[Tutorial] Simple cyberhand base

This tutorial is inspired heavily by the work of HellWolve on deviantart. He's a master costumer/larper so do check out his work ;)

As it seems to be my fashion to do things at the last possible moment, I decided to karate myself a quick cyberhand for Halloween last year in order to go participate in a Halloween event that uh, required a costume for entry.

I decided to go as a futuristicky cyberpunk dude (in an extremely loose sense) so a cyberhand is a must (at least it is to me, never leave home without your augmented bits! there are critters out there!)

I can't really give a costing this time because I used materials that I already had lying around in the first place. Daiso driving gloves were RM 5.

These are the stuff you need:

Material:

1-2 black cotton gloves (length and amount is totally up to you) I got it from Daiso.
Thin craft foam (1mm should do it)
Paper (for drafting)

Tools:

Sewing chalk (mine is pencil shaped)
Sharp scissors
Contact glue (any brand that's tacky and doesn't seep will do)
Needle and thread

Optional:

Detailing paint brush
White paint
Computer case screw
Lighter

---

First thing I did was draw a template of my hand on a piece of paper while I had the glove on so I could get a rough estimate of what plate went where. This is also a good time to decide how many plates you want to use. They can be longer or shorter depending on your hand size and how 'robotic' or 'armorlike' you want.
The finger plates can also wrap around your finger 3/4 of the way for a blockier feel.

Plop.

I also cut the glove down to size because only a bit of it was poking out of my sleeve and it didn't need to be that long (the cotton glove I used stretched up till almost at shoulder level)

After you're happy with the amount you need, cut all your templates out. Label for good measure because if you're anything like me, you'll forget which plate goes where.

Now grab your foam and draw out as many shapes as you need using the templates, then chop them up with your scissors.

I prefer to use Selleys contact adhesive because it's easy to apply, but Dunlop glue or any similar adhesive works fine too.

Not an advertisement.

Always check your foam plates against your fingers before gluing them down so you can make any last fitting adjustments to the plates. Once you're happy glue down the plates drawn side down so you can hide the chalk. Alternatively you can wash the plates beforehand but personally I feel it's too much work :P

After that you're pretty much done! Here's a few alternative things you can do to spiff up your glove before you glue/sew your plates down:

Paint your plates before attaching.

Make 'futuristic' impressions by heating up the computer screw with the lighter and pressing down in strategic locations.

Glue down decals (can be stickers, small flat trinkets, what have you)

Here's my result. It's slightly bunched up because I was using a very loose cotton glove but depending on how tight your base glove is, the end result will look better.

Simple yet effective!

Halloween Approaches!

With Halloween just around the corner, everyone is getting busy with new projects and slapdash halloween costumes in time for the holidays.

I've noticed a significant amount of extra traffic in the general direction of my dragon horns tutorial so thank you ^_^ I hope your projects go well!

As for me, it's been a busy year (hence the lack of postings) but the costuming never ends, oh no.

At the moment I have a few projects going on simultaneously, some for Comic Fiesta 2013 and others for people and such, and of course one for this year's halloween.

Ugh, maybe a little more work than I can handle.

I don't typically celebrate because where I am, it's not a massive holiday where kids go treat or treating and the adults go get wasted in their sexy costumes. Well, most of the time anyway <.<  at any rate, this year I am doing a followup on the dragon horns and some other bits of costume that can go along with it, so stay tuned for photos and possibly an updated tutorial :)

Taryn out.

[Tutorial] Halloween Dragon Horns

Here's a build I did last year for a Halloween bash one of my friends was dragging me to. 

I've always liked horns, and other dragonnish things, and since I didn't exactly have a 'scary' costume for Halloween, so I decided to just do something different. So, I became a lady-wench-pirate's-pet-demon-butler for the night (sorry no pictures!) 

I had about a week to go look up references and start building so after searching the 'net a little I came across a nice pair of dragon horns I could emulate:

 

http://missmonster.deviantart.com/art/Dragon-horns-251200487
They have stuff on etsy too!

I mulled over materials for a few days, originally wanting to make a clay on polystyrene build but decided that I wanted to have minimal anchoring on my head, so heavy materials were out of the question. 

At the time I was going through my plushie making craze, so I had loads of stuffing available and so happened to have some faux leather as well.

Here's the list of stuff I used:

1 thin headband

4 snap on hair clips (black)

Synthetic stuffing

Textured faux leather (PVC)

Cotton cloth

Hot glue 

Multipurpose adhesive

Cloth scissors

Dark brown thread

A little duct tape (not necessary)

Basically what I did was draw a paper pattern of the horns, cutting out 4 identical shapes.

These shapes I then sewed together, turning inside out, stuffed and then had sewn shut to form the base of the plush horns. I made sure that I had stuffed the horns very firmly so they won't cave in and leave loose dents.

Here's where it kinda got messy. I measured out as many 'segments' of the horns that I wanted, cutting out strips of fake leather and using the adhesive to fold and glue the ends in. This is to prevent fraying and it gives that nice layered look.

Or you can also do a pattern like this, its your pref really.

Sew each strip together so it forms a circle, and tug it over the section that it's meant to go on, starting with the furthest one at the back. When it's in place, dab in a little adhesive to keep it there.

I kept going till I had covered the entire set of horns. The last segment in the front needed to be sewn a little at the bottom so it tapered off nicely, and this in turn was jammed onto the section behind it. This is where I had the clips sews onto the horns so I have the option to secure them extra if they flopped around too much. 

 

A little hot glue and duct tape later, the horns were on the headband. 

Needless to say they were really nice to wear, they were light to the point I pretty much forgot I was wearing them, and they looked fairly realistic (without giving away the fact they were squishy!) I finished off the combo with a black leather tail that had a bit of wiring to keep it from tripping me over.

Its been over a year and the construction is still holding strong, though I've since removed the band and have opted to sew them directly over a wig that I'll be using soon. If I can get a different texture of faux leather I might try doing this again with a different design.