The fantastic Arlena Fae partnered with us for her Blood Moon Katarina build, using Worbla’s Black Art and insulation foam to create a pair of fantastic lightweight but durable horns! If you’re looking to make a similar design, check out her video below!
The fantastic Arlena Fae partnered with us for her Blood Moon Katarina build, and she shared the process she used to make her mask with us! If you’re looking to make a similar design, check out her video below!
How about some permanent pleats and pleather embossing with Kobracast Art? That’s exactly what Eva from evadoescosplay (TikTok, Twitter) did in this sponsored build creating the belt for her Red Mage, and the results are fantastic! She outlined just how she accomplished the effects in this video tutorial – take a look for yourself!
Hades has some amazing designs, and Zagreus is no exception. Here RandomTuesday shares the process she used to create these fantastic armor greaves using EVA foam and Worbla’s Black Art. Check out the process below!
We sponsored the wonderful CheeseCakePanda Cosplay for a cool tutorial on dagger variations, and wow the results are amazing! Check out the video of the process and the gallery below!
We worked with December Wynn (on IG), supplying the Worbla’s Black Art for their Ningguang build, and the final look is amazing! They shared the process of how they built the costume, specifically the Gloves, Hair Ornaments, and Shoes – and we’ve collected them here to share with you!
Assemble a pair of gloves using a 4-way stretch material, or purchase a pre-assembled pair of gloves. (Worbla.com note: If you need a glove pattern, we’ve used McCalls 7397 ourselves to good result)
Create a paper pattern of the gold glove “attachments”. Tip: label every piece of the pattern with the handedness of the glove and the finger.
Trace the paper pattern onto black Worbla and cut out all the pieces, making sure to mark each piece with its designated hand and finger. Tip: using a little spray adhesive on the paper pattern makes tracing much easier and accurate.
Cut out all the pieces using a pair of scissors or a craft knife. Using a heat gun will make cutting the pieces out a little easier, particularly along curves.
Once the pieces are cut out, use a heat gun to shape the pieces to your fingers. For this process, carefully heat the pieces and then shape them around your fingers. Do not touch any piece that is hot enough to burn or injure skin, and wearing heat resistant gloves during this process is recommended.
Pull out 4-way metallic stretch fabric. Cut the pieces that will go on the finger units, make sure to leave a lip or “seam allowance” around all edges of the fabric.
Using a glue of your choice, adhere the fabric pieces to the outside of the Worbla finger units. This step is not the permanent glue step, so any glue will suffice. My recommendation is spray adhesive.
Apply contact cement to the insides of the black Worbla pieces and the fabric lip on the pieces. Allow the contact cement to set, then fold the fabric lip under, adhering it to the underside of the finger units.
Put the glove base on and apply the finger units to the glove using superglue. Using standard thread and needle, reinforce the glue by tacking the corners of the units to the gloves.
Using a healthy collection of gold-toned filigrees, apply filigree decoratively to the tops of the fingers. The pieces can either be glued using small dots of superglue, or they can be stitched through the fabric cover. Cut the filigree pieces to fit comfortably on the finger units, and use pliers to gently bend the pieces to better fit the curves of the units.
Materials:
Pattern and cut an EVA foam base for the hair stick.
Cut two pieces of Worbla to cover the EVA base. Make sure these pieces are slightly larger than the base.
Sandwich the foam in-between the Worbla pieces. Using a heat gun, wrap the Worbla around the base so that the entire base is covered.
Decorate the ornaments using other Worbla cuts and texturing the Worbla using tools and continuous heat. If the ornament has any dangling attributes, insert a jump ring into heated Worbla and allow it to cool.
Once all detailing is complete, prime and sand the piece until desired smoothness.
Spray paint the entire ornament gold and allow to dry entirely.
Mask off the parts of the ornament to remain gold and then spray paint the piece with black lacquer.
Using a heat gun, heat up a pile of black Worbla scraps to melt them together.
Roll the scraps together to create a Worbla snake, and then shape the snake into the desired shape.
If rhinestones are desired, heat the piece slightly and press the rhinestones down where desired to create a space where they will sit once the ornament is painted.
Use a wig head to create a comfortable shape for the ornament, laying it on the wig head and allowing it to harden.
Prime and sand the ornament as desired.
Spray paint the ornament gold.
Once the paint is fully dry, glue the rhinestones in place. If using E-6000 or resin glue, make sure to wear gloves, work in a well-ventilated area and wear a respirator.
Materials:
Use paper to create a pattern for the shoe decorations. Trace the pattern on black Worbla 4 times and cut out the pieces with a sharp pair of scissors or craft knife.
Stack 2 pieces on top of each other and apply heat to fuse them together – because the shoe is a high contact area, doubling the worbla will help with the longevity of the piece.
Apply heat and do any desired carving to the soft surface of the pieces, using a carving tool.
Using the shoes as a base, apply heat to the pieces and shape them over the shoes to make them lay flat against the surface of the shoe.
Prime the pieces with a spray primer, and then sand as necessary to create a smooth surface.
Apply a layer of gold spray paint and allow to dry fully. Finish with a layer of clear spray lacquer.
Using a strong adhesive, glue the Worbla pieces to the shoe base.
And there you go! Thanks again to December Wynn for sharing their work with us!
Childe’s Foul Legacy design is certainly striking, and we teamed up with Winterstar Cosplay to create a tutorial for how to make your own mask from that design using Worbla’s Black Art, some EVA foam, acrylic paints and simple tools! You can see how it came together, and the video following the whole process below!
If you play Genshin Impact you’re probably familiar with Childe’s iconic mask from his default outfit. We teamed up with Winterstar Cosplay for this build, supplying the Worbla as she created this tutorial on how to make your own mask from Worbla’s Black Art, some EVA foam, acrylic paints and simple tools! You can see how it came together, and the video following the whole process below!
A great project to learn the basics of working with Worbla, this build uses Pearly Art but can be done with any of the standard sheet types.
Step 1: Create your basic template on paper, then when happy with it transfer it to 2mm foam (craft or EVA foam). For the second layer of foam, cut circles and tack down with glue or double sided tape, then cut out eye holes using a craft knife. Optional: Heat seal the foam by heating it with the heat gun for a few seconds. Only do this if you have a well ventilated area.
Step 2: Cut a piece of Worbla larger than the foam. Heat the Worbla until it is soft and pliable. If it is too hot to touch, let it cool slightly before working with it. Place your foam template (raised layers down) onto the Worbla, making sure there is excess at all sides, then flip it over. Using a sculpting tool or your fingers, press down on all the edges. (Use water to help your fingers or tools glide over the Worbla.)
Step 3: When you’ve finished pressing the Worbla around the foam, let it cool then flip it over. Cut relief triangles all around the outside excess, saving the scraps, and stopping before the foam edge. Heating one section at a time, fold the tabs over and press together where they meet. Worbla is self adhesive and will stick to itself when warm. If you have an area where you mis-cut or have too large a gap, use your scraps to patch the opening. This is known as the ‘folding method’.
Step 4 and 5: Flip the mask over and heating one side at a time, use a tool to further emphasize the foam layers and smooth the curves where the ‘tabs’ may have created a slight bump or angle. Allow the mask to cool before using a craft knife to cut a horizontal and vertical slit in the eyes: do this while the plastic is cool, not warm, as when warm it may tear. Once you’ve made the cut, heat the eye area and press the eyes open, folding the edges under. Now you have a finished base.
Step 6: If you want the mask to have a specific curve and intend to keep heating it to add more details, you’ll want it to rest on something once you shape it. This is a piece of cardboard bent in a V and held by a piece of tape. If you want a curve instead of a sharper V, bottles, tailors hams, bowls, or even crumpled paper can be used to support your form. Heat your mask and shape as you’d like your final form to take. Add loops for your ties with some Worbla scraps on the back here if this is to be worn.
Tip: You can shape your mask as the last step instead of now, but the more layers you add to your Worbla, or the more details that are not sitting flat to the mask, the more heat it will take to warm the Worbla all the way through to shape later. Shaping later can also cause raised details to ‘deflate’ and need to be adjusted. We suggest shaping here for best results.
Step 7: Details! You can heat and sculpt into Worbla, being careful not to tear it away from the foam base. Metal or wooden tools work best, with water to help prevent them from sticking. Additional layers can be added – the V detail was made with 2 layers of Worbla heated together first then cut to shape for more body, while the feather/scale details are just single layers of Worbla cut from the scraps. Always make sure you heat both the mask and the Worbla you want to attach to each other. Both need to be warm to create a strong bond!
Tip 1: Heating too much can create air bubbles if your foam off-gasses. You can press many down with fingers, but stubborn ones can be popped by 1) letting the Worbla cool and pressing a sharp pin through the plastic where the bubble is and 2) reheating and pressing the air though the pin hole.
Tip 2: If you’re not sure about placement, you can heat a detail until it’s just warm and then press it in place on a cold mask. It will stick, but not bond, allowing you to play with placement and design elements until you are happy.
Step 8: Paint! Worbla products all have some surface texture and Pearly Art has something close to a fine grade sandpaper. If left as is the texture will be obvious through paint. Priming can smooth the texture easily. The beak, gold feathers along the beak, and V forehead were all primed with 2 coats of Flexbond, our favorite primer for Worbla. (Our gold paint let us down a bit on the brush stroke department however.)
You can see a close up of the difference in texture between primed and unprimed in the second image above.
Step 9: Not really a step – we just added more shadows and details. Note: You can still shape your Worbla even now. Keep in mind your paint needs to be flexible if you do so, or the Worbla will shift and your paint may crack or wrinkle.
Remember to always save your Worbla scraps. They can be reused in new projects!
We worked with Pearl Bunny Cosplays for this sponsored build – Ryuko’s iconic headpiece from My Hero Academia! Take a look at how she put this together with her tutorial below!
1. First you’re going to want to measure your head to help determine how big you want to make the wings. You want them to stick out on either side of your head, but not have them so large they go past your shoulders, or so small that they can’t be seen too well. I made mine 22 inches wide. Once you’ve figured out the right length for your head, trace and cut out a wing shape you like. I did this by drawing one side and cutting it out twice to make two sides. Be sure to keep the center band thick since that’s where all the support to hold the wings up is coming from. Trace where you’re going to put the ‘bone’ details of the wings on the front and back. If you had to make multiple sections, tape them together to make one pattern section to be cut out of the EVA foam.
2. Next you’re going to trace the pattern you just made on to 6mm EVA foam and cut it out. You can use either scissors or an exacto blade. If you’re using a blade , be sure to cut away from yourself and to make sure that it’s sharp. I use a knife sharpening tool to help with my blades. Sharp blades and scissors help with a smoother clean cut in the foam. Once the wings are cut out as one piece, draw those ‘bone’ lines on again.
3. Here you can see the wings cut with an exacto blade and what it will look like after. It is OK to have a bit of a rough edge since you’ll be taking a dremel to smooth out the edge. I like to do this since sometimes I can’t always get a clean cut the first time. This also allows me to make a more natural look to the wings with soft edges [image 6].
4. Now that you have all the edges, front and back, smoothed out, cut out a square of EVA foam that’s about an inch big. This is for the square, or knot on the back of Ryuko’s wings. After you’ve cut that out and smoothed out the sides like you did with the wings, use your contact cement and glue it down in the center back of the wings.
5. Now onto the ‘bones’ of the wings! I used a thin rope I found at my local craft store. I decided on this since it’s round already and easy to move and shape. Above I show how long I made each rope and pinned it in place along the line you’d drawn earlier. I used Mod Podge on the ends to stop them fraying. After you’ve cut out the rope and put them in place, you’re going to use the contact cement to glue everything down and use the pins still to help the rope keep its shape. Last photo shows the rope glued down for the ‘bones’. Be sure to do this on both sides of the wings, front and back.
6. Once everything is glued down and dried, we can go on to using the Worbla Black Art! This stuff is great. It heats up nicely, and has a little bit of stretch to it as well making it easy to form into small details. Using your original pattern, trace and cut it out on the Worbla Black Art. You’ll want to trace out a section just a little bit larger to help go over the side of the EVA foam, but not too much. For the Worbla, you can use scissors to cut out your pattern. You’ll want two sections cut out, one for the front and one for the back.
7. Now that we are ready to heat up and cover the EVA foam wings with the Worbla wings, you want to stay safe. Wear heat resistant gloves to help avoid any burns to yourself since you’ll be working with a heat gun. Once you’re ready to start heating up the Worbla, start in the middle and work out. I started on the back with the knot. Be sure to heat up small sections and not to let the Worbla get too hot since it could eventually burn and ruin the EVA foam under it. As the Worbla becomes soft you’ll be able to take a small tool like a popsicle stick or even the non sharp end of your exacto blade to press the Worbla into the corners of the knot and the bones. Take your time doing this, work in small sections.
8. Here you can see that I had a little too much go over the edge. With this you can either roll it over to the other side or you can cut it off. I personally ended up cutting it off. Don’t throw it away though! Worbla Black Art, like with Worbla’s Finest Art, can be heated up and formed into a ball like clay! This is great since you won’t be wasting any small scraps. Small scraps are also useful for fixing any sections you might have heated up too much or pulled on and made a rip. Just heat up the section and the scrap and gently press the scrap into place and smooth it out with your glove or a smooth sided tool.
9. The front of the wings is the section that’s going against the back of my head. I used magnets for this and put them under the Worbla to keep them in place on the final product. I ended up having to add different magnets since the ones I originally got weren’t strong enough. When buying magnets online, make sure to get ‘Rare Earth Magnets’ that are at least 1 inch in diameter. They are very strong and will hold through a few layers of material.
10. Here we can see the seam from the two sides of the wings. This can be fixed by heating up the Worbla Black Art again and carefully smoothing it out with your gloved hand, popsicle stick or any other smooth tool you have on hand. Again, work slow and work in sections. Don’t worry if you can’t get it fully smooth either. Since we’ll be covering the whole thing in Mod Podge shortly. Before you go on to the next step, this is a good time for you to look everything over and make sure that you got everything pressed into place. You’ll also want to trim off any extra and use your Dremel if needed.
11. Now that you have the wings laying flat you’ll want to curve them to fit on the back of your head. I did this by gently heating up the middle section, front and back and gently bending the wings together. Just as before, take your time and work in sections. Bend it a little, let it cool then put it up against the back of your head with your wing on since the back curve of your head is going to be different with your wig on.
12. Once you’ve gotten the curve how you want it you can coat the whole thing in Mod Podge. If you didn’t get some sections smoothed out how you wanted it this is a good time to fix it. The Mod Podge will fill in those cracks and make for a smoother final painted finish. Add as many layers as you think you need.
13. After the Mod Podge has dried you’re ready for paint! I used a black spray paint for the wings. Spray paint outside or in a well ventilated area and wear a mask if needed so you don’t breathe in any of the paint fumes.
14. While the paint dries you can make the head band. I used a white scale vinyl fabric from YaYa Han’s collection and painted it green with acrylic paints for the part that will be seen on my forehead. I sewed a black elastic band for the back that goes under my wig. Using 2 sets, a total of 4 magnets, I set them in place on the elastic to line up with the magnets on the wings. I stacked up on magnets since it makes them stronger and harder for them to slip and fall off during wear.
15. Now that the spray paint is dry, look the wings over and check if you need a second layer of paint. You can now add painted details. I decided on making a grey detailing on the top half of the wings since Ryuko’s wings are two toned.
Materials needed: Eye Cover
1. First you’re going to want to measure your head and face to help determine how long and wide you want the eye cover to be. The first claw covers her eye completely, so keep that in mind.
For mine, I decided on making the largest claw about 11 inches long, about 10 inches for the second, 8 inches for the third then just under 8 inches for the fourth.
In the first image the measurements I used are shown for one half of each claw.
You’ll need to cut out two of each size, one for the top half and one for the bottom half.
2. For the sides of the claws you need to curve the triangles you just cut out to help get the right shape. The claws curve against your face, so this part is important to get the correct shape and fit. You can either use your heat gun to gently heat up the foam, or run it through your fingers a few times.
To help me find the curve I wanted, I held the triangle up to my face and my wig stand as a visual. The top triangles need to curve a little more than the bottom ones
Once you’ve gotten the curve you want, you’ll want to trace the curve on a sheet of paper two times for each top claw and two more times for each bottom claw. The top sections and the bottom sections of the claws will have slightly different curves, so be sure to mark them as you go.
Also as you cut out the curved sections, mark them as you go too and place them in a neat pile or next to the triangle they belong too so it’s easier to keep track.
3. After you’ve cut everything out it’s time to line all the pieces up and get glueing! I used contact cement for this and left an edge on the top to give the claws a machined look.
For the bottom sections of the claws you’ll need to go back in with your scissors or Exacto Blade to cut out a small section. This allows you to insert the bottom triangle under the top triangle. This helps the two triangles lay flush against each other.
I used contact cement again and then I used fabric clips to hold the two triangles of the claws together as the glue set.
4. Now we get to use the Worbla Black art! It has two sides, so be sure to put the shiny side down against the foam since that’s the sticky side. I’ve found that both sides are sticky to some extent and both sides are smoother than the original Worbla formula which has a textured side and a smooth side.
Be sure to have your heat gloves ready for this part as well. You’ll want a section of Worbla that is slightly larger than the claw you’re working on. You want to be able to cover the sides and have enough to fold over the edge. Don’t worry if you cut too large of a section! It’s easy to cut and the pieces can be reused for patches, or even heated up and rolled into a ball then flattened into another ‘like new’ sheet! Nothing has to go to waste!
However, as you’re heating up the Worbla be careful not to heat it up too much, or you can burn it and melt it. Too much heat can also warp and damage the foam and glue of the piece you’re working to cover.
Once you’ve gotten a section of the Worbla warmed up and it is pliable, take the back of your Exacto blade, pen, or some other small tool to help press the Worbla into all those details you just cut out. Worbla also stretches a little so don’t be afraid to give it a little tug in a direction to get more coverage.
5. You did it! You have all 4 claws covered in Worbla Black Art, yay! Now we have to glue the claws together so that they are one solid prop. This is going to take a lot of finagling and a lot of those fabric clips to figure out the right positioning of the claws. I think I tried out about 10 different possible positions before I found one that looked and felt good on my face.
I also left the back of the claws hollow so that your eye can fit in the back of the larger one and this also saves on weight. Worbla is amazing, but it can be a little on the heavy side, especially for something going on your face.
6. After you’ve found the right positioning for the claws that works best for your face and have glued them in place, you’ll have to add rare earth magnets to the inside to keep the claws against your head band. I just made two little bridges and put the magnets on the inside. The other set of magnets are going on the inside of my head band (see above).
I tried other magnets, but they weren’t strong enough to hold up the claws and hold up to me moving my head around a lot.
7. Now you have a set of black claws. You need to cover them in mod podge or wood glue before painting. This helps the paint adhere to the prop and also allows you to smooth out any small bumps and texture you might have gotten on the Worbla.
8. When spray painting make sure you are outside or in a well ventilated place. I was out in my garage with the door open while spray painting. I was also wearing a mask to make sure that I wasn’t accidentally breathing in any of the fumes. I did two layers to make sure I got everything covered, front and back.
9. Details! More details! That’s what brings a prop to life, right? So once the spray paint was dry and ready to come in, I dry brushed black against the ridges. This helps to give the claws a bit of a weathered look but still keep its shine like metal.
10. You’re done! Put it all together and admire all that hard work you just did! Isn’t it amazing what some foam and plastic can make?
Vicious.Frockery recently built Nyx from Supergiant’s game of the year, Hades. She used Worbla’s Black Art and magnets to create a low profile attachment system, and shared her process with us!
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Approaching Nyx from Hades, I wanted to prioritize durability for storing her costume in limited space (like a suitcase for easy travel!) and prevent the build from becoming so heavy that it’s uncomfortable to wear. The first thing that popped into my head was foam clay and Worbla elements- but I’ve had bad luck with foam clay getting crushed/cracked in transport. The solution was Worbla’s Black Art for base pieces, and MAGNETS to attach delicate foam sculpts! Here is a tutorial on how to make her armor specifically, and how to incorporate magnets into low-profile projects that aren’t suited to foam.
Firstly, start your pattern. For Nyx, the elements of the chest piece come up around her neck, so I wanted to create a neck piece that leaves the “choker” part of her armor detached. Wearing a separate choker gives me a full range of motion and prevents me from feeling claustrophobic.
For any character with high-necked armor, I recommend using yourself or a mannequin (like this display mannequin) to check sizing and how close to the neck the armor will be. I patterned the vague shapes for Nyx with just plain drawing paper.
The X’s mark where I’ll use magnets to attach the sculpted foam pieces (more on that later). When making your own pattern, make sure to write labels on pieces and mark any attachments beforehand- this can be incredibly helpful down the line and speed up your production. I used a combination of duct tape and plain-old guess and check to create this pattern.
Use drawing paper to test fit and size all armor pieces. This can be a long process to get right, so be patient and make sure that you adjust size in order to be economical with your Worbla in the future!
After patterning, I traced most pieces that needed inner structure (pauldrons, crowns, arm bands) to 2MM craft foam. Trace ONE of each piece needed to foam.
Transfer these same patterns to Worbla with a little seam allowance. Trace TWO of each pattern piece to Worbla so that it creates a “sandwich” around the foam. I use two pencils taped together to get a consistent seam allowance around the pattern.
For striped details, I cut apart my paper patterns as I use them, and trace each section to Worbla. This is totally optional, but helps guide you in the future.
For the pieces that need to stay thin and compact, like the armor over the shoulders and chest, I decided to omit the foam core for strength and to prevent extra bulk. This chest piece is in three pieces: one for each shoulder, and one center “circle” that will serve as a base for a little foam skull.
Here I’ve traced one of my shoulders….
And my center circle. Be sure to transfer the X for your magnetic attachment to your Worbla- pencil lines can be erased later or painted over!
After tracing, cut out your designs. Then you can start heating up two pieces of Worbla, and carefully use your hands (I also used the assistance of a rolling pin) to sandwich the two pieces together. STOP when you get to the X.
When you reach the X in your pattern, it’s time to put in your magnetic attachment. Lift up one side of the soft Worbla Sandwich (Black Art is very good at peeling apart without damaging the final product, should you make a mistake) and put down your magnet.
Gently lay down the Worbla on top of the magnet, and heat up the top layer again. For this project I’m using cheap ceramic magnets from the home improvement store, but rare earth magnets would also work great. Once the Worbla is heated through, use your fingers to press around the magnet and seal it between the two layers, then let it completely cool before picking it up. It’s okay if it protrudes from the final a little bit- You can adjust your foam sculpt if you need to in order to get the perfect fit.
Now that the magnet is in place, go ahead and trim off your seam allowance. Use your heat gun to soften sections of the seam, and then cut with scissors, making sure to cut through BOTH layers of Worbla at once. The pressure from your scissors will seal the two layers of Worbla together and leave you with a beautiful clean edge. If you need to, working in small sections works best for me- the goal is not to start shaping JUST yet, but a little heat will make this process ten times faster and cleaner.
Do the same sandwich method for the remaining pieces of armor, using your hands or rolling pin to prevent bubbling and keep things even. Use scissors to trim off all seam allowance as close to the foam core as possible.
Since pauldrons can be rather difficult to shape over a form, I decided to make this moon-shaped pauldron out of two pieces, and use Black Art to join them in the center. Since Worbla’s Black Art is tacky but very smooth, it’s great for hiding seams.
Heat up the edges of your two pieces that you intend to join, and gently press them together with your fingertips, working in small sections at a time.
Do the same sandwich method for the remaining pieces of armor, using your hands or rolling pin to prevent bubbling and keep things even. Use scissors to trim off all seam allowance as close to the foam core as possible.
Since pauldrons can be rather difficult to shape over a form, I decided to make this moon-shaped pauldron out of two pieces, and use Black Art to join them in the center. Since Worbla’s Black Art is tacky but very smooth, it’s great for hiding seams.
Heat up the edges of your two pieces that you intend to join, and gently press them together with your fingertips, working in small sections at a time.
In order to hide the seams further, simply use a little more heat and your fingertips to blend the two armor pieces together, being careful not to over-heat the foam and lose your shape.
To create details on top of all my armor pieces, I used all my scrap Worbla and formed it into snakes with my heat gun and hands, being careful not to over- or under-heat the thermoplastic. Since Black Art is already so smooth, it didn’t need much working to create smooth details. If you want your snakes to behave more like smoothed clay, use a piece of 2mm foam on your fingers to roll the clay and flatten the texture. I do all my heating on top of a piece of tin foil since it’s nonstick and can help with keeping things smooth as well.
Back to the chestpiece, I used my pattern to arrange my details before translating them to the final. Since this is a symmetrical design, I wanted to be as careful as possible and make sure everything lines up before attaching the final.
Piece by piece, heat up your pre-assembled sculpts and attach them to the chest/shoulders, sculpting as you go. Keep your work as flat as possible to keep things symmetrical, and check in with your pattern often.
I did the same for the crown, adding a piped edge with the same “snake” technique. Continue building layers of texture to flat pieces until you’re totally happy!
From here, start shaping your pieces. It’s good practice to use your mannequin (or yourself) to check in with other pieces as you shape them- Here, I’ve shaped the shoulder over myself, let it cool, and then checked it on my mannequin with the pauldron and necklace
Once one side is shaped, go ahead and translate to the other side. It’s easy to re-heat sections and make sure that they are even once the initial shape is done!
To connect these two, I held my center magnet (“connector piece”) in the middle and traced any overlap with a pencil. The idea is to make sure that there is plenty of surface area for the worbla to adhere to.
Then, heat up the center piece and attach it, following your pencil lines-
And reinforce the join in the back with scrap pieces of Worbla. The inside of this doesn’t matter much, but extra surface area means a stronger bond.
In order to join the necklace and the rest of the armor, I added a 1” strip of worbla around the neck, curving it with my fingers away from my neck slightly. This step is optional.
Next, it’s time to paint! You can seal your Worbla with 2 layers of wood glue. I used a 60/40 glue-to-water mix and did about 2 coats. Black Art is already smooth, so it needed much less working time than traditional Worbla.
Two coats of wood glue plus one coat of gold spray paint
To weather and bring out the detail, use dark values and a dry brush to rub paint into any recesses. I used a gold/black acrylic mix, and a slightly damp paper towel to wipe away any excess.
In between sculpting and paint steps, I sculpted my skulls. These are 1” balls of tin foil, resin cast gems, and Foam-Mo Foam Clay. The foam clay takes about 2 days to dry, but can easily house magnets in the back as shown below. Make sure that you remove magnets after sculpting in order to let the clay completely dry. They can be glued back in when everything is good and cured (shown).
Once painted, use hot glue or contact cement to re-anchor your magnets.
Now that everything is painted, foam pieces can be easily removed, adjusted, and stored separate from the hard parts!
Try everything on as needed, and adjust your attachments before finalizing them. Pauldrons for this build are easily detached with snaps, as shown.
Attach the snaps to the base using strips of twill tape (I used a woven twill ribbon in matching Greek key print, for fun). Hot glue around the edges will help your attachments stay anchored and prevent the edges from catching on anything.
And that’s it! Go forth, and wear your magnetic armor with confidence!
Avera Cosplay shared this amazing tutorial with us showing her technique for creating a beautiful stained glass effect using Worbla’s TranspArt – shown above with her Mercy Sugar Plum Fairy costume from Overwatch, photographed above by Tonya Barnes Photography
If you’ve wanted to create a stained glass effect and haven’t been sure where to start, take a look at Avera’s process below! She walks us through the process of making a Beauty and the Beast shield for an armored Belle build!
Step 1: Make Your Pattern
Find or create your pattern. Two options: find an image that is already stained glass or find a simple design you can alter to create the stained-glass appearance. Coloring Book pages are a good source for simple images and designs that can be easily turned into stained glass. Just make sure that your lines are relatively thick. If the foam is very thin, the gel stain could bleed, also it is not as sturdy. Cut out the parts of the pattern that will be the glass using an exacto knife.
Step 2: EVA Foam
The foam will act as your pattern and to give structure to the worbla. Transfer the pattern to both 2mm and 4mm eva foam and using an exacto knife cut out the pattern. The 2mm will be the front of the glass and the thicker foam will be the back. Heat seal the foam by using a heat gun.
Step 3: Flatten the Transparent Worbla
Transparent Worbla usually comes in rolls so you will need to heat it up to get it flat. Get all the wrinkles out. Transparent worbla will stick to itself so make sure it does not touch itself heated. Trace the base shape of the object and cut it out with scissors.
Step 4: Mod Podge
Apply a generous layer of mod podge to the worbla. You do not have to let it dry. Place the 2mm top layer on the top of the worbla and add more Mod podge. This will glue to the top layer to the worbla, but it will dry clear. In addition, it helps absorb the gel stain, and seals the 2mm foam for painting. Let this layer dry. If there are gaps between the foam and worbla that heat and mod podge is not solving, you can use super glue to make sure that the foam and worbla are connected. If there is a gap the colors will bleed into each other.
Step 5: Unicorn Spit
Unicorn Spit is a gel-based stain. There are a few different formulas. I use the sparkle version here, which is thinner and more transparent than standard formulas. Mod Podge is what will keep the spit stuck to the worbla and it also helps the spit dry translucent. For the Sparkle Version of Unicorn Spit: mix unicorn spit to mod podge in a 70:30 ratio, that will help to increase opacity and speed up drying time. If you use other formulas of Unicorn Spit, you will have to have mix with more mod podge to get the translucent effect at least 50:50. Do not apply it thicker than the foam, or it will spill over. You can mix colors directly in the cell to add depth and shading. You can also mix colors and mod podge first and apply. I use squeeze bottles to apply, just squeezing the spit in a circular motion. You can also play with the ratios of mod podge to get different levels of opacity.
Step 6 LET IT DRY
It is going to take a while, depending on how thick it was applied. Do not touch it, do not fix it, let it do its thing. It may appear like it is “pulling” away from the edge, or that it is getting bubbles. It is ok. Glass is not perfect, let it dry. It may look like it is losing its color, it is not. Once it is sealed it will be vibrant again. Right now, the stain is attached to the mod podge for the most part. If you mess with it, it will peel. It may take up to 48 hours to dry completely. If you must add a dab or two after it is dried to any mistakes.
Step 7: Assemble the Back
Using the thicker foam, follow the same steps as the 2mm, treated it with the heat gun and then seal it with mod podge. You will want to use super glue, in small dots around each part of the design to attach the foam to the back side of the worbla.
Optional Step: Details and Decorations
I added more details to the Shield, this is not necessarily specific to the stained-glass effect and may or may not be relevant to your project.
Using contact cement added as glue an additional boarder to the 4mm foam back. I drew a wood grain pattern and wood burned the pattern into the foam. I made the strap from 2mm foam and the handle from 4mm foam. The rivets on the front and back are painted googly eyes. I created foam flowers and filigrees by pressing foam clay in silicone cake molds. I put the molds in the freezer for 15 min to help them form quickly and dry faster. All these details were sealed with mod podge.
Step 8: Paint the EVA Foam and Any Details
Using a black acrylic paint, you will want to go over the black foam on the stained glass. This will clean it up a bit if there was any spit that spilled over. Pro-tip: use black foam it will minimize painting. I used a gilding wax for the base layer of gold. Then I used unicorn spit artistic vivations in Zeus to help the details pop.
Step 9: Seal with Polyurethane.
Unicorn spit is water based, if you use an acrylic sealer or anything water based it will reactivate it. You must use an oil-based sealer. Polyurethane will give it a gloss that helps the glass effect. Sealing it will bring the colors back to life as well as protect the shield from peeling or cracking. You can also use epoxy or lacquer on the spit depending on the project and how flexible you need it to be.
Enjoy! I have made bunny ears, wings and armor parts using the technique, so it is truly versatile.
(Belle photographed by Tonya Barnes Photography )
Game of Thrones might be over, but we’ll be seeing cosplay of the characters costume designer Michele Clapton brought to life for years to come!
Pretzel Cosplay shares how she used Worbla’s Black Art to create Cersei’s armored corset in this video below!
If you need an oversized chain for your costume, try this guide from Pretzl Cosplay!
How to make cool chains with Worbla scraps!
First I took some Worbla scraps and heated them up. I wore gloves and rolled the Worbla until it was a snake (#worblasnake). Then I cut it into the right size for my rings, put the two ends together and sculpted it until it was a full circle. Then I applied some paper tape so the Worbla couldn’t stick to itself on those points (thanks Galyopa for the idea!). Then I took a double layer of Worbla and cut a small stripe out of it. I used little parts of that stripe to create overlaps that connect the rings. And voila a Worbla chain is born!
While the costume isn’t finished yet, you can see the chain painted in this progress photo here:
Kyriakos of Crafts World has been experimenting with Worbla for various projects with fantastic results. Below is flower necklace he created with Worbla’s Black Art and some paper dies, a real statement piece!
Materials used
Worbla’s Black Art (WBA) Thermoplastic Modelling & Moulding Sheet – 180mm x 250mm x 1mm
Leane Creatief Cutting Dies – Multi Flowers #1 458503
Tsukineko Encore Ultimate Metallic Ink Pad Small – Silver
Tsukineko VersaColor Pigment Ink Pad Small – White #80
Buddly Crafts No Hole Pearls – 10mm 40pcs White P56
Tools used
Heat gun
Die cutting machine
Viva Decor Jewellery Glue
HardiCraft Non-Stick Flexi Cover Craft Sheet – Medium 300mm x 420mm
Heat a small piece of the Worbla sheet with the heat gun. Place in on the non-stick sheet and using a round tool (working with a metallic one proved much easier) spread the Worbla sheet making it even thinner. Use the die cutting machine to cut the flowers and leaves.
Tip: use the heat gun to lightly warm the plates of the die cutting machine so that the Worbla sheet stays soft and be cut better
If the die cut piece is not clear, just remove the edges with a small scissor. Heat a bit the flowers and form them.
Tip: the thinner the Worbla sheet the clearer the cutting. Wait for it to cool down and harden before removing it from the die.
Distress the flowers with the white ink and the leaves with the silver one.
Warm some Worbla sheet and form a cord of about 8cm long. Curl the edges to form hanger hooks.
Warm it a bit and glue first the leaves and then the flowers. If you find it difficult heating and attaching them, use the Viva jewellery glue (allow some time to dry)
Add a pearl in the centre of the flowers with the jewellery glue.
Thanks again to Kyriakos for sharing this tutorial. You can find their work on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Kyriakos of Crafts World has been experimenting with Worbla for various projects with fantastic results.
Below is the tutorial for the Crystal Beaded Necklace he made with Worbla’s TranspArt.
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Faux gemstones necklace made with a transparent sheet of Worbla that is colored with StazOn inks to give an impression of raw cut blue stones.
Craft your own faux gemstones with a Worbla transparent sheet and make a necklace one of its kind. Easy to make and to adapt the faux stones to the colour of your choice, just by choosing a different inkpad. Add more faux gemstones, beads and pearls to alter further.
Find all materials in Buddly Crafts shop
Materials used:
Worbla’s Transpa Art (WTA) Thermoplastic Modelling & Moulding Sheet – 180mm x 250mm x 0.8mm
Tsukineko StazOn Solvent Ink Pad – Ultramarine
Tsukineko StazOn Midi Ink Pad – Teal Blue
Buddly Crafts Small Metal Beads – 36pcs Silver Tone
Buddly Crafts 10mm Lobster Clasps – 40pcs – Silver Tone ST14
Silver Plated Jump Rings – 6mm 144pcs #1135
Buddly Crafts 8mm x 3mm Feather & Cord Crimping End Caps – 100pcs Silver Tone
Buddly Crafts 3mm x 4mm Fine Chain – 10m Silver Tone ST18
BuddlyCrafts 2mm Round Leather Thonging Cord x 1m – Black
Hobby & Crafting Fun Earrings – 35mm Kidney #2417
Tools used
Heat gun
Round nose pliers
Sponge dauber
Twizers
Scissors
Piercing tool
Using the sponge dauber lightly cover about 5x18cm surface of the Worbla transparent sheet with the StazOn Ultramarine and Tea blue colours. Cut the coloured piece.
Heat well the cut piece of Worbla and wrap it to form a ball.
Using a round rolling tool, flat a bit the Worbla ball and cut small pieces with a pair of scissors. Heat each piece and flatten further. Remember to heat before cutting the pieces as the Worbla will harden and become difficult to cut.
Open holes with a piercing tools close to the edge on each of the flatten pieces. Place a jump ring with the round nose pliers.
Lay the pieces and set them to the form that necklace should look. Add some chain on the pieces that need lay longer on the cord.
Place the faux gemstones with metallic beads on the leather cord and set a clasp lobster and a cap end.
The finished piece!
Thanks again to Kyriakos for sharing this tutorial. You can find their work on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Cersei Lannister’s iconic belt was recently made by the fantastic Jak Cosplay, and you can see her process in the video below. She also shares her blueprints for this design via Google Drive
Actoutgames used our Belt Buckle Tutorial to create their own, in this fun video showing the process below.
Find more by Actoutgames on their YouTube Channel.
To celebrate the new Pokemon Sun and Moon, how about making your own Pokeball purse? Elemental Photography and Design shares this tutorial on how she made her fashionable purse with Worbla’s Mesh Art.
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My friends and I have been working on Pokemon Gym Trainer/Leader Sailor Moon costume mashups, and the chance to accessorize with the silliest things just couldn’t be passed up. I decided my Mercury needed a Pokeball purse, and made one in the style of a round clutch. You could totally use this to make a B-bomb or Chomp purse design, or anything else that would use that very round body. (Now I want to make a BB-8 one…)
You’re going to need:
Worbla Mesh Art
Heat Gun
Water
Masking Tape
Fabric for lining
2 small earth magnets
Mold release
a ball or two domes to shape over
paint and various craft tools
Something for a strap
Some sturdy wire
First, I formed the two halves. I used an acrylic sphere (the sort used for Christmas ornaments, that many people use for their boob-armor) and coated it in hand lotion. I know a lot of people use Vaseline (petroleum jelly) to coat their shapes so the Worbla doesn’t stick to them, but I knew I’d want to stick things to the inside of the Worbla later, and Vaseline is really tricky to wash off, whereas hand lotion comes off with soap and water. I’ve used sunscreen before, too.
I used Worbla’s Mesh Art for the body, because it’s much stronger and doesn’t need to be double layered on a shape like this, unlike Finest or Black Art, and it also takes the dome shapes like this fantastically. Mesh Art also smooths out incredibly well.
If you haven’t made a dome like this before:
Cut a square larger than your dome you are shaping on by a solid 4-5 inches. Heat the whole sheet. Wet your hands! Drape the sheet over the dome and start pressing down, with wet hands. The water helps with the heat and also helps your hands glide and shape without sticking. You’ll get the start of the dome – then heat section by section and smooth out as you go. Use a metal spoon with a bit of water to smooth out seams and bumps by rocking the ‘bowl’ of the spoon over any troublesome areas.
Want a trick for popping your shape off the dome? Use your spoon the way you’d scoop out an avocado or kiwi.
Once I had both sides, I put them together over the dome (held together by some ribbon here) to see how the edges looked.
Next – WASH YOUR WORBLA! Otherwise your mold release will keep it from sticking on the next steps, and that’s a pain!
I decided what part was going to be the front and what part the back of the purse. The back would be going ‘inside’ the front, so I heated a strip of Black Worbla to wrap around the lip of the dome to give it a clean edge. I used Black Worbla because I thought the smoothness would be nice, but honestly next time I’d use Mesh Art for this part as well, as it sticks so nicely to itself. You have to heat and attach carefully so that you don’t warp your dome shape. Keep checking it over your original mold as much as possible.
I reinforced the front dome of the purse with a 1 inch strip of Mesh Art applied to the inside. The trick to attaching this without warping is that Mesh Art loves to stick to itself – so I made sure to heat up the strip properly, then only very very quickly heated the dome – and pressed the ‘smooth’ side of the strip along the inside of the dome. This is why the washing is important – I forgot to the first time, and my Worbla strip fell right off. After some soap and water it stuck perfectly. (I totally forgot to photo this. Sorry!)
Next, you need to make your hinge. I cut away a small section at the bottom of the purse domes to make room for the hinge itself. I created the hinge by folding a piece of Mesh Art in half so it was double thickness, then in half again over a twist of wire. I kept the wire moving back and forth so it didn’t get stuck, and pulled it out when the Worbla was cool. Then I cut that sheet in half, and I had the two opposite sides for my hinge.
Not something I could really photo in progress, so have a drawing!
Just like the reinforcement strip, I attached the hinges by heating the hinge itself the most, and then mashing it into a mostly cold (and therefore solid) dome.
Next, I created the ‘lip’ that was going to hide the opening of the purse. Now I could have made this purse so that lip was horizontal and where the traditional line of the Pokeball went – but I wanted this purse to be really useful, and I didn’t think I’d have a way of keeping it shut at a con if it opened towards the ground. So a vertical opening it was going to be! I made the lip of 3 layers of Black Worbla heated and shaped together first, then I heated the Mesh art while it was on my dome shape, and applied the Black Art band all around it. When it was mostly cool I made sure my back of the purse would fit inside it, and did a bit of tweaking around the bottom of the hinges to make sure the pieces played well together.
** If I did this again, I would just use Mesh Art for this part as well. I thought the smoothness of the Black Art would be a benefit, but Mesh Art is so smooth anyway and it would have been easier to attach.
Next I spray painted my base color. This was silly, because I needed somewhere to attach my strap! So I sanded the area with the spray paint and cleaned it with some acetone, THEN made a noodle of Mesh Art (because Black Art can tear under stress) and created the little ‘handle’ bits for the chain.
I also remembered I wanted a magnet for the closure to be extra secure. I used 2 earth magnets, which I tested to make sure they would work through Worbla. One I sandwiched in a strip of Worbla, and that was attached as a tab on the side of the purse that went ‘in’. I marked how far in the tab sat, and then heated another strip of Worbla and mashed that into the ‘front’ dome, with the magnet positioned underneath it. Unlike gluing the magnets in, this way I don’t have to worry about the pull ripping them out of their glue.
Next was lining! I made a pattern by covering the original mold shape with tape and drawing out the pattern, then transferring that onto fabric. I cut 2 extra of the triangles, because I would need both the lining for each side and the side wall that keeps your stuff from falling out. There are totally neater ways to do this, I just wanted something fast.
I stitched the pieces together to get this sort of rounded pyramid. I then turned under the top of the side triangles and stitched those down, and glued them into my dome. These are the ‘walls’ of the purse and are also what determines how much the purse will open. I’d usually use a contact cement for this, but mine was dried up, so I used FabriTac instead. Then I glued in the lining, flipping under the raw edges and trimming excess as I went.
All that was left to do was apply some paint and add a strap!
And Tada! My very own Pokeball Purse.
Build notes:
I’ve worked with a lot of Worbla, and did a bunch of testing with Worbla’s Mesh Art when it came out – still, I didn’t realize how well it would take the dome shape or how smooth it would finish. All the painting done on this project? Without any primer! Look at how nice that is!
I did only paint the front of the Pokeball for time, and I realized when I got to work that the hinges were left unpainted – small fixes before I wear this at a con.
Laura Sánchez aka Nebulaluben created this beautifully detailed necklace for her Ballgown Morrigan from Dragon Age Inquisition. You can find her tutorial below!
Picture by Jesús Clares. Commisioned for EA Spain.
Hello everybody!! Today it’s time to write about my Morrigan necklace so let’s go!
To make the pattern, I wrapped myself in plastic and masking tape to get a basic shape. I drew its shape with its details and I cut it out to obtain the pieces.
As always, I just made one half to make it symmetrical later.
I made most of the necklace using Worbla but the pendant, that was the same from DAO and I already had its mold. I made the necklace base with a Worbla sheet and I shaped it with the heat gun.
Then I cut the strips and the leaf shaped ornaments and I stuck them using the heat gun again. The smaller blue ornaments were made using thin craft foam.
I glued the polyurethane resin pendant with epoxi glue.
I primed the collar with a couple wood glue layers and priming spray. It needs a lot of work to smooth it out.
After priming, I had to sand it conscientiously till it looked smooth enough.
Once the surface was ready, I painted it with a layer of brown acrylic and, to finish it, I used my favourite golden paste.
And done!
I don’t quite like the final shape of this collar. I mean, it’s not bad, but I’d like it to be a litle wider. I was in a rush while making this costume, so I didn’t have time to remake it. Anyway, I hope you find this tutorial useful.
As always, you can follow me on my social media and feel free to ask me anything in the comments below.
Thanks for reading!
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Thanks again to Laura Sánchez for sharing this tutorial with us! You can find her on Instagram, Twitter, and DeviantArt.
Naraku Brock shared this great tutorial with us on how she made the belt pieces for her Lady Loki costume.
What do you need:
– pencil, scissors or a knife and maybe paper
– Worbla
– heat gun
– acrylic paint/ spray
– sandpaper and spackle
– basic model/form ( a shape you are copying with worbla)
How does it work, step by step:
STEP 1
Keep your materials and basic models ready. Here you can see the light brown Worbla’s and the basic forms.
STEP 2
Draw a shape or the outline of your basic model.
STEP 3
you’re done? then cut it out – wohooo. (You can cut it easily with a knife or a pair of scissors.)
just a hint: Collect all residues. You can use it later for another project!
STEP 4
Time for the magic weapon: the ultimate heat pistol!
Heat your Worbla’s, it gets soft and pliable.
my second hint: it is TOO hot when your worbla’s is brighter/white and rough.
STEP 5
Put your Worbla’s on your basic model or bend it freehand.
Now you have to wait for it to get cold and solid again.
STEP 6
You should heat all your pieces and bend them into your desired form in one go. This is easier and saves you a lot of time.
STEP 7
You don’t need to do this step, but you can use some spackle to make your worbla’s smoother.
STEP 7 a
If you use spackle, you can grind it down to smoothness with sandpaper.
STEP 7 b
This picture doesn’t show it that well, but you can make out what I mean.
Your goal: make it smooth smooth smooth, like a baby bottom. ^.~
STEP 8
Are you done with the previous step? Now you can use all acrylic paint and spray it as you need. Let them dry very well.
For special effects you can use a second paint to draw on it after the first dried through.
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With thanks to Naraku Brock for sharing this with us!
Karin Olava Effects shared this great idea for turning your Worbla scraps into buttons. You can use this idea to make any sort of design, or even make small creatures or pendants (perfect for gifts!)
I have a lot of worbla scraps and leftovers that I don’t really know what to do with. Of course you can shape it into spikes and skull details for you armour, and some ever make new sheets from it. But I’m going to show you how you can make geeky little gifts for your friends! It’s quick, easy and fun!
Fist you are going to need some buttons. I use leftover ones from work. Then gather your worbla scraps, heat and start shaping it into the patterns you want. Because of all the Dragon Age Inquisition updates from Bioware lately, I’ve opted for some Inquisition logo styles. If the worbla won’t stick to the button once it’s cooled down, just glue it down with some contact glue.
When you have your base done, it’s just to prime with woodglue. Some people prefer to use gesso, but for something quick like this I just add three layer of woodglue. After that it all dry it’s just to pick you colors and paint! I use normal acrylic paints. And for a more beaten up look I like to weather my pieces. Here I simple paint on some black in the nooks and crannies and wipe it off with a paper towel. Leaving some paint for a dirt like effects. You can of course go over with more brown tones for a rusty look.
You could just clearcoat them now and be happy, but I’m going about this is typical Dragon Age style. Blood, blood and more blood! >D I like to use Skin Illustrator alcoholic paints in blood tones for this, but normal acrylic paints should do the trick.
Then just a coat of clear lacquer and you done! Neat little geek accessories for you and your friends! And an easy way to get allies for the Inquisition ;)
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Thanks to Karin Olava Effects for sharing this with us!
Axceleration created this great video showing how she made a Sailor Moon Tiara from Worbla.
You can find more of Kellax Production’s videos on her Axceleration
