We asked Air Bubbles to create a tutorial for us using Black Worbla, and she shared the process of making her headdress or Helmet for her Una costume, a character from Warmachine.
Materials Black Worbla 3mm Craft Foam Heatgun Scissors Hot Glue Super 77 Spray Glue Felt Wood Stick
Reference and Blueprinting Thankfully there are many reference photos for Una, The Skyhunter since she is a minifigure and character from the tabletop game, Warmachine. I took the reference for her headdress and hood and created a vector pattern which I was able to resize and print to fit my head. (Inkscape is a free program and great for this use)
Making the Headdress Overall the headdress is quite simple, but getting the correct shape and size and keeping it symmetrical is always a difficult task! Also, since this would be going on my head, it needed to be kept light. To start, I cut the pattern out of 3mm craft foam: After that, I traced out the foam pattern onto the new black worbla and cut out a piece that is about a ½” wider on all sides. This leaves space to fold over the extra worbla under the design. This is known as the ‘fold over method’. I chose this method over sandwiching the foam with worbla to help keep the headdress light. Once all the piece of foam were wrapped in their worbla counterpart, I tested strength at the seams to ensure this headdress was not going to fall apart. Despite the bond between the worbla pieces being strong, I wanted to give extra reinforcement and lined the interior of the top of the head seam with regular worbla: After that, it was all about assembly and shaping the piece to fit my head. Since the headdress goes over a hood I would shape the headdress on my head while I was wearing a hood to ensure the shape would not be too small for the actual hood. Depending on how the hood will be secured to my head, the headdress will most likely be velcroed onto the hood and strapped to ensure it will not fall off!
It’s all in the Details
Now that the base of the headdress is done we need to add the details. At first I thought of cutting out the details in the foam prior to pressing the worbla on top, however, that would jeopardize the stability and integrity of the headdress. In order to keep the headdress lightweight, a foam overlay would be the best method. Using the same pattern drawn out in a vector before hand, I cut out another set of foam pieces, but this time with the holes cut out:
After cutting the detail out of foam I took some Super 77 glue spray and glued them down directly to the worbla. It came out to look like this:
To finish off the headdress I needed some feathers. To make a feather I printed a vector pattern of a feather from Una and cut it out of felt. To get a nice stiff feather with some weight, I cut out the pattern twice and stuck a small stick in the center. I glued the two halves and the stick with some more Super 77 Spray Glue. To tint the tip black, I used some regular spray paint (safe for felt/foam) and sprayed the tip black: After that, just rinse and repeat to make a few more feathers and you’re done! You’re ready to be an all powerful warlock and summon your feathered friends for aid in battle.
Want to be the high-energy robot from FLCL? Kahht shared how they created their Canti costume with Worbla, and you can see the process below!
I love robots, so I instantly fell in love with Canti from the Japanese anime series Fooly Cooly (aka FLCL). It was a huge learning process, and a ton of work. I’m super happy with the final look, and am looking forward to my next Worbla costume.
Step 1: Materials
Let me start by saying: read everything first. This is a long process and I tried to outline it in as linear a way as possible, but if you know the entire process, you’re less likely to do something that will mess you up in the future.
Here’s what you’ll need:
24 sq ft of worbla Various plastic shapes (i.e. water bottle) Saran wrap Painter’s tape or duct tape Permanent marker Heavy-duty scissors (I used an inexpensive pair of sewing scissors and they worked great) 12 sq. ft. of craft foam Heat gun Corrugated plastic or cardboard (or any reasonably thick, cut-able material) 10 x 1” Metal D-rings or other loops Black fabric elastic (2.5 meters) Sewing needle and black thread A tight black cap Pencil Tracing paper Xacto knife 1/8” plexiglass and solar mirror film or clouded plexiglass Various grits of sand-paper White acrylic gesso Foam brushes Various paint brushes (big and really tiny) Acrylic paint in red, black, yellow, white and gold 1 sq. ft. 1” thick fabric foam A long sleeved black shirt Black ski gloves (with white palms if you can find them) A helper
Step 2: Make Your Patterns and Measurements
Tip: grab a helper for this step.
With the plastics you’ve rounded up, cut them out to add the appropriate curves to the forearm piece. I used a stubby water bottle cut in half lengthwise. Then taped it to my arm. (I couldn’t find anything appropriate to make the chest, so I decided to wing it).
Once you feel good about the shape you’ve created, wrap a layer of saran around your torso, upper arm and forearm, then put tape over top (I used duct tape, but painters tape is better). Don’t pull too tight so that you get an accurate representation of your body.
Now, using a permanent marker, draw your pattern onto the tape. This is the outline of the amour’s shape. Carefully cut the tape off of your body, then cut the pattern that you traced out.
For the head piece, you can follow the guides I’ve provided… heads are usually more similar in size and I’ll cover how to get it to sit on your specific head shape later.
Step 3: Tracing
This step is simple: Trace the pattern onto craft foam and cut it out.
Step 4: Now for the Worbla
Quick tip before getting into the nitty gritty: save all your scraps! They’ll come in handy later.
There are two techniques I used. The first method, the sandwich technique, requires more Worbla, but provides a sturdier piece in the end. I used this method for everything except the upper arm and would highly recommend it (as tempting as it is to save worbla). The other method, the hug technique, saves you a bit of Worbla and is easier when dealing with concave angles and curves, but it leaves some craft foam exposed on the inside (so, not ideal if both sides are going to be exposed, leaves the piece feeling a bit less sturdy and sometimes the edges come out a bit more jagged (which can probably be averted if you’re careful).
Sandwich Technique:
For this method, trace the pieces of craft foam with an extra centimeter of room around onto the Worbla. Flip the pieces over and trace in the same way again. Cut these out of the Worbla. You’ll have two mirrored pieces of Worbla now for each piece of craft foam.
Sandwich the craft foam between the two corresponding pieces of Worbla. The shinier side of the Worbla faces in. Heat the Worbla with your heat gun in broad and even strokes, focusing on the edges, but making sure the entire surface is warm and slightly tacky. Don’t let it get soft! Keep checking it as you’re heating it so you can remove the heat as soon as it gets soft and a bit tacky.
Squish the Worbla together. Start in the centre of the piece, pushing down and out then quickly move to the edges of the craft foam. Make sure the two pieces of Worbla stick tightly together. You can use the blunt side of the scissors to make sure the Worbla is tight against the edge.
It’s easiest to cut the Worbla while it’s still a bit warm, so use your scissors to cut the excess Worbla from around the craft foam. If the Worbla separates to reveal the craft foam, just heat it up again and push it together (we’ll do some sanding later to deal with any rough edges).
Hug Technique:
The second method is the hug technique. For this method, trace the craft foam onto the Worbla, then draw an extra inch (2.5 centimeters) of room around it. Cut the wider shape out of the Worbla and carefully cut slits into the sides without cutting into the original traced shape.
Heat the Worbla on the shinier side with the heat gun. Use broad and even strokes to ensure even heating of the piece. Keep checking it as you’re heating it so you can remove the heat as soon as it gets just soft and a bit tacky (but don’t let it get bubbly or flimsy soft).
Place the craft foam onto the Worbla and fold over the tabs you cut earlier. Gently curl the edges over to create a clean edge (we’ll do some sanding later to deal with any rough edges).
Step 5: Shaping it to your Body
Now’s the part where you wish you read ahead… and if you are reading ahead then pat yourself on the back and thank yourself for your foresight.
While the Worbla is still warm (but not hot), place the piece over the correct piece of your body to get the right shape. You’ll need to hold it there for a little bit until you feel it will be able to hold the shape pretty well. This is another great point to call your helper over for.
The wonderful thing about Worbla is you can heat it over and over and over again and keep playing with the shape. There seems to be no limit! So that’s really cool. If you screw up or need to fix something, just apply enough heat to make it malleable and reshape it.
Step 6: Fitting the Headpiece
First, you’ll need to make the piece that sits nice and firmly on your head. First, put on a tight cap, like a swim cap or something else reasonably thin. Take two long strips of prepared craft-foam sandwiched Worbla, heat them up, and drape them over your head so they criss-cross at the top. The longer piece will go from your forehead to your nape and the shorter one will go from ear to ear (without covering your ears). Hold them on until they’re nice and solid. A good, tight fit is essential.
We’ll talk more about the headpiece later, as it’s a bit of a beast on its own.
Step 7: Adding Embellishments
Use the sandwich technique to make the embellishments (patterns can be found in the guide):
The half-oval for over the hand The triangle for the shoulder The air holes for the bottom of the body piece Once the pieces are made, heat both the embellishment and the location on the body piece and stick them together.
To make the circle around the triangle, heat a few pieces of scrap Worbla. Get them really nice and hot so they’re malleable and quite soft. Wear work gloves to help you squish them all together, then roll them out into a rope (like you might have done with play-dough when you were a kid). You can then connect the two ends of your rope to make a circle and place it around the triangle on the shoulder (remember to heat the upper arm part so that it sticks).
Step 8: Making the Lacings
I used fabric elastic to hold the pieces onto me.
First, you’ll need to attach d-rings to either side of each piece. To do this, use an x-acto knife to cut a ¾-inch slit in the Worbla/craft foam where you want to put the d-ring. The slit should be about a ¾-inch from the edge and parallel to it. Heat a 2-inch strip of Worbla that’ll fit through the d-ring. Put this “tab” through the d-ring, and fold it over onto itself so it holds the ring. Heat the area around the slit in the costume and place the tab into the slit. Lightly press it onto the Worbla so it holds.
Repeat this for all 10 d-rings:
One on the upper part of each side of the forearm pieces One on the middle part of each side of the upper arm pieces One on the end of each section that goes over the shoulder (at a 45˚ angle inwards) One on the top of each side that goes around the torso (at a 45˚ angle inwards) One on the bottom of each side that goes around the torso Sew the fabric elastic around each d-ring. Cut enough elastic so that it will hold firmly onto you without cutting off circulation and give yourself about an inch extra on each side to sew.
Step 9: For the Face Screen
To make the face screen, a round-cornered rectangle from 1/8” plexi-glass. I used a laser-cutter for this and was very pleased with the result.
If you’re using solar mirror film, dampen the plexi and apply it by remove the protective plastic from the sticky side and gently laying it on top. Use a wet sponge to work out any bubbles.
Heat up the pieces of Worbla that frame the plexi and place the the plexi between them so it’s centered in the frame. I set it up so the solar film would be on the inside of the head piece.
Step 10: Finishing the Headpiece
You should have already made all your headpiece parts, so let’s put them together.
Align the correct sides of each piece to each other. When you heat the edges, they’ll stick to each other quite nicely. Press them firmly together and smooth them out.
Refer to the photographs to get the right angles and placements of all the pieces.
Once you have it all fit together, you need to place it on the cross-pieces you fit to your head. Grab your helper; this part of the process absolutely killed me. Heat up the top of the cross-pieces and put them on your protected head (i.e. wear a cap). Heat up the inside top of your headpiece and very carefully place it over your head as you want it to fit.
Connect a piece of craft-foam sandwiched Worbla from the front of the crosspiece to the inside front of the headpiece to add stability. For additional support and stability, I also used Velcro on the top of my cap and along the inside of the cross-piece to ensure it wouldn’t fall off.
Step 11: Sanding
Now that everything is put together, sand the edges and another part that looks uneven. I wasn’t too concerned about getting mine smooth and shiny… I just wanted to get rid of any really weird looking parts.
Step 12: Painting (at last)
First, cover the plexi screen with painters tape.
I used a few layers of gesso on everything for primer. Apply the gesso with a foam brush. Wait for it to dry. Paint, dry, repeat and dry.
Start giving it colour!
I started by free handing the shapes on the chest with a pencil and painting that a greyish white. See the picture for the rest of the colours. Start with the lightest colours and move darker. Keep a steady hand (I am so bad at painting, by the way).
Apply more coats as needed.
To finish it off, I used a very light brushing of gold paint around the edges and on the embellishments to give it a “worn” look.
Step 13: The Cape
Admittedly, I could have done a lot better with the cape. I took a sheet of black fabric and then a sheet of olive-brown fabric and layered them. Pretty easy, and it worked. The black was important because it would bring out some of the structure in the costume, so the black of my shirt would be a bit more hidden.
Step 14: Putting it on
The one last thing to do is to cut a couple pieces of craft foam (about 4” x 9”). After putting on all the body pieces over my long-sleeved black shirt, I stuff the craft foam into the bottom of the sleeve. I pulled the cape tight around my neck. I fit the helmet over my hid. I then put on the ski gloves on and voila!
Have you ever wanted to make your own helmet for a costume? This tutorial by the fantastic Termina Cosplay will show one way to do it!
Materials/Tools mannequin head paper masking tape pencils, pens, markers, etc. measuring tape or ruler craft foam scissors x-acto knife clay tools Worbla hot glue heat gun primer sandpaper paint paint brushes Dremel paper fasteners (optional)
Step 1: Make your pattern
As with most projects, you have to start with a pattern. Making a helmet is no different. To start, you can get a basic pattern shape by using the plastic wrap and masking tape method. If you wrap your own head, please don’t cover your whole face. You won’t be able to breathe if you cover your whole face. Just cover the areas of your head that you’ll need to fit the helmet. If you’re using a mannequin head, you obviously don’t have to be as careful; make sure your mannequin head is about the same size as your own head or your pattern might not fit you. Once you have your basic pattern drawn, cut it out.
Now spend some time making sure the helmet pattern you just made looks and fits like you want it to. Since there were so many different lines and tape, I changed my pattern drastically from the initial pattern I drew. Once you’re happy with the shape and fit, you can transfer all your pattern pieces to new paper to make them look nicer and easier to work with, but this isn’t totally necessary if you don’t want to do it.
Step 2: Cut out foam pieces
Get a piece of craft foam and transfer your pattern pieces over to it. Helmets are usually symmetrical, so your pieces should be symmetrical, too. You’ll also need to cut out any details you want to add before covering all your pieces in Worbla, so be sure to do that now as well. I wanted to add a raised edge to my helmet, so I made the patterns for these raised edges by simply applying packing tape (though masking tape would work just as well) to my helmet pieces and drawing the details onto the tape. It’s hard to see in the photos, but the packing tape is there.
I used a measuring tape to mark about a half inch all the way around my pieces, and then connected the dots. Then, I carefully lifted the tape from my foam pieces and stuck them down to a new piece of foam to cut out. Be sure to mark your detail pieces and your foam pieces so you can put them together easily. I used numbers to mark mine.
Step 3: Glue foam details on
Once you have all your foam pieces cut out, it’s time to glue them. I simply took a glue gun and applied some glue along the edge and then pressed my details down on top to glue them. In no time at all, all my pieces had a nice raised edge.
Step 4: Cut out Worbla pieces
Next you’ll need to cut out a piece of Worbla for each piece of foam you have. Cut out your Worbla piece a bit bigger than the foam piece. I usually cut mine about a half inch larger all the way around. I used Worbla’s Finest Art in this example, but you can also use Worbla’s Black Art, Mesh Art, or really any other thermoplastic sheet to do this. There are advantages and disadvantages to each material. Experimenting with them is the best way to know which one will work best for you!
Step 5: Apply Worbla to Foam
To apply Worbla to foam, all you need to do is heat it up with a heat gun until it is soft and moldable, stick it over the top of your foam, and press it down. To make the raised edges show up, use a small clay tool, plastic silverware, or a ruler to press the Worbla down into the edges. Once all the details are pressed in, flip the piece over, heat it up again, fold all the edges over to the back of the foam and press it down. Cut off any extra Worbla with scissors, and you’re done! Now repeat the process for each piece you have.
Step 6: Stick your pieces together and shape to fit
To stick our helmet pieces together, all you have to do is heat them up with the heat gun and stick them together at the edges. Worbla will stick to itself when warm, so no extra glue is required. While the pieces are warm, you can also shape the pieces to fit your head. So, if your piece needs to curve, make it curve! If you mess up, you can always just reheat the piece and try again. It usually takes some experimentation to get the perfect shape.
Step 7: Add extra details and fill in seams
Once your whole helmet is together, add any extra details you still need. I wanted to add gems to mine, so I added the settings for them by using Worbla Scraps. Also take the time to fill in any seams you have from putting together your helmet pieces. You can do this a number of ways, but I did it by filling the seams with scrap Worbla and sanding it smooth with a Dremel. You can also get rid of any air bubbles that got trapped under the Worbla by poking it with a needle and smashing the air out when it’s warm.
Step 8: Smooth and Prime
There are many different ways to smooth Worbla. You can use wood glue, gesso, Mod Podge, filler primer, Flexbond, and many other things. My personal way to smooth is to use a dry wall filler on areas that need a lot of love, like seam lines, dents, or other ungodly lumpy areas first. Then I use multiple layers of filler primer for the rest, and sand in between layers.
Step 9: Paint and Seal
The last step is to paint your helmet. For this particular helmet, I started with a few layers of gold spray paint, then added the shading and weathering with bronze and black acrylic paints. Then I outlined all the low edges with a black paint marker and highlighted the high edges with a white paint marker. If you can, its a good idea to seal the paint with a clear coat. Just be careful, and test your products before you use them on the real thing. Some metallic spray paints will react badly to clear coats.
———– Thanks again to Termina Cosplay for sharing this tutorial with us!
Termina Cosplay documented the process of creating her Cia costume, and shared it with us. Take a look at how she achieved this character’s iconic look! Photo by Vordigon Photography
Cia was my most in-depth and complex costume to date! It all started when I first laid eyes on Cia’s official artwork. I instantly fell in love with her design. It was dark, seductive and unrestrained- a winning combination in my book!
To start off with, we’ll look at the armor-ish metally bits. I made them with the same techniques I make all my armor with, craft foam and Worbla! First, I make a pattern for pieces by drawing them out on paper, then I transfer the patterns onto craft foam, cut them out, and cover with Worbla. Most details are made either with foam before the Worbla is added or afterwards with just more Worbla.
For the details on the mask, I made a pattern by covering the mask with masking tape, drawing on the details, and transferring the pattern to a single sheet of Worbla.
Sometimes I use Apoxie Sculpt for the details instead! Next we move onto the shoes. If you want to see detailed tutorial on how I made them look on my Facebook page. Basically, I altered a pair of heels by patterning out craft foam details and glueing them on. I used fabric glue to attach everything, and coated them with Mod Podge to seal them, and painted with acrylic paints.
To make the hat, I started by making a base out of craft foam and foam board. Then I filled the points I formed out of foam board with expanding foam and let it cure. Once cure, I carved out their shapes.
I also made the metal looking parts out of craft foam, EVA foam, and Worbla. Like always, I started with a paper pattern, transferred to foam, and then covered with Worba. The filigree details on the sides were cut from a double layer thick piece of Worbla.
To put everything together, I covered the hat shape with fabric, and attached the Worbla pieces on with neodymium magnets. I wanted to be able to take the hat apart so I could prime and paint it easily, and magnets worked perfectly for this! I used magnets to hold on almost all of my armor pieces, including the belts!
To prime my armor, I used a spray primer, and I didn’t bother to try and smooth it. The Worbla texture didn’t bother me at all for this project, so I left it. As for paint, used metallic spray paints to give it a base color and I weathered with acrylic paints. Last, I added in gems that I cast from resin.
The fabric parts of the costume were definitely the hardest for me. The project was way over my skill level when I started, and I ended up hating my first attempt at the bodysuit. Eventually though, I leveled up enough to where I was able to make something I was ok with. I used an existing bodysuit pattern and altered it to look like Cia’s costume. I used gold stretch vinyl to make the trim and the stripes, and I had to hand sew each stripe on individually to the bodysuit.
The cape was actually dyed to the white/purple gradient for me by a friend, and I simply made a rectanglular shape with the fabric and attached it with magnets to the inside of the pauldron. I also made the feathers on the pauldron detachable by glueing them to a piece of Worbla and attaching the Worbla with velcro.
Lastly, I added LEDs to the inside of the mask to make the eyes glow red. I really don’t know much about LED work, and I had help installing and wiring the LEDs together. There are three red LED’s that shine down into each of the eye holes. To make the red translucent piece that sits over the eye hole, I actually used resin! I cast a very thin piece, formed it to take the shape of the inside of the mask before it fully cured, and attached it to the inside of the mask with Worbla.
Now here’s a look at some more of the finished pieces!
Craft Dad created another amazing Video series showing how he used Pepakura and Worbla to create a durable Darth Vader Helmet for his son’s Halloween costume, without needing to vacuform or cast anything.
Kazzy Cosplay created this tutorial for round three of our TranspArt Competition!
As part of the final round of the Worbla TranspART contest, all contestants are required to create a tutorial for their build. So buckle up, kiddos! This is a LONG read but hopefully helpful if you are looking to build your own geometric prop with TranspART.
For this round, I deliberated for quite some time over what I should make. I showcased the fire/visor capabilities of TranspART in my last build, so I wanted to look for something that would showcase alternate uses of TranspART. Many ideas later, I decided to create my own interpretation of Traditional Sejuani’s ice flail and battle helm from League of Legends.
First things first – for this oddly shaped flail, I sketched out the shape and started creating a pattern out of card stock. This tutorial should work for most bulky/geometric props that need TranspART sides.
This may take a lot of adjusting, but once satisfied with the smaller shape, scaled it up to your size. I multiplied mine by 3 so that I would have a large flail fitting of a battle mistress of the Freljord.
Translate these pieces to TranspART and add a seam allowance .
Ice time! Make sure you test your dye on practice pieces before you dye your final pieces! To figure out the appropriate shade of blue, I tested multiple pieces in varying times in different baths. Once satisfied with the test pieces, dye the large pieces. I used varying baths and purposely tried to get a bit of an uneven dye to represent ice.
Now let’s shape it up! TranspART does not adhere to itself very well while maintaining a strong, straight edge. To best represent ice, I wanted strong line edges but the TranspART was rounding with the heat shaping.
To combat this and get geometric edges, cut bits of thick craft foam (I used 5mm) on a 45 degree angle so you have triangular strips with a right angle.
Now use the angles to align your edges of your pieces. I adhered mine with Loctite but I believe most cyanoacrylate adhesives will work.
If your prop is big, use strips of worbla to line the edges for extra structural integrity.
Now glue your structure altogether!
Use craft foam and worbla-covered craft foam to create any details, structural points, handles, etc. For the flail, I used this for the “metal” bars, spikes, and top of the flail. I used a Gatorade bottle top as the center to connect to the chain!
Attach your flail to your chain with worbla and attach the chain to a pvc pipe.
Now seal your worbla and foam. I used flexbond for the first time with this project and I loved it! Strong and super flexible. You can also use wood glue, mod podge, etc. if you choose.
Paint and weather your weapon! Don’t be afraid to really dirty up the “metal” with some black and brown paints and bring attention to highlights/snow with a white or silver paint.
Ta da! Enjoy your new ice flail and swing that baby around!
BUT WAIT! There’s more?!
Helmet time! Because I am a crazy person, I wanted to make Sej’s helm as well. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: To make this battle helmet, cover your head or wig head with plastic wrap and wrap it in masking tape.
Use a pen to line off your masking taped head to get a pattern. Carefully cut a long the lines, and translate the masking tape pattern to craft foam.
Trace the foam pattern to worbla pieces adding a bit of a “seam allowance” to shape over the foam. Use the “tab method” to fold the allowance of worbla over the foam edges so you get clean pieces. Adhere your pieces together with heat.
For the Viking horn, cut out a horn shape in pink foam. Sand and carve down the link foam til you get a nice smooth horn.
Use worbla and foam to add details to your helmet. Seal the helmet with flex bond (or your choice of primer).
Wrap your horn in HOT pieces of TranspART and be careful of your fingers! Use gloves or silicone finger tips for safety!
Adhere your horn with loctite or magnets for easy removal. Paint and weather your helmet and make sure you add some snow to your ice horn!
I hope that was helpful and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
1) Pattern that sexy troll face!!! Foil and painters tape is the new Sunday hat guys. Scroll to bottom for instructions on how I made the pattern.
2) I patterned the helmet detail panels in a similar fashion by applying the tape directly onto the helmet. Also see #7, 8 & 9.
3) To maintain flexibility in the worbla helmet, I used the folding technique rather than the sandwich technique. Since the tail adds a lot of weight to the back, the helmet had to be a rather tight fit in order to stay on properly. However, since the helmet covers so much of the facial and neck area, taking it on and off would have been impossible without some movement in the material. Even now it’s a bit tricky. The “hole” details are simply circular shapes pressed into the worbla to create depth.
4) The horns were built by creating the base shape in tin foil. Yes, getting these two horns to be relatively symmetrical is an absolute nightmare and you will cry, throw a tantrum, slam the horns onto the table a few times, and suddenly you’ll have the right shape
5) I covered the tin foil with duct tape to strengthen the structure and smoothen the texture.
6) I covered the horns in strips of worbla that overlap each other. This made covering the horn with worbla more cost efficient as you can primarily use scraps, which gave the horns a ribbed texture at the same time for some extra detail. 7) More detail panel patterning.
8) Cutting the patterns from EVA foam & worbla.
9) Folding technique for the detail panels to save some worbla and therefore money. The money you will need to buy comfort food after all the crying you have been doing from the painful test fittings 10) Still needs trims and a tail, but this is more or less what it should look like. At this point I was ready to mount some human heads onto the horns! No really, I have fun making cosplays
11) The tail is built from connecting vertebrae. Each vertebra is built from 3 basic pieces for which I used the worbla folding technique (with the exception of the few top and bottom pieces) to keep the weight as light as possible.
12) The 3 pieces combined create a triangle shape, allowing for a hollow tail.
13) Overall, with the exception of the base neck and bottom piece, the same triangle shape is repeated all along the tail, decreasing slightly in size per vertebra. Each vertebra is slid slightly over the previous one. 14) The top vertebra is connected directly to the helmet. However, each following vertebra had two holes in the middle on the backside (the side that rests on my back), both on the top and bottom. Through these holes I looped some fishing wire, tying two vertebrae together both on the top side and bottom. Doing so allows for movement in both a forward and backward direction, as well as sideways. Also, since the tail is hollow, it provided the perfect hiding spot for my own long hair, which was braided and tucked just inside the tail. Lastly, the tail hair was a wig weft, glued to the bottom of the wig. To darken the eye sockets I simply glued the glasses of an old pair of sunglasses to the inside and sanded down the edges.
Photo by Lexa One Photography
=== Pattern Making ===
To pattern anything for worbla, including the head, I wrap the intended area in foil and cover the foil with painters tape. For this helmet, I drew the outline onto the tape. To “flatten” the 3D pattern piece, I cut the pattern in half from the nose to the neck along the topside, and I created darts (like the sewing technique) for the rounded shape at the top of the head. Lastly I took the two pattern halves and applied them to EVA foam and worbla, which created the base helmet structure. Most of these seam lines that were created when I connected the worbla pieces were hidden by my helmet’s detail patterns. The others I worked into the design as details.
The Helmet I altered the the design a little, since the resolution of the concept art of this feature was a bit undefined. I wanted to add a bit more edges to the horns and detailing in the back.
I had no idea how to begin this build process, so I did what I know best – cardboard.
And then wrapped the cardboard mock up with worbla. Sine the look of the helmet is forged it works great with this slightly uneven surface. Still a way to go, but we are getting there.
Then the horns were carved out and covered in masking tape.
To get a different texture on the helmet than on the pauldron horns I added Glue gun glue around and round the horns (took forever). Then They were spray painted gold and heavily weathered with brown acrylic paint.
Back to the base of the helmet, testing horns, not happy yet.
Details added.
The base was painted the same way as the horns.
To attach the horns I have embedded 5 mm nuts in the horns and secure them with 5 mm bolts. I have even made a youtube video explaining and showing how to take them on and off.
Chrisx Design recently shared with us her Adjunct costume from StarCraft 2. Not only is the costume itself stunning, but she also shared with us tutorials on how she made it!
The head piece
I have wanted to make an Adjutant cosplay for ages, and finally I figured that I would try.
Other tutorials you can find here: Back/chest armor, shoulder armor and other parts.
First off: the head piece.
I started with a Styrofoam head and covered it with worbla, then I had a base to add other details on. Because I’m cheap I use a base of cardboard for some of my details instead of double worbla layer or craft foam core.
Then I slowly added details.
And this is how I made the “Mohawk”. A cardboard stencil Covered in worbla and folded Then the edges are folded in. And the Mohawk suddenly appeared. Earbuds More details and tubes. And even more details. The mic ready with lights (but no sound). First layer of Gesso And some silver paint. And some detail paint Adding some lights and the rest of the tubes and we are ready to go. Here you see the jar with threads on the end, so the tubes can be screwed into the back armor. Here it is sadly a little broken after transportation. Close up of the threads. Details I couldn’t make out what it was written on the ear pieces so I decided to put down CHRIX12 instead (12th is my birthday) And this is how the head piece looks when it is blended with the gelatin forehead. (Photos by Pål Andresen)
Ravenna crown from Snow White and the Huntsman by MeltingMirror.
General Wukong from League of Legends mask by Eminence Rain who used Worbla’s Finest Art for the face and Worbla’s Transpart for the eyes and crescent headpiece.
Here you see a stencilled mask & its pattern. After cutting it out it was heated up with a heat gun
After moulding it some edges and rims has been grinded and made round. At the end, the "Black Bat" mask was coloured with acrylic and varnish
This mask modelled directly on the face for a superhero cosplay. If you play a little bit with the activation temperature you can regulate its mouldability very easy
A mask made of Worbla's Finest Art is so light you can glue it to your face
Sorsha Helmet from Willow by Avianna photos by Swoz
we put the Worbla's Finest together with the fabric in between two layers of baking paper and ironed it. Afterwards we moulded it onto this ceramic head
