Sorry I haven't posted. While gluing my gauntlets on Sunday, I ended up with a 2nd degree burn on my left index fingertip from the hot gluegun. Apparently ours lacks a temperature cutoff for safety.
In other words, I'm not working on the armor until that heals full. So probably the week after next, I'll get back to work.
I'll edit this post later with a photo of what I did get done.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
The Left Gauntlet - Cutting, scoring, and folding
As I mentioned, I'm doing this in Pepakura, from a template. To start a project with pepakura, you first of all need to create or download pep files. Checking out Mando Mercs or The Dented Helmet are good places to start, but Star Wars costuming communities have an irritating tendency to look down their noses at pepakura, so if all else fails, try the 405th forums. It's technically a Halo costuming community, but if you need help with pepakura, they're the ones to ask.
Pepakura files can be viewed and printed from Pepakura Viewer 3, which is available for free here. It's a legit download. Pepakura viewer is free, but the designer program is what requires you to pay for a license. As long as all you want to to is scale and print pepakura files, it will be just fine. I'm assuming you're running a Windows system; if you're using Mac, you're on your own; I'm not sure that there's a program for viewing and printing pepakura files for it.
You will also need access to a printer and everything you see here:
That's printer-compatible cardstock (I recommend buying two packages; if you're new to pepakura, you will make mistakes, and will need to reprint, recut, rescore, refold, and reglue everything until you get it right), a ruler, a pen, sharp scissors, a piece of cardboard (or a cutting mat), Xacto knives, and a hot glue gun. This whole setup cost maybe $40 at our local Walmart, though I wish we'd gotten a better glue gun, because this one is not ergonomic in the slightest. The manila folder is optional, but useful for containing pieces between work sessions, since it keeps them together, and keeps say, curious kitties from using them as toys when you're not looking. If you've print and cut several models, I recommend keeping each model in a separate folder and labeling it to keep them all straight.
When you go to print your files, you will need to scale them to your own size. I'm fortunate in that I'm 5'4" and 125lbs; I printed my gauntlets on letter-size paper with no custom scaling and they seem likely to fit perfectly. My husband is a wizard at scaling pepakura because he's 6'2" and had to make the pieces bigger. He'd be the one to ask about that, but as he's currently unavailable, a more detailed tutorial can be found here.
One recommendation that the tutorial makes is using differently colored pens to trace where mountain and valley folds go before you cut the pieces out. Since I had a couple of errors the first couple of times I tried folding these models, I recommend doing so.
I've seen a saying on a bunch of costuming forums regarding armor: you can do it fast, you can do it cheap, it'll look good. Pick two qualities. Pepakura is, in my opinion, the cheap and good-looking option... if you go slowly. Rush it and it's not only cheap... but looks cheap, too. Starting this now, I'll be very surprised if I have it done by Halloween this year.
After you've printed your files, time to start cutting them out. I bought scissors specifically for this project, so they're sharp and won't make bad cuts. Go slowly. The solid lines are for cutting; do NOT cut the dotted lines. I recommend trying to cut evenly just a hair outside the lines. When you're done with cutting them out, make sure you cut out whatever inner pieces need removing. This is the first time you'll need the Xacto knife, because it's easier to use in the smaller inner spaces. If you're like me and work well with a minor distraction, like a movie in the background, set up on the living room floor and do it. If you're doing it right, it should take awhile. The 6 pages of pieces for my left gauntlet took roughly the runtime of The Empire Strikes Back to cut out.
At the top is the left gauntlet, fully cut out, with the lines colored according to the type of fold (even dashes mean mountain, long and short dashes mean valley). The bottom is the right gauntlet, which is printed but not cut to avoid confusion between the pieces.
When you have your pieces cut, it's time to start scoring with the Xacto knife. You want to cut through a little bit on the dashed lines, but not all the way through the thickness of the cardstock. This makes the folds later on both easier and more precise. You cannot skip this step and still have good looking armor. I recommend doing several test cuts on scrap paper to figure out the amount of pressure needed to achieve that balance. When doing long cuts, it's helpful to do them against a ruler to make sure the blade doesn't slip off course.
This is one part of the project I do much faster than my husband, because I'm very good at free-handing the smaller cuts. If you're starting out or haven't handled an Xacto knife much before, I recommend doing all but the smallest cuts against a ruler. This piece took about 40 minutes for me to score in its entirety, and while it is not the largest piece on this gauntlet, it is the most complicated (less complicated pieces generally require fewer cuts and, as such, require substantially less time):
It looks slightly 3-dimensional because I have already folded it slightly. Don't do this a ton, because it weakens the cardstock and it could tear if you're not careful (and then that's 40 more minutes of scoring you have to do over, after reprinting and recutting the piece).
Once all of your pieces are scored, go ahead and fold - carefully. Make sure you're doing the right kind of fold - coloring over the lines really does help, even if it seems awfully second grade. Do every single line, no matter how tiny, until every piece is looking a little 3D.
Now is a good time to stop working and start paying attention to all of the little numbers on the pieces - they need to match when you glue them. 1 goes with 1, 2 goes with 2, 113 goes with 113, etcetera. Unless your templates came with instructions - mine did not - you should get a plan in your head of what order you're going to glue them in. Figure out which pieces go with which and figure out what the most logical order of assembly is to make it easiest.
And then take a break. Stretch your legs. Take out the trash. Rest your eyes, too - it's close work.
Pepakura files can be viewed and printed from Pepakura Viewer 3, which is available for free here. It's a legit download. Pepakura viewer is free, but the designer program is what requires you to pay for a license. As long as all you want to to is scale and print pepakura files, it will be just fine. I'm assuming you're running a Windows system; if you're using Mac, you're on your own; I'm not sure that there's a program for viewing and printing pepakura files for it.
You will also need access to a printer and everything you see here:
That's printer-compatible cardstock (I recommend buying two packages; if you're new to pepakura, you will make mistakes, and will need to reprint, recut, rescore, refold, and reglue everything until you get it right), a ruler, a pen, sharp scissors, a piece of cardboard (or a cutting mat), Xacto knives, and a hot glue gun. This whole setup cost maybe $40 at our local Walmart, though I wish we'd gotten a better glue gun, because this one is not ergonomic in the slightest. The manila folder is optional, but useful for containing pieces between work sessions, since it keeps them together, and keeps say, curious kitties from using them as toys when you're not looking. If you've print and cut several models, I recommend keeping each model in a separate folder and labeling it to keep them all straight.
When you go to print your files, you will need to scale them to your own size. I'm fortunate in that I'm 5'4" and 125lbs; I printed my gauntlets on letter-size paper with no custom scaling and they seem likely to fit perfectly. My husband is a wizard at scaling pepakura because he's 6'2" and had to make the pieces bigger. He'd be the one to ask about that, but as he's currently unavailable, a more detailed tutorial can be found here.
One recommendation that the tutorial makes is using differently colored pens to trace where mountain and valley folds go before you cut the pieces out. Since I had a couple of errors the first couple of times I tried folding these models, I recommend doing so.
I've seen a saying on a bunch of costuming forums regarding armor: you can do it fast, you can do it cheap, it'll look good. Pick two qualities. Pepakura is, in my opinion, the cheap and good-looking option... if you go slowly. Rush it and it's not only cheap... but looks cheap, too. Starting this now, I'll be very surprised if I have it done by Halloween this year.
After you've printed your files, time to start cutting them out. I bought scissors specifically for this project, so they're sharp and won't make bad cuts. Go slowly. The solid lines are for cutting; do NOT cut the dotted lines. I recommend trying to cut evenly just a hair outside the lines. When you're done with cutting them out, make sure you cut out whatever inner pieces need removing. This is the first time you'll need the Xacto knife, because it's easier to use in the smaller inner spaces. If you're like me and work well with a minor distraction, like a movie in the background, set up on the living room floor and do it. If you're doing it right, it should take awhile. The 6 pages of pieces for my left gauntlet took roughly the runtime of The Empire Strikes Back to cut out.
At the top is the left gauntlet, fully cut out, with the lines colored according to the type of fold (even dashes mean mountain, long and short dashes mean valley). The bottom is the right gauntlet, which is printed but not cut to avoid confusion between the pieces.
When you have your pieces cut, it's time to start scoring with the Xacto knife. You want to cut through a little bit on the dashed lines, but not all the way through the thickness of the cardstock. This makes the folds later on both easier and more precise. You cannot skip this step and still have good looking armor. I recommend doing several test cuts on scrap paper to figure out the amount of pressure needed to achieve that balance. When doing long cuts, it's helpful to do them against a ruler to make sure the blade doesn't slip off course.
This is one part of the project I do much faster than my husband, because I'm very good at free-handing the smaller cuts. If you're starting out or haven't handled an Xacto knife much before, I recommend doing all but the smallest cuts against a ruler. This piece took about 40 minutes for me to score in its entirety, and while it is not the largest piece on this gauntlet, it is the most complicated (less complicated pieces generally require fewer cuts and, as such, require substantially less time):
It looks slightly 3-dimensional because I have already folded it slightly. Don't do this a ton, because it weakens the cardstock and it could tear if you're not careful (and then that's 40 more minutes of scoring you have to do over, after reprinting and recutting the piece).
Once all of your pieces are scored, go ahead and fold - carefully. Make sure you're doing the right kind of fold - coloring over the lines really does help, even if it seems awfully second grade. Do every single line, no matter how tiny, until every piece is looking a little 3D.
Now is a good time to stop working and start paying attention to all of the little numbers on the pieces - they need to match when you glue them. 1 goes with 1, 2 goes with 2, 113 goes with 113, etcetera. Unless your templates came with instructions - mine did not - you should get a plan in your head of what order you're going to glue them in. Figure out which pieces go with which and figure out what the most logical order of assembly is to make it easiest.
And then take a break. Stretch your legs. Take out the trash. Rest your eyes, too - it's close work.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Armor Plan & Building Basics
One good thing about starting an armor build with a plan is that you can keep your build consistent with that plan. It also gives you something to work towards.
The biggest problem I have with the beskar'gam is the lack of coverage. Even Jango, with all of his plates, had way too many vulnerable areas exposed. For example, no coverage on the inner thigh; there's nothing on the front of the thigh but muscle, really, but the femoral artery runs down the inner side of the thigh, and, in Jango's armor, is still completely unprotected.
Brief rant complete; I love Star Wars, and Mandalorians, but tactically, the armor is somewhat... lacking.
If you haven't already, go to Mando Mercs and use their armor planner. It'll give you a rough plan like this, and you can build from there. Which is good for those of us whose artistic ability is... not stellar.
So, that's what I'm looking at. Full plates, with a kama to cover the back. Maybe I'll pull an Ordo and do dual holsters over it, too.
If you're a Mandalorian fan, you'll also probably know that Mandalorian armor colors carry symbolism. Blue means duty; black means justice. The color blue has also had bizarre amount of significance in my life so far, so I guess you could say it's representative of that as well.
As far as fabric pieces go, there's a few methods I've seen for getting those right. For the flight suit, I personally feel like going the easy route and picking one up surplus. They come in a number of colors ranging from gray to green to coyote brown to black; most flight suits I've seen have been either neutral or military colors. I guess if you want hot pink, you're probably out of luck on that front, unless you want to dye it yourself.
However, using a one-piece flight suit has its disadvantages. For example, going to the bathroom could be something of a hassle. Rebel's Haven has a pretty good tutorial for making a faux-flight suit; it's in two pieces, so it's easier to put on and remove with plates, and the seam between the two pieces is subtle. Depending on the amount of time (and energy) I have when I'm done with the plates, I may do this instead.
Most costume tutorials for armor recommend starting with smaller pieces, like a gauntlet or a knee plate, then work up to limb and torso plates, and so on. All of them advise skipping the helmet to start. However much a train wreck a costume might be, the helmet is usually done the best. It's on your head, which means it's the first thing most people will see when they look at your costume. And they're usually somewhat complex. Starting with the helmet is a good way to get burned out on a project early, and it's a stupid idea if you're still unfamiliar with the build techniques you're using; while no one will notice a screw-up on a gauntlet, someone is bound to notice asymmetrical cheek pieces. Use smaller pieces for practice, and save the helmet for last.
Since the helmet is more or less unisex, until I get to it, I'd prefer to direct you to Mando Mercs or The Dented Helmet for more information. The only issues females would typically have with the helmet is one of scale, since, in general, we're proportioned smaller than males. Using a male-sized helmet could make you look like a bobble-head, which would probably fail to instill fear in your foes.
For myself, I'm starting with the gauntlets, which I am doing using pepakura. Pepakura is a technique of folding paper, using cardstock, to form paper models, which are then layered with resin and fiberglass to create the armor. More on the process involved in that later. The files I am using for the gauntlets are from Skip's Pepakura Costumes; most of his files are for sale, but a few were available free of charge last spring, which was when I downloaded them.
More on this later, because it's somewhat late, and I'm tired. I should make progress on the gauntlets tomorrow; it's my day off.
The biggest problem I have with the beskar'gam is the lack of coverage. Even Jango, with all of his plates, had way too many vulnerable areas exposed. For example, no coverage on the inner thigh; there's nothing on the front of the thigh but muscle, really, but the femoral artery runs down the inner side of the thigh, and, in Jango's armor, is still completely unprotected.
Brief rant complete; I love Star Wars, and Mandalorians, but tactically, the armor is somewhat... lacking.
If you haven't already, go to Mando Mercs and use their armor planner. It'll give you a rough plan like this, and you can build from there. Which is good for those of us whose artistic ability is... not stellar.
So, that's what I'm looking at. Full plates, with a kama to cover the back. Maybe I'll pull an Ordo and do dual holsters over it, too.
If you're a Mandalorian fan, you'll also probably know that Mandalorian armor colors carry symbolism. Blue means duty; black means justice. The color blue has also had bizarre amount of significance in my life so far, so I guess you could say it's representative of that as well.
As far as fabric pieces go, there's a few methods I've seen for getting those right. For the flight suit, I personally feel like going the easy route and picking one up surplus. They come in a number of colors ranging from gray to green to coyote brown to black; most flight suits I've seen have been either neutral or military colors. I guess if you want hot pink, you're probably out of luck on that front, unless you want to dye it yourself.
However, using a one-piece flight suit has its disadvantages. For example, going to the bathroom could be something of a hassle. Rebel's Haven has a pretty good tutorial for making a faux-flight suit; it's in two pieces, so it's easier to put on and remove with plates, and the seam between the two pieces is subtle. Depending on the amount of time (and energy) I have when I'm done with the plates, I may do this instead.
Most costume tutorials for armor recommend starting with smaller pieces, like a gauntlet or a knee plate, then work up to limb and torso plates, and so on. All of them advise skipping the helmet to start. However much a train wreck a costume might be, the helmet is usually done the best. It's on your head, which means it's the first thing most people will see when they look at your costume. And they're usually somewhat complex. Starting with the helmet is a good way to get burned out on a project early, and it's a stupid idea if you're still unfamiliar with the build techniques you're using; while no one will notice a screw-up on a gauntlet, someone is bound to notice asymmetrical cheek pieces. Use smaller pieces for practice, and save the helmet for last.
Since the helmet is more or less unisex, until I get to it, I'd prefer to direct you to Mando Mercs or The Dented Helmet for more information. The only issues females would typically have with the helmet is one of scale, since, in general, we're proportioned smaller than males. Using a male-sized helmet could make you look like a bobble-head, which would probably fail to instill fear in your foes.
For myself, I'm starting with the gauntlets, which I am doing using pepakura. Pepakura is a technique of folding paper, using cardstock, to form paper models, which are then layered with resin and fiberglass to create the armor. More on the process involved in that later. The files I am using for the gauntlets are from Skip's Pepakura Costumes; most of his files are for sale, but a few were available free of charge last spring, which was when I downloaded them.
More on this later, because it's somewhat late, and I'm tired. I should make progress on the gauntlets tomorrow; it's my day off.
Introduction
Introduction posts are annoying, so here goes.
I've noticed from searching the web and lurking on various Mandalorian costuming forums that there's a wealth of information for males wanting their own Mandalorian armor (or, beskar'gam), but information is much less easy to find for females, and many of the methods listed, in particular for chest plates, seem to create armor that is somewhat ill-fitting. Or, in my case, all of the methods listed are either incompatible
Ideally, I would vacuum-form my plates, but as I live in an apartment, I'm not comfortable using my semi-functional oven (OK, so anything baked on the right-hand side comes out close to raw) to do so.
Sintra is a material that my husband and I briefly tried, but we found it extremely difficult to work with (lucky we only bought a small amount to try), and abandoned this option.
Pepakura is a method of armor-formation my husband discovered on the 405th, primarily a Halo costuming site. Pepakura, while useful for forming fiddly, highly detailed plates, adapts poorly to producing curves. It is a method I will be using for some of my pieces however; notably, the gauntlets.
So after a couple of years worth of false-starts and research and making plans and then remaking plans, and finishing my degree (thereby freeing up a wealth of leisure time, because my time at home is suddenly not devoted to studying the human skeleton and doing various lengthy and repetitive tasks to prove I know the difference between lambda and bregma on the cranium), I'm finally ready to start. And since the husband and I will be separated for a few more months because he just joined the U.S. Air Force and he's got some training to do, and I need a project to occupy my spare time, there's no time like the present to get a move on.
And, since I know there's other dalyc Mando'ade (female Mandalorians) out there trying to build armor, I thought I would share my methods by blogging them in tutorial form, with tons of pictures. Because nothing takes a good tutorial and turns it to suck like blocks of text with no pictures to help clarify the process.
So... here it goes!
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