sculpting – Worbla Thermoplastics

Building a Demogorgon Head from Aluminum Foil and Worbla!

Posted on September 16, 2019September 27, 2019 by Amanda

Amanda from Elemental Photo and Design created a Stranger Things Demogorgon head for the Worbla Booth at FanExpo Toronto 2019 – and shared the process as a full tutorial.

Want to make your own Demogorgon? Just follow the steps below!

How to build your own Demogorgon from Stranger Things using aluminum foil and Worbla

You will need:

Worbla (preferably Finest Art) roughly 1 large sheet
Worbla’s Deco Art 14oz
Aluminum Foil 2-3 75ft rolls
Masking Tape
Craft Foam
Sculpting Tools
Scissors
Heat Gun
Paint
Paint Brushes
Flexbond

Step one: gather your references!

The actual demogorgon from Stranger Things is filmed in the dark and as a result it’s hard to see all the details – or sometimes any of the details. I used a combination of images from web searches – official images as well as some artist renders done by fans. If you’d like to see my references, I have them on a pinterest board here.

Step two: building the base.

Decide your scale and start balling up foil. I wanted something close to human size: I created a half head shape, then used balls of tinfoil to form the shoulders and then neck. I used masking tape to help anchor things, and applied more foil once I started assembling everything to build out the neck, the curve of the mouth, and fill in any general gaps.

side profile

Step Three: smooth it out!

Get yourself something palm sized, flat, hard and smooth. I used a coaster! Burnish the surface of your creation until smooth! I used some sculpting tools and a spoon to get into some of the nooks and crannies of the muscles I built up in foil.
To burnish: press the smooth end of your tool to the surface of your foil and with pressure move in circles, this will squish the foil peaks down and help flatten everything!
Remember: any area that isn’t smooth will show up when you layer your Worbla overtop!

Step Four: Worbla!

Once you’re happy with your final foil form, it’s time to apply your Worbla.
I used Worbla’s Finest Art, as it has great stretch for the curves and undercuts and I was going to prime much of the texture away.

I worked with pieces about 8×11 in size: heating them up and pressing them into foil, trimming and adding relief cuts where needed. Worbla is adhesive and sticks to the foil, so I worked from the head down, stretching over curves, overlapping slightly at the seams. I didn’t worry about getting things perfectly neat, since a demogorgon is a veiny, meaty mess! You can always patch areas you miss on your first go around!

sculpting tools used to emphasize the neck muscles and create veins

Once the body was covered, I blended the seams using burnishing once again, this time with the back of a spoon. Just heat your seam or overlapped area with your heat gun, then wet your spoon and rub it in circles with moderate pressure over the seam. It will blend it! You might still see the join, but you won’t be able to feel it – and it won’t show up when you paint.

Overlaid areas of Worbla with seams to be burnished flat

Seam you can still 'see' but can't feel and won't be visible once painted.

Step Five: the petals!

I cut these from 2mm EVA foam (craft foam) and covered them in Worbla using the sandwich method. Heating the bottom edges I applied them to the head, and used extra worbla scraps to reinforce the join.

I realized once they were all attached that I had made them too small, and I also didn’t like how flat they were: I took pieces of Worbla cut into rounded skinny triangles, heated them then wrapped them around the edges of the petals, shaping them to have more of a curve and depth as well as more ‘wiggle’ and folds to them. I did this to all the petals , and also heated and shaped the petals themselves some more.

The extra petal piece to 'fill in' what was missing

I didn't worry too much about the Worbla added to cover the join, as the seams will be blended

extra petal shapes added to the sides, folded to create texture

final shape of the petals now that the extra Worbla has been added to the edges and the joints hidden

Step Six: sculpting

Now that everything is covered in Worbla, it’s time to go after the details! I went in and emphasized all the muscle structure, added more detail to the chest, blended out the seams on the petal additions, added another layer to the mouth to make it extra gross by creating ridges and dents for the teeth, and generally added all the dimensional details I wanted before I would be painting it. The sculpting was done with wooden sculpting tools, which I kept wet – this keeps them from sticking to the Worbla!

I used images of the demogorgon as well as muscle studies to decide where the details should go

Smoothing out the petal seams and adding details to the other side

smoothing the mouth and adding the ridge details

Step Seven: priming

You could skip this step, but I wanted the texture of the Worbla to be smoother before painting, so I mixed my Flexbond 2:1 with some white acrylic paint. The paint lets me see where I have applied my primer, which is handy as Flexbond dries clear, and also acts as a base coat for later painting. This does mean the Flexbond will leave brush strokes if you’re not using a very soft brush (or add too much paint) so be aware of that. If you have any area that has too may brush strokes you can smooth them out with a wet finger later, or add a coat of pure Flexbond as a last coat.

I did 2-3 coats of this mix, paying special attention to getting the mouth and inner petals smooth.

Step Eight: paint!

There are a million ways you can paint something like this, so use my method as a guideline and feel free to experiment.

I laid down a dark reddish brown base coat over everything but the mouth, which was painted with a mix of magenta and scarlet. You’ll be applying paint in layers, so you can be a bit messy and also play with mixing colors – some areas I used a more reddish brown, others a more greenish brown. I added a deeper darker red to the centre of the mouth and the petals, blending it out into the brighter reds.

Once your base coat is fully dry and you can’t see your primer, you can add your ‘skin’. I mixed a greyish, purplish tan and dry brushed that over the whole of the design, picking up the raised areas (and avoiding all the shading I had already done). If you mess up you can always go back in with your darker brown later.

don't hesitate to play with layering color!

Once that was done and dry I added a bit more in the shadowed areas, and also dry brushed some green for an extra sickly cast to the whole thing.

Step Nine: TEETH!

Worbla’s Deco Art makes great teeth pretty quickly without a mold! Take your pellets and heat them in hot water until they turn translucent, then knead them together and then flatten it in the bowl to keep them warm.

I worked with a bowl of hot water and a bowl of cold water. In the hot water was the Deco Art, where I’d pull a small amount out and then shape it into a sharp tooth between my fingers, and then drop it into the ice water. The ice water is important as Deco Art will ‘sag’ if you let it cool in room temps and I wouldn’t have gotten the sharp point I wanted for my teeth. I made about 180 teeth at first and had to make more later, and also realized I needed to make a lot more teeny tiny ones, so plan for a long tooth making session!

The teeth harden in about 30 seconds in the cold water so I set them on paper towel to dry completely.

Step Ten: sealer!

I used a satin finish and a gloss finish clear coat on the Demogorgon to get the best result. The mouth and petals were given several heavy passes of gloss where I didn’t mind if it dripped or ran a bit, and the body and back of the petals were coated with 2 coats of satin finish, to help prevent the paint from chipping and scratching in transit. (no photos, I forgot!)

Step Eleven: TEETH pt 2!

I attached all the teeth with hot glue because it was easy and I needed it to be quick. The downside is they’re not the most secure and if the teeth get knocked with force they’ll pop off the gloss coat, but I don’t mind having to reattach the occasional tooth. You could use an epoxy adhesive instead if you had more time, or even a silicone could potentially work (please test first I am not sure about silicone and spraypaint).

Why did I attach the teeth last? Because having to paint inbetween the teeth would have been UTTERLY TERRIBLE and messy and I wanted this build done in a week, not half a year.

I found it was hard to keep hold of the teeth, so I put them in a bowl and coated them lightly with a bit of hair spray. This gave them just enough texture I could keep my grip for glue.

Congratulations! You have a creepy, decently durable, fairly lightweight (ours comes in at 5 lbs) demogorgon you can terrify your friends and family with.

Dragon Bracer

Posted on November 22, 2017December 18, 2017 by Amanda

Nibu Cosplay created this bracer for us using Worbla’s Black Art and shared the process in this simple writeup below.

The base of the bracer is 3 individual sandwiches with regular 2mm EVA foam.

Then, I made a ring with scraps and placed it on the bracer to imitate a leather strap with metal ring.

After that, I molded some edges with more scraps and started the dragon head, claws and tail. As always, I used scraps and molded all this by hand. When it was done, I started doing the scales on the dragon with carving tools while heating the piece.

When completed, I added battle damage and scratches all around the bracer!

How to Create Worbla Feathers

Posted on July 11, 2017May 15, 2023 by Amanda

Tutorial by Cowbuttcrunchies Cosplay

For Tsukki’s Legend of Karasuno cosplay, I decided to go with a heavy crow motif, and what better way to do that than covering myself in feather armor? I ended up crafting close to 100 in total between the shield, gauntlet, and pauldrons, using a few different tweaks for different armor pieces. However all of my feathers were made in one of two ways: either by sandwiching worbla around foam for a very thick, large feather, or by stacking two pieces of worbla for a thinner but very sturdy feather that is thick enough to etch deep details into. Read on for these two methods!

These feathers are rather thick, and made from two pieces of worbla sandwiched around a piece of foam. I only recommend this if you need very large feathers that are not heavily layered, such as the ones on my shield or the longest feathertips on my gauntlet. These do not layer particularly well due to their thickness. However, experiment depending on your own project! Terieri made wings of three feathers in this fashion, using foam.

If possible, use worbla black for the top, detailed portion of your feather, and then use worbla mesh for the bottom (or worbla’s finest if you do not have any mesh on hand). I used only worbla black for some feathers and it was noticeably less “sticky” than either mesh or finest, to the point where I had some difficulty with my sandwich popping apart in places. If using just worbla black, make sure that you apply a high amount of heat before pressing your sandwich edges together. Worbla mesh is a fantastic sandwich backer due to its very sticky nature, and also adds extra stability to prevent breakage if you cut your feather ticks particularly deep.

1) Trace your feather shape onto a piece of 2mm or 3mm thick craft foam. If you’re a fan of “ticks” or gaps in the feather, be sure to add these as well. Cut the entire feather out, and clip the ticks with the nose of your scissors.

2) Cut out a piece of black worbla and mesh worbla that is a bit larger than your foam template. Heat both of these pieces thoroughly until they are nice and floppy.

3) Place your mesh worbla smooth side down onto your silicone mat. Place your foam feather on top and then place your black worbla over that. Being careful not to trap any air, use your fingers to thoroughly press your black worbla into the mesh worbla all along the edges of the foam, including the tick marks. If your worbla begins to cool too much, just heat it up again but try to concentrate that heat along the edges if you can.

4) While the worbla is still somewhat soft, use your scissors to cut around the edge of the feather. Take care not to leave a few milimeters between the foam itself and your scissors – you don’t want to accidently cut into the foam itself. Use the nose of your scissors to also cut away the excess worbla in your tick marks.

For my pauldrons and most of my gauntlet, these feathers are made from just two pieces of worbla pressed together. These feathers are much thinner than sandwich feathers, and you will have an easier time layering them. For some I used black worbla on one side, others I used one side black and one side mesh worbla – however for the most part this doesn’t matter a lot. Mesh worbla WILL be less prone to snapping if you are cutting particularly deep ticks into your worbla; however the double thickness of any material will make it quite stiff.

1) Start by tracing your feather pattern out of paper for use later. For my feathers I included a few “tick” areas that will look to be gaps. I found that it helped make my feathers look a bit more realistic.

2) Cut out two pieces of worbla that are a bit larger than your pattern. Use your heat gun to thoroughly heat both pieces, and then lay them on top of each other. Take care that you don’t accidently trap any air between the sheets, and then press the pieces together.

3) Trace your feather pattern onto the worbla. Re-heat the worbla once again until it is soft enough to easily cut, and then cut your feather shape from the plastic. Use the tips of your scissors to snip out the tick areas.

Now that your base is finished, it’s time to etch in a few details. Remember that there’s no one right way to do this – you can go as cartoony or realistic as you like.

1) Use your pen to draw a line down the center of the feather where the quill will lay. Next, sketch several lines running from the quill, upward toward the edge of the feather. You may not find these steps necessary once you become a feather expert, but at first I found them very helpful when needing to know where to press my tool in the next step.

2) Heat your feather again to make it a bit soft. Use your clay tool to begin etching lines in your feather, from the quill to the edge. I like my feathers a little cartoony, but you can always clump these lines closer together and make them lighter for a more realistic look. If your feather starts to harden again, don’t worry – hit it with your heatgun again until it softens up. I usually have to re-heat once or twice per feather.

3) This step is optional, but I really liked the semi-cartoony, semi-realistic look this extra step gives. Once all of your lines are etched, use your clay tool to press inward on the edge, at either every or every other etch line.

4) Cut a skinny strip of worbla around the length of your feather. Heat it with your heatgun and then roll it until you’ve created a very thin noodle. Heat both the noodle and your feather one more time and then press the noodle down the center to form the quill.

Rejoyce in your glorious birbness!

Making a Chain from Worbla

Posted on April 27, 2017May 15, 2023 by Amanda

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:

Moana’s Heihei Sculpture/Prop

Posted on February 24, 2017December 15, 2017 by Amanda

If you’ve wanted to make a Heihei of your own – or any other Disney Creature Companion – Gladzy Kei’s process of using Worbla and Apoxie Sculpt is a fantastic way to achieve a sturdy friend to take on your next photoshoot!

Gladzy used her Worbla Scraps to create the base for her Heihei, then coated that base with Apoxie Sculpt to create the details. You could also use more scrap Worbla instead of Apoxie Sculpt – it all depends on the finish you want at the end!

You can see the video of her process as well! (Note: Gladzy works with bare hands with her Apoxie Sculpt: we absolutely suggest you use gloves, as indicated on the instructions, as Apoxie Sculpt will absorb into your body and eventually give you a very nasty allergic reaction with repeated use)

Now go out and make a new friend!