EDEA'S
HEADPIECE
For most of my props to date, I’ve used Styrofoam and dry wall spackle, then sanded it down. But the problem with it is that the spackle is very frail and can crack easily. I knew that for Edea’s helmet, that technique wouldn’t work. I decided to turn to clay. A cosplayer told me about Paperclay, how light it can be and that you could sand it down. So I gave it a shot. (I have a link to the Paperclay site on the Links page.)
For the base of the helmet, I took a mold of my head with plaster bandages. When it was dry, I cut the bottom to shape it more and lightly sanded it. I made 3 horns out of Paperclay and let it dry to its shape. When the horns were dry, I sanded them down. After that, I applied Paperclay to the entire base of the helmet, working in the dried horns into place. After it was dry I then sanded the entire helmet. A few times I applied Paperclay to the cracks and then sanded it down again.
For the smaller pieces of the helmet, like the side disks and the snail shell, I created them entirely out of Paperclay and then sanded them down. When every thing was all finished, I painted each piece using metallic acrylic paints. A few sections had to be masked with masking tape since I wanted clean edges.
When everything was all painted, I needed to attach some beads to a few of the pieces. I used a drill, fishing hooks and super glue to create metal loops so I could attach my beads to them. After all the pieces were complete, I hot glued a few of the pieces together to create a “main piece.” I then took industrial Velcro and stuck the 3 main pieces to the helmet, thus making them removable so I can slide my head into the helmet.
For most of my props to date, I’ve used Styrofoam and dry wall spackle, then sanded it down. But the problem with it is that the spackle is very frail and can crack easily. I knew that for Edea’s helmet, that technique wouldn’t work. I decided to turn to clay. A cosplayer told me about Paperclay, how light it can be and that you could sand it down. So I gave it a shot. (I have a link to the Paperclay site on the Links page.)
For the base of the helmet, I took a mold of my head with plaster bandages. When it was dry, I cut the bottom to shape it more and lightly sanded it. I made 3 horns out of Paperclay and let it dry to its shape. When the horns were dry, I sanded them down. After that, I applied Paperclay to the entire base of the helmet, working in the dried horns into place. After it was dry I then sanded the entire helmet. A few times I applied Paperclay to the cracks and then sanded it down again.
For the smaller pieces of the helmet, like the side disks and the snail shell, I created them entirely out of Paperclay and then sanded them down. When every thing was all finished, I painted each piece using metallic acrylic paints. A few sections had to be masked with masking tape since I wanted clean edges.
When everything was all painted, I needed to attach some beads to a few of the pieces. I used a drill, fishing hooks and super glue to create metal loops so I could attach my beads to them. After all the pieces were complete, I hot glued a few of the pieces together to create a “main piece.” I then took industrial Velcro and stuck the 3 main pieces to the helmet, thus making them removable so I can slide my head into the helmet.
Copyright © 2008 Beth
Hodgson
