We partnered with squeakadeekn on their Hypnos build and they created 2 tutorials for us. The second is sharing how to create a simple wing harness to wear under a cape such as Hypnos’ design from Supergiant’s Hades.
A key feature of Hypnos’s design is two sets of gold wings that stick out of his big blanket cape. As cute as this is, it poses quite a rigging challenge when translating this to a cosplay. Without the proper support making something as long and heavy as wings, then attaching them to a blanket is likely to result in them both drooping downwards and flopping back and forth; all the while stretching and warping the blanket.
Luckily, Worbla’s Black Art is a great material to use to circumvent this. If you’re able to make a rigid support for the wings under the blanket, it will prevent the sagging and flopping that would happen if they were only attached to a soft, fabric object. So, to make Hypnos’s wings secure, I created a Worbla frame that attaches onto the wings and sticks through the blanket, that most importantly has structure in the vertical direction along the wings to keep them upright, and in the horizontal direction to keep them from falling forwards.
Materials:
⦁ 6 mm EVA foam
⦁ Worbla’s Black Art
⦁ Hot glue
⦁ Heat gun
⦁ PVA Glue/ Filler Primer/ Foam Priming materials
⦁ Gold Feathers
⦁ Exacto knife
⦁ Rust-oleum Gold Paint
⦁ Velcro
Part One: Base Wings
To start the wings, I took a paper template with the shape I wanted and traced it onto 6 mm EVA foam. The template was made through guess-and-check using paper to be sure the size and shape were nice.
Once the template was traced, I cut out 4 identical wings using an exacto knife and a straight 90 degree angle cut.
I did a quick pass of primer using PVA glues and filler primer spray on them to establish a base gold paint. It really doesn’t need to be pretty since it will be covered by feathers, but the backside should get a little extra attention since it will be bare/unfeathered.
I then took Rust-oleum metallic gold spray paint and painted the base color of gold, using two coats of paint.
With the base color on, I started gluing down gold craft feathers. Typically when I glue feathers down for wings, I like to stub the feathers by cutting the tips off and make sure to only use hot glue on the very very bottom/tips of the feathers, that way they can still have some fluff and bounce to them without looking too flat.
Here’s what the front pair of wings looked like feathered, it’s worth it to pre-plan how you’re going to be laying down your feathers in a neat, organized fashion. It’s also handy to stub your feathers shorter as you get closer to the base of the wing for a more realistic look.
To finish the wings, I added a bulb at the base with the styled swirlies his design has. The bulbs were made out of 6 mm EVA foam, primed and painted using the same rustoleum gold paint as the body of the wings.
Part Two: Worbla’s Black Art Support Structure
To start with the base pieces for the support structure, draw and cut out what are essentially lopsided boomerang shapes onto Worbla’s Black Art. To be specific, there should be a longer strip on top with a smaller strip section below at a shallow angle around ~140 degrees. I highly recommend using your wing pattern and lightly tracing it onto the Worbla, and then making your Worbla supports look like “bones” / run semi-parallel to the top and front of the overall wing. Once drawn and cut, you should have 4 angled Worbla strips, 2 for each side.
To reinforce them, heat the two Worbla pieces for each side and press them together on the adhesive sides, making sure to leave a 2-3 inch section at the bottom/short end below the angle separate/unsandwiched.
With the 2-3 inches of Worbla on the bottom that is still separate/unfused, heat and splay it outwards at a 90 degree angle to form a T-shape.
Since some of the geometry and terms get a little confusing, here’s what the supports should look like, kind of a funky angled T. This is great because the vertical parts provide a backbone for the wings keeping them from flopping all over the place/sagging at the ends, and the T-base gives them something to be anchored to that keeps them from falling over.
To get the supports onto the costume, I tried everything on and marked where the wings sprout out of the blanket. I then (with much agony) cut a 2-3 inch incision all the way through the blanket where the wings should be.
With the incision made, I stuck the top/vertical parts of the Worbla through the blanket; making sure the bottom T-base was flush to the underside of the blanket.
I also recognized that the section of supports that will be on the wings didn’t need to be as long as it was, so I stubbed them down to a slightly shorter length. I also used this as the time to strongly glue down the T-base sections of the supports to the underside of the blanket.
With the Worbla bits sticking out and the bottom parts secure, I hot glued the front of the Worbla supports to the back of the first pair of wings, and then back of the Worbla support to the front of the second pair of wings.
To attach everything to the costume; I mainly used velcro. The blanket itself already attaches using a few velcro patches and magnets, however the Worbla support structure needed its own attachment to keep it really REALLY secure. This was just a velcro patch on the underside of the T-base that hooks onto the neck armor.
And that’s just about all folks, Hypnos’s finished wings were nice, shiny and virtually wiggle-proof! I hope this was informative and can be cross-costume applicable as well :^)
