How to Make a Cosplay Armor

Tachibana Ginchiyo Cosplay from Amecon 2008

Making cosplay armor can be quite inexpensive and still get good results with the right techniques. Not every costume will be practical due to the real-life limitations of materials, but most can be done with the correct attention to detail. Scrounging for pieces of armor and costume that work for a cosplay is common enough, but some pieces are unique enough to require being made from scratch.

Things You'll Need

• Reference images of character Muslin, poster board or newspaper Fun foam Styrene sheets Contact adhesive Hot glue Sharpie Spray paint Scissors Thread Needle Masking tape

Instructions

How to Make Cosplay Armor

1. Make a pattern of the armor from muslin, newspaper or poster board. Larger pieces may be easier to pattern with fun foam. This pattern is just the base of the piece and will not include any raised patterns or decoration.

2. Adjust the pattern until it fits correctly. Make the correct pattern completely from fun foam.

3. Cut a piece of styrene with about an inch larger on all sides for each fun foam piece of the armor.

4. Use the contact adhesive to attach the fun foam pattern to the styrene. When putting the pieces together, be sure to attach them so that they form the correct curvature of the piece. Pieces with a lot of curve to them may be easier to put together with hot glue rather than contact adhesive.

5. Draw the patterns for any raised decoration directly on the styrene. Use this as a pattern to properly cut out pieces of styrene for the decoration.

6. Hot glue the raised pieces onto the armor surface. Do not use contact adhesive in case the pieces need to be adjusted into place.

7. Spray paint the armor. Use masking tape to cover sections that should not be the color being sprayed.

8. If the armor cannot be worn by itself, attach it to the costume below with thread the same color as the armor surface. These stitches should be tiny, so they will not be very noticeable.

Tips & Warnings

• Make all the garments that go under the armor before the armor itself. The measurements of the armor may need to be adjusted to fit your measurements while wearing the rest of the costume. Actual historical armor can sometimes make good base references for cosplay of characters without very many good reference pictures. Unusually round pieces will need to be specially made using other techniques. There is a limit to how much flex fun foam and styrene can properly hold. Samurai armor used rice lacing to hold pieces together. This appears on some anime and video game character armor. The same effect can be achieved with shoe laces.

• Be sure to follow the instructions on the contact adhesive. Most require a few minutes of sitting time before being used. Contact adhesive does not allow for much adjustment when it is attached. Be sure everything is properly lined up before sticking it together.

References

• Armormaking for the Fiberglass Phobic -- Construction
• Cosplay Forums - Cosplay.com

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish