How to make a bounty hunter's mask and bracers

Strike fear into the hearts of all with a mysterious visage and protect yourself from the elements with a few pieces of armor. As a genre raypunk often uses costume elements that hearken back to ancient civilizations and reincorporate them as functional or decorative pieces. While old-school metal armor is no longer practical, in films like Flash Gordon and Star Wars they reappear, justified as being made from superior materials or inherited from alien cultures. I repainted some dollar store Halloween plastic armor to give it new life in a raypunk adventure.



Inspirations



Materials
-Plastic Halloween armor mask and bracers
-Gold spray paint
-Clear coat sealer
-Leather bracers (see tutorial)

Tools
-Sandpaper

1. Gather the materials
The base mask and bracers are a child-size Halloween armor I found at Dollar Tree last Halloween,  a lucky find as they already evoke a sci-fi warrior look. But the paint job was weird, so I used gold metallic spray paint and clear coat sealer. My leather bracers from my last high fantasy build.


2. Paint the mask and bracers
The original paint job on the plastic armor makes it painfully obvious it's plastic. To make it more consistent with armor, painting it a metallic color really helps. First, as with any cheap plastic, it's best to sand down any rough edges. Clean, then paint with gold spray paint. Use a couple layers to ensure complete coverage, then add a top coat of clear coat enamel/sealer.


3. Attach the bracers
The main problem with the bracers is that they were designed for child-size arms, so the original rinky-dink plastic straps were much too small. Instead I removed the old straps and mounted the armor onto the leather bracers I'd used for last years medieval faire archer costume. The black leather is originally sourced from an old purse, and you can find a tutorial on how to make them here. I wanted to be sure I could easily remove the armor pieces later, so I just added a few stitches using the convenient strap slots on the sides. Not terribly durable but it'll work in a pinch.



And there you have it, a few pieces of armor fit for a futuristic space warrior. Good luck and keep crafting!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to make a simple medieval hood from cloth napkins

Image
All right, so to exercise my rudimentary sewing skills I have challenged myself to make a medieval hood. Before committing myself to making a more complicated design with my better fabrics, I decided to play around with basics with some fabric that won't matter if it goes all to hell. So I experimented with some old cloth napkins and it worked out pretty well. Obviously the rougher design is not all that useful for cosplaying as nobility, but could easily work for a basic outlaw, forester, or Robin Hood type costume. Forgive the stare of death, I needed a dramatic photo... Materials -4 decorative table napkins -Antler or other medieval-type button Tools -Scissors -Needle/thread -Superglue -Measuring tape 1. Gather the materials The materials list is pretty simple. The key part here is finding a set of four cloth napkins that have a believably medieval look to them. Given the roughshod approach, this is a hood better suited to a lower-status medieval person, so...
Read more

How to make rebel pilot leg flares

Image
Another basic part of the Iden Versio costume or any other rebel pilot are the leg flares and flare holder. It's the gray/olive band holding 8 silver "flares" on the left leg of Rebellion pilots in New Hope , Empire Strikes Back , and Return of the Jedi . There's a great tutorial using olive nylon webbing by Gil Guemes aka JediXXL at Rebel Legion , but since I couldn't find suitable webbing I adapted this for using basic fabric instead. Inspiration Materials -Olive green heavy fabric -3/4 inch diameter wooden dowel -Silver spray paint -Clear coat spray enamel -Snaps (or Velcro) Tools -Hacksaw -Sandpaper -Needle/thread -Snap tool 1. Gather the materials First I had to locate just the right fabric. The original Gil Guemes tutorial recommended using olive green 2-inch wide nylon webbing at the basis for the flare holder. Unfortunately I could find none in local craft or hardware stores. Instead I roamed a fabric store looking for ju...
Read more

How to make the collar from the Stargate Anubis Guard

Image
For those intent on becoming the Prime of Ra and adopting the appearance of ancient Egyptian gods to terrorize the populace, welcome to my step-by-step guide of becoming the Anubis guard in the Stargate film. Most of these elements are going to be made from EVA foam, so this simple collar-piece was a good introduction to cutting, detailing, shaping, and painting foam. References Materials -8mm EVA foam -E600 clear glue -Dark copper metallic spray paint -Plastidip -Turquoise acrylic paint Tools -Dremel tool with sanding attachment -Box cutter -Woodburner -Foam wedge for painting, paper towels 1. Gather the materials For this build, you're going to need a thinner EVA foam most easily purchased these days from craft stores. I chose a 8mm thickness, picking up a roll from a craft store for about $20. For this project, I needed about a third of the 24in x 60in roll. For the paints, I chose a dark copper metallic spray paint from Rustoleum. For the Horus guards...
Read more