I grew up in costumes. My mom made my brother and I all kinds of cool stuff for Halloween - or just for a normal Tuesday. Anything we wanted to be, she would find a way to make it happen. So when I saw The Armorer character on The Mandalorian, my very first thought was, "I need to make this costume." I had never made anything like this before and had no idea how to do it, so I was starting from square one with nothin' but a Dremel and a dream.
Fortunately, the internet exists! And thus began my journey into the world of foam armor making. I got some tools, took over my husband's workbench, watched a ton of YouTube videos, and basked in the joy of learning a completely new art form (and having a new tactile hobby during the pandemic when I was all Zoomed out). I had so much fun making this, and am so proud of how it came out! Read on to see how I did it...
View More Photos:
Here are the materials I used:
Making the Helmet:
I learned how to make EVA foam armor by watching a lot of YouTube videos, mostly by Kamui Cosplay. She has a great one on Getting started with EVA foam armor, one on the 10 most useful tools for cosplay, and lots more.
For the helmet, I started with a template I got from PapercraftUniverse3D on Etsy. I used it to build a partial model out of paper, and then cut that into the pieces I'd cut out of foam (this allows you to cut larger foam pieces than the small pieces on the paper template). Once I had my paper pieces, I traced them onto the EVA foam and cut them out using a sharp box cutter or scissors.
Once I had all my pieces cut out, it was time to start gluing them together. First, I used a heat gun to shape the foam into curved shapes where needed. I heated the foam, then held it in a curved shape for a few seconds until it cooled down. Sometimes I used a glass bowl help shape it.
To get the pieces to fit together just right, I used a Dremel to shave edges down where needed, and angle edges in different directions to get them to fit nicely together. Kamui Cosplay has a helpful video on using a Dremel for EVA foam. I also used this to bevel the edge, especially around where the face shield would go. The part around the eyes was the trickiest, but the results were worth it.
Apparently, the type of adhesive you use matters a lot. The best thing to use is contact cement, which (I learned) is the same as neither contact glue nor rubber cement. A popular brand of contact cement among cosplayers is Barge cement. I used Weldwood contact cement because it was what I could find, and it worked very well.
At first, I tried Gorilla Contact Glue (again, apparently not the same), and it worked okay, but ended up being very goopy and not giving clean edges, as you can see here. The contact cement does not do this. The contact glue also required me to hold the pieces together for a long time in order to get them to stay adhered, and even then still came apart sometimes before drying. With the contact cement, as long as you let it partially dry on both sides before sticking the pieces together, they will not budge.
Once I had all the pieces assembled, I used foam clay to seal up the seams where there were gaps. I honestly probably went a bit overboard with this, but, being my first time doing this I wasn't sure how much was necessary. There are also other things you can use for this purpose. I sanded down those spots so I wouldn't and up with weird ridges on the surface of the helmet. I used the heat gun again to shape the top of the helmet, pressing down the ridges that formed at the seams to get the dome as round as possible.
Then I made the detail pieces using various thicknesses of EVA foam. I used 2mm foam for most of the details, and 8mm for a few of the thicker details, such as on the sides. I found a triangular foam dowel which I attached along the bottom.
I made the horns out of foam clay, let them cure for a few days, and then glued them on. I sanded them with the Dremel where needed, then with sandpaper to get a smoother shape. Kamui Cosplay has a great video on sculpting with foam clay, which, incidentally, is SUPER fun! My Candylorian Helmet was pretty much just an excuse for me to play with foam clay.
Shoutout to my husband for letting me take over his workbench for a few weeks. It was slow-going because I could only carve out little bits of time here & there to work on it, and also because my perfectionism reached new Ahab-esque levels with this project.
Painting
Once the helmet was constructed, it was time for paint. I started with 3 layers of spray-on Plasti-Dip in black. This provides an even base coat to paint on, as well as seals the whole surface. Then I applied a layer of hammered bronze spray paint all over, being sure to get full coverage. I then took a very shiny metallic gold spray paint and applied a very thin mist over the helmet - just enough to give it a gold sheen, but to let the bronze shine through and not be full-on gold. I added the final details after installing the face shield.
Adding the Visor/Face Shield
I cut the visor from a welding face shield, and shaped it using a heat gun. I bought two face shields, in case I royally messed up the first one. Which I did! So, good planning there. If you arrange it right, you can sometimes get two of these out of one piece, which I was able to do, so I still had some leftover for my next project.
This is the trickiest part. I learned how to do it from watching this tutorial from Zero-Cool Prop Shop on YouTube.
I traced the opening on paper, cut the face shield to the shape, and used a heat gun to give it a curved shape, then glued it into the helmet using contact cement. I messed up my first visor by getting it too hot that it warped too much and started to bubble, so I learned I had to be very delicate with it. Gluing it in was nerve-wracking, and there are a couple of imperfections with it that haunt me to this day, but overall I'm very happy with how it came out.
I also glued some upholstery foam into the inside of the helmet to make it fit more snugly.
Final Details
Finally, I painted in the details to give it the worn/weathered look. I mixed a little bit of metallic gold acrylic paint with some black and brown to create a darker gold. I added a little bit of water to thin it out a bit. I used a small paintbrush to dab the paint in all of the corners/seams, and used a Q-tip or piece of paper towel to smear it into the corners and get rid of any solid lines.
The Chest Plate
For the chest plate, I followed many of the same steps, with some of them being unnecessary because this was a much simpler piece. The paper template for this came with the helmet template from Etsy. I made this piece mostly out of a thicker EVA foam (8mm).
I added fabric pieces underneath the arms with velcro attached for putting it on & taking it off.
The Hammer
For the Armorer's forging-tool-hammer-thing (if it has an actual name other than "hammer," I don't know it), I started with a simple wooden mallet, and a dowel of the same diameter to make the handle longer. I wrapped 2mm EVA foam around the entire surface area, and then used a combination of various thicknesses of EVA foam and foam clay to build on the details. I followed the same process as above of sealing with Plasti-Dip and then spray-painting. I used a Hammered Pewter spray paint, which came out looking really awesome!
The Rest of the Costume
Then, I remembered that there are other parts needed for this costume other than just the helmet, chest plate, and weapon (although that would be a look).
I made the skirt/apron piece using some weathered-looking faux leather fabric. I sewed seams into it at regular intervals to give it the tiered look, and put a zipper in the back.
The rest of the pieces were sourced from around my house. For the fur piece, I used a faux fur stole that I had bought for a different costume. The belt is actually an original Swedish Mauser ammunition bandolier from WWI that belongs to my husband (who did not fight in WWI). I borrowed one of his jackets and wore pants and boots that I already owned, and the welding gloves that we use for our wood stove. I have probably never felt cooler in my life than when I put all of this on. So, worth it.
This is the way.
