livilla's helmet here is mostly made out of cardboard but some other materials were also used. The cardboard material was a bit too thin and that brought some problems when painting. The paint caused cardboard to blister even if I had used some base coat at it. So quite much quick putty and sanding was needed for smoothing. And even then I could not smooth all marks form the surface. The finsihing is therefore a bit rough. Painting was done with spray paint but I think some "metal weathering" should still be done. Any tips for that would be appreciated.
These two pictures will now start this project here. I'll apologise the bad lightning of the pictures. Perhaps I will take some better ones in the future. There certainly will be more if I am able to continue this and do more armor parts.
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Comments: 8
Very craftsy. Last time we saw something like this from you was the 1944 uniform. I suppose it good for the crerative juices to go and try something completely different every now and then, just for the sake of the challenge.
You know I expect to see a full set of armour one day, right?. 
Ever seen a competition show call "Cosplay melée"? I know you're not a cosplayer, and neither am I, but go and check it out one day. It's a great display of both artistry and craftmanship and nerd heaven.
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Well, I like to "build" with my hands. Be it drawing, 3D-modeling or actual traditional handycraft. But certainly this will be an enormous challenge as there are for example so many materials in the armor set which I have not used before. Leather and cloth being the biggest stumbling blocks. And as I am not very familiar with the cosplaying construction methods either, there are definitely some learning-from-mistakes still coming. The too thin cardboard vs. wet paint being the first one.
Full armor set is the goal, yes. That is if my sanity, health and patience will not fail me. I think that the "metal" parts are well within my reach but the rest propably will give me more grey hairs (if I still have any hair left that is).
Cosplay melee? I am not familiar but I certainly have to take a look. Sounds interesting.
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I think we both know for these kind of projects you have to leave some of your sanity behind instead. Else we would not be ale to think stuff like: "a full scale model of a unicorn i driftwood - now that sounds like a good idea to me!"
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Quite true. Sanity has very little power over us when these ideas burst out from our brains.
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The shape looks good! If you are having trouble with cardboard construction, 6mm EVA foam shaped with a heat gun could be a good alternative.
For metal, I try and dry brush it with a very small amount of black and copper paints to make it look a bit tarnished and worn-in. Or 'mist' it with a grey spray paint from a distance.
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I have used cardboard before in my earlier helmet project but that was construction cardboard and much more robust compared to the one I used here. Now that I think about it, I should have anticipated the problems with the paint and thin cardboard. Well, perhaps next time.
For pauldrons and breast plate I have used material which here in Finland is called "softis". I am not sure what is its proper English term but it is some kind of cellular rubber/foam and it is used in cosplaying circles. It is easy to cut and can be also shape with heat. But for bigger parts it needs some reinforcement to prevent it "wobbling".
I thought that copper would be good choice for weathering but could it be used as a spray from distance to achieve the weathering effect? Some net tutorials speak also about a light touch of a gold spray.
Thanks for commenting. I appreciate it.
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I personally find spraying from a distance a bit tricky to avoid the paint ending up spotty, but I've seen others use it to good effect. I live in an upstairs apartment, so spray paints are a bit impractical for me!
I've been working on some Skyrim ebony armour recently and used foam coated in sheets of the thermoplastic, worbla. It's expensive but a single layer makes the foam much more rigid. I'd never worked with this material combination before but found it surprisingly easy to learn.
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I know worbla by name but have never used it. I did consider using it in this project but as this is my first try with "cosplay armors", I thought it would be a bit too expensive for that. I was sure that there would come many "learning from my mistakes" situations and decided to handle this project (and learn) with cheaper materials whenever possible.
Spray paints are not the best solution to use in my apartment either and I haven't usef those much. But I think that I will at least try that spraying from distance method.
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