headpiece – Worbla Thermoplastics

Ryuko Tatsuma Winged Headpiece and Eye Cover

Posted on January 13, 2021January 13, 2021 by Amanda

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!

Materials needed: Headband and Wings

Worbla’s Black Art
6mm EVA Foam
Heat Gun and Heat Gloves
Exacto Blade
Scissors
Contact Cement
Black Spray Paint
Rare Earth Magnets 1inch
Paper
Pen/Pencil
Mod Podge
Tape Measure and Ruler
Rope or Cord
Dremel
Pins

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.

Now on to the eye cover/claw!

Materials needed: Eye Cover

Worbla’s Black Art
2mm EVA Foam
Heat Gun and Heat Gloves
Exacto Blade
Scissors
Contact Cement
Silver Spray Paint
Black Paint
Fabric Clips
Rare Earth Magnets 1inch
Paper
Pen/Pencil
Mod Podge
Tape Measure

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?

Saragosa Dragon Crown with Worbla and L200 foam

Posted on November 21, 2018March 18, 2022 by Amanda

Tutorial by Jenna Elise Cosplay

Materials needed:

– L200 Foam
– Worbla (Black and Crystal Art)
– Drawing paper
– Insulation Foam
– Pins
– Sandpaper
– Utility knife
– Duct Tape
– Sharpie
– Scissors
– Wood Burning Tool
– Plasti Dip
– Wax Paper
– Fairy Lights (or whatever LED’s you choose)
– Heat Gun
– Acrylic Paints
– Silicone Gem Molds
– Clay Molding Tools (Optional)
– Paint Brushes
– Hot Glue
– Contact Cement

First step is to sketch out the shape you want on to paper. I’m using painters paper here.
Next, I cut out the shape and pinned it to two layers of pink insulation foam that I glued together.
With a utility knife (snap blade) I cut out and shaped the foam. Once it’s roughly cut, I sanded it down for a smoother shape.
Now to create the horn pattern! I covered the foam in duct tape and used a sharpie to draw the pattern.
And don’t forget to draw registration marks which will help with assembling the horns later on.
With a blade, I cut the tape and flattened out the pattern onto 1/4 inch L200 foam. Make sure to mark registration lines as well.
Cut out foam with a sharpened blade
With contact cement, glue foam pattern back together, using the registration marks as a guide to make sure the pieces line up correctly.
Repeat steps to create the second horn!
Next, I attached the horns to a simple headband with contact cement and used a wood burning tool to burn in the details.
I cut 4 horn-like shaped pieces out of insulation foam and sanded them smooth. I then covered them in black worbla, attached them to the headband and used the wood burning tool again to create texture.
I then sketched the ears/fins. I cut this out and traced it onto L200 twice.
I cut out those pieces along with 2 separate pieces that will be the detail on the top of the ear.
I used contact cement to glue the ridge on top and then used a dremel to smooth out the edges and create the shape I wanted.
Just like the ears/fins, I repeated the same process for this shape that will be glued to the front of the crown. I also marked where the gems and lights will eventually go.
I again used contact cement to attach all pieces to the headband.
Next is sealing! I covered the entire piece in 3 thick layers of Plasti Dip, making sure each layer was dry before spraying the next.
Now we’re onto lights! I bought fairy lights online, these work out perfectly for this kind of project. I punched a hole through the center of the headband and strung the wire through. I also re-punched holes where I previously marked on the front of the crown. I made sure to push an individual bulb through each one of the holes. The rest of the lights were glued down to the headband with hot glue.
Gems! Crystals! I wanted to make super organic looking crystals for the crown and I used Worbla Crystal Art to do this!

Since I wanted rougher and more organic looking crystals, I tested out a few methods and this was the easiest way by far! I laid out the Crystal Art on wax paper, folded it over and used a heat gun to heat up and melt the worbla pieces together. This helps keep all the little worbla pellets in one spot so they aren’t blowing all over the place. I used clay sculpting tools to mush the worbla together until I had a lump in a size I wanted. Next I let the worbla cool for a minute and used scissors to cut down the sides. The result is a crystal shape with as many sides and angles you want. I repeated this 25-30 times, creating crystals that were different shapes and sizes.
This is the final result of what the crystal will look like with a light source!
I used a silicone mold that I bought to make the smaller gems for the front of the crown. I heated up a small amount of Crystal Art, placed it into the mold while still hot and used wax paper to press the worbla into the mold. Let cool in the mold.
Once the worbla is cooled, you can take it out. Now all that’s left for this is to color the gem. I used a pink marker and colored the back of the gem. You can use markers, watered down paint or nail polish to do this with whatever color you need. The last step is to glue these gems and all the crystals we made to the crown.
This was the final result after attaching everything to the crown with hot glue. AND LIGHTS. The only other small detail I added was a thin trim around each gem on the front. I just took small pieces of black worbla, heated it up, rolled it into a thin shape and wrapped it around each gem.
The last thing to do is paint! Sticking with Saragosa’s color palette, this is my final result for the headpiece. I used simple acrylic paint to do this. Laid down base colors and weathering to achieve the desired look.

Making Lightweight Ears from Kobracast Art – Video

Posted on August 10, 2018January 20, 2020 by Amanda

We sent Worbla’s Kobracast Art to some intrepid cosplayers and they gave us back a series of different ways to use the material for lightweight headgear – specifically ears!

We’ll be adding more posts through the coming weeks, but first our first is Pokemon Ears by Thermo Cosplay!

Next is these poseable ears by Kimidori Cosplay, which use wire and Kobracast Art to hold their shape.

TranspArt Examples

Posted on April 19, 2015March 18, 2022 by Amanda

When standard Acrylic isn’t viable, Worbla’s TranspArt (WTA) is a clear thermoplastic that offers amazing flexibility and resilience that is solvent-stable, as well as Non-Toxic and Skin-Safe. TranspArt can be vacuformed, both on an actual machine/table as well as by hand with simple tools, can be tinted and dyed, and is incredibly difficult to tear, dent or rip. Look below to see examples of what our customers have done with our product.

—————————–

Ice Queen Original Design by Alix Cosplay. TranspArt ice details on the crown, collar, scepter, and shoes.
Photos by Martin Wong, Sometimes I Cosplay Photography, and Obscura Vista

Stella Chuu (also on Instagram) used TranspArt for her Saikizo Frozen Witch headpiece. With photos from Anna Fischer photography, Kaze Photography, and Jwai design

These amazing Coffee Splash and Milk Pour props are frozen in time and made from Worbla’s Transpa Art and Worbla’s Deco Art. Finished with Heritage glass stain and acrylic varnish. Created by Rochelle Redgard with Lida Marx from The Worx Distribution.

Abraham Levy created these amazing TranspArt water pieces, inspired by designer Iris Van Herpen. Videos can be seen here, here, and here. The yellow dress was created for Shea Couleé and used in her Crème Brûlée video seen here (explicit), the pink dress was photographed by thedragphotographer and featured on Drag Race All Stars 4 seen here.

Kuchiki Rukia Bankai Version by LadyShuCosplay, photos by Harui.

Zeratul’s Blade by Nightshift Cosplay

This amazing crystal sabretooth skull was created by Naruvien Art&Design using Worbla’s TranspArt and Worbla’s Finest art, and has a red and green led for interior lighting!

Here’s a video of the lights in action!

Erza Cosplay used Transpart and Worbla’s Finest Art for her Heavy Luminescence Armor and Sword from Guild Wars 2.

TranspArt rose by Calypsen Cosplay

TranspArt Phoenix Headpiece by Gothichamlet of Cowbuttcrunchies.

Celestial Staff by Whimsy-Mimsy, dyed with iDye Poly

TranspArt Visor with Worbla Helmet, and Demon Horns by Melting Props, Cosplay and Projects

Horn shaped over a busk by Melting Props, Cosplay and Projects

These ice crowns were made by Lightning Cosplay

LED Butterfly Wings by Whimsy-Mimsy Cosplay.

TranspArt Bluebird headpiece by Atelier Licorice.

Javakat Cosplay created these glowing apples from Once Upon A Time with TranspArt.

Omni Blade from Mass Effect by Vmachina.

Dungeons and Dragons Rose Cross by Careko

Dragoon Meru from Legend of Dragoon bySpyrah. Wings made from TranspArt, armor made from Worbla’s Finest.

TranspArt flowers and leaves pressed into sillicone moulds, by Worbla Latinoamerica

Worbla’s Finest art bracers covered in TranspArt for an ‘encased in ice’ appearance by Naruvien Art&Design

Sue Storm figure made of clay and then gently vacuformed with TranspArt. Plugsuit made with Finest Art, by the team at Cast4Art. Note the TranspArt even picked up the detail on the bra!

Aurora from Child of Light Crown and Wings made by Maija Cosplay, photos by Patrick Rotthier.

Princess Peach Crown

Posted on September 24, 2014January 29, 2019 by Amanda

Iloon shared this tutorial on how they made the crown for their Princess Peach costume

Materials used:

– Worbla
– Resin
– Transulent glass paint in pink and blue
– Spray-Putty
– Brown acrylic paint
– Gold decoration spray paint
– Matte varnish
– Sticker crystals and pearls
– Air dry clay
– Sandpaper
– Brush

For the base I used Worbla, but you can also use wonderflex (or other types of thermo plastic) or foam. I attached the edges on each other and shaped the Worbla by using hot water. The material will stick on each other by heating it up.

With a soldering iron I added the edge on the crown.

– To smooth out the crown I have sprayed spray putty on it, let it dry for a few hours and sanded it slightly.

– I cast the gems on the crown with clear resin. I used a drop of translucent glass paint to color them and a base mold for resin which you can find in craft stores.

– After the resin was fully hardened after a day, I glued mirror foil on the backside and then on the crown with super glue . I used air dry clay for adding/finishing the edges.

– I sealed the resin stones with masking tape and spray painted the crown gold and let it dry for a few hours.

– I used very small sticker crystals and pearls so I didn’t need to use glue to put it on the crown. This is faster and saver to avoid glue being visible.

– For the worn out look I used brown acrylic paint which I thinned out with water. I used a piece of cloth and rubbed it over the crown until the crown was fully covered. I used a clean cloth to rub off the paint, the paint will remain in the edges of all the details which gives the crown a more classic look. You can also use the dry brushing technique for this result.

– For sealing everything I used 2 layers of matte varnish.

Tips:

– For being able to shape Worbla you can also use a heatgun or oven.
– Be careful with the soldering iron, you can make holes in the material with it easily.
– If there will be some paint on the resin stones, don’t worry you can get rid of it with acetone/ nailpolish remover.
– Drill small holes in the crown to be able to sew the crown on a wig.

—–
Thanks again to Iloon for sharing this tutorial with us!

Moondragon Horns and Spine by Sarcasm-Hime

Posted on July 10, 2014December 1, 2017 by Amanda

Sarcasm-hime‘s beautiful “Moondragon” costume won Best in Show recently at Costume-Con 31 in Denver. She has shared her tutorial with us detailing how she made the headdress and spine out of Worbla.

Hi, Sarcasm-hime here.

This is an illustrated description of how I made my headdress and spine; it was an experiment since I’d never worked with Worbla before, and I wasn’t disappointed!

I chose Worbla because I wanted to do a lot of cutouts, and its lack of an internal mesh (unlike Wonderflex) made it ideal.

Tools and materials used:

hard insulation foam
Wonderflex & Worbla
heat gun
hot-knife
utility knife
hot-glue gun
respirator mask
sandpaper
mold release
aluminum tape
cellophane & organza

First I sketched out my horn shape and glued several layers of hard pink insulation foam together, then carved it to the right shape. You need a very sharp x-acto knife for this or the foam will shred. For finishing the surface, use sandpaper (outdoors, and wear a dust mask!).

Once I had the shape smooth and finished, I covered it in aluminum tape to protect it from the heat necessary to shape the Worbla. This step may not be necessary (I didn’t test it without the aluminum) but I didn’t want to take the chance. I tried aluminum foil at first, but it didn’t stay put.

Then I sprayed the form liberally with mold release, just in case the Worbla decided to stick.

Once the mold release had dried, I started covering the horn in Worbla. I knew I would be cutting a lot of holes and wanted them to be sturdy despite that, so I used two layers of Worbla. I used a paper pattern to get the general shape, and spliced in extra bits where necessary. Worbla can be stretched a bit when hot, so I was able to get a fairly smooth surface.

I completely covered the horn in one layer, then added the second layer. I did this to minimize any lumps where edges joined.

Here’s the horn covered in 2 layers of Worbla.

Once I had the surface finished, it was time to get the foam horn out. Since I was using the same mold for both horns (you don’t have to do this, I just chose to), I needed to get it out with a minimum of damage to the original sculpt. I used a regular utility knife to cut all along the bottom edge of the horn in order to free the foam inside. It took some yanking (because of the curve involved) but it did eventually come out intact.

I repeated the process for the second horn, and sealed up the cut using some hot-glue and patching from the back using scraps of Worbla. Now it was time for cutting the holes!

For this, I used a hot-knife. I had a hot-knife attachment on my woodburning tool, but you can also buy hot-knife tools or even hot-knife attachments on mini-irons.

I first drew the pattern out on the Worbla using a permanent marker. I wanted a sort of random, organic pattern so wasn’t too fussy about this part. The hot-knife made cutting through the 2 layers of Worbla fairly easy; it didn’t take as much brute strength as it otherwise would with an x-acto knife. The hot-knife slides through the Worbla fairly smoothly with a little pressure. However, because the hot-knife is actually burning some of the Worbla as it cuts, I strongly recommend doing this outdoors or in a well-ventilated area. I had to work indoors as it was too cold outside, so I bought a respirator mask designed for use with paint fumes.

Please note that I don’t mean just a dust mask, I mean a proper respirator mask of the type with filters on each side, designed to protect you against paint and other fumes.

The cutting process left the edges of my holes kind of rough, probably because I was working with 2 layers. So to smooth the edges once I’d finished cutting, I swapped out the point of my woodburning tool to a rounded point and used that to soften the edges, which I then smoothed with my fingers while they were still warm. I also tried using my mini-iron, and that also worked well for heating and smoothing the edges.

You want to do only spot-heating in this kind of situation, because the form is hollow and you don’t want to heat enough of it that the whole thing can deform. Here the smoothing process is half-finished:

Once my horns were cut out and smoothed, it was time to make the mask and attach them.

I had a mold of my forehead from a previous project (**for info on how to make one, see below), so I used that to shape the base mask out of Wonderflex. Either Worbla or Wonderflex would have worked fine, it didn’t really matter. I just needed something that would fit flush against my face.

Once I had the base mask, I positioned the horns, trimmed where necessary to make them sit correctly, and attached them to the base mask using Worbla scraps. I had to be a bit careful here to only heat the very bottom of the horns where they would be attaching, so as to keep the overall horn from deforming and slumping. I added some hot glue at the attachment points just for security.

At this point it didn’t really matter what the attachment part looked like, as it would be all covered with the main mask layer.

For the main mask, I made a paper pattern and transferred it to craft foam, making sure that the placement of the holes lined up with the eye-holes of the under-mask enough to allow me to see. Again, I wanted an asymmetric, organic pattern so drew out my holes and cut them out using a craft knife.

I then lay warm Worbla over the craft foam, cut a slice in the centre of each hole, and wrapped the Worbla over the foam to enclose the foam edges. Covering craft foam with Worbla is great for when you want a very smooth surface on your finished piece, such as for armour. I also used this technique to make my spine (see below).

I then used hot-glue to adhere a sheet of iridescent cellophane and iridescent organza to the back of the mask. This allowed for visibility but offered enough opacity to hide my eyes.

Here’s the outer mask, in the process of being attached to the horns and understructure:

And here’s the outer mask firmly attached. I’ve started embellishing by sculpting some details on the forehead and adding spikes on the side.

For the spikes, all those cut-out scraps of Worbla came in handy. One of the great things about Worbla is that the leftovers can be heated up, mashed together and reused. So my scraps got heated, mashed together, rolled out flat again and shaped by hand into the spiky protrusions on the side of the mask. I didn’t want them super smooth as I wanted an organic look, so I just shaped them with my fingers.

Once all the sculpting was done, it was time for paint. Here’s the base layer of black acrylic (over a layer of gesso, not shown):

I had to paint carefully by hand to avoid the cutouts on the face.

And here’s a layer of “Black Mica” paint which creates a cool texture, with added black glitter for extra sparkle:

I cut slits in the base Wonderflex mask directly under each horn to make flaps to which I could attach my LEDs. They shine upwards and illuminate the iridescent organza I stuffed up inside the horns.

Sturdy elastic is glued to the inside of the mask, and secures behind the neck with snaps.

The finished product:

THE SPINE:

For the spine, I made a cardboard template and cut out the pieces from craft foam. I cut out pieces of Worbla a bit bigger than the craft foam.

I then heated the Worbla using a heat gun and shaped it by hand over the foam, pressing the edges over the foam to cover it.

When making structural pieces like armour, people usually prefer to sandwich the foam between two layers of Worbla for stability. My spine wasn’t going to be under any stress, so I decided I didn’t need the extra layer and left the back of the foam uncovered.

Once the individual pieces were covered, I re-heated them and pinched them, shaping with fingers to get the right angle.

They were then painted and glued to a ribbon which attaches to my costume using Velcro.

And that’s it!

**Want to know how to make a cast of your head/face? Look up ‘life casting’, there are tons of tutorials.

You basically need alginate (a seaweed-based casting material used by dentists to take molds of your teeth) which will exactly replicate your features and is totally skin-safe, and then plaster bandages to put on top of the alginate as a rigid shell so the mold will keep its shape.

Once your alginate and plaster bandages have set, you remove the negative mold and immediately fill it with plaster of Paris or Ultracal. You must do it right away because the alginate doesn’t keep, it will dry out and shrink.

You then have an exact replica of your face/head, which you can then use to sculpt custom prosthetics and all sorts of stuff :D

PLEASE NOTE this process is not something you can do yourself; you need a friend to apply the materials to your face, and you must be careful to leave breathing holes if you’re covering the nose/mouth. Your friend must also be ready to remove the casting materials if you start to freak out (some people do).