Christchurch Armageddon Cosplay 2015

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

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.

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.

1 - My source of leather

2 - Creating patterns for the torso and belt

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

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

1 -Armour Plate Construction; paper mache base.

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

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

plastic). I would then use my

scraper tool to scratch out the outline of the detailing.

3- Armour Plate Construction; Coat the edges with clay

2 - Armour Plate Construction; fixing flaking plaster

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.

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

5 - Armour Plate Construction; Outline details

6 - Armour Plate Construction; Filling the details 7 - Metal Plate Construction; waiting for plaster to dry

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

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.

11- Armour Plate construction; Lining

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

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.

13 - Pattern Drafting; Skirt

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.

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

14 – Fastenings, shirt lacing

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 metal-

like 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.