First Cosplay: The Witchking of Angmar
If any of you are like me and you a creating something from nothing; you want to see what everyone else has done and the process that they did it. Of course you want your costume to look the best that it can. So just to give all of you one more idea and definitely some some tips so that you don't make the same mistakes that I did.
Thus we get to the Witchking. This is going to be very text and pic heavy post so be prepared! On to Angmar my friends....
Alright I'm a massive LOTR and Tolkien fan in general and I love the Witchking's costuming, but I could not afford the replica helm or the 50 yards of fabric that the actual movie design team used. This is what I came up with.
I started with the helm, I was soooooooo excited for this. After doing my own research I was going to use styrene at first but once I got my hands on it, I chickened out. It's bit intimidating for someone who isn't very crafty. My design of choice ended up being cardboard (I didn't use corrugated) and bodyfiller (aka Bondo). First and foremost I needed a design. Drawing not being my specialty I resorted once again to the internet and found a wonderful template off of RPF.com. (just try googling witchking helm template and look for rpf results. It's a GREAT template, just rescale to 3x original size)
Here is the base of my helm. Template traced out on cereal boxes and put together with hot glue. If you are going to use bondo, DO NOT use hot glue. When Bondo hardens it's a thermogenic process (it creates HEAT!) which melted the hot glue and it fell apart!!! Talk about stressing!! I ended up reinforcing the joints with good ole duct tape but avoid the hot glue all together if you can! I'd recommend super glue.
One more comment about the cardboard base. I used cereal boxes which are thin, I'd be interested in trying a thicker cardboard, maybe even corrugated to add strength.
Once you're happy with your base, time to bondo. Bondo is incredibly harmful to breathe in and the fumes can sting your eyes as well. A respirator is a MUST and I recommend eye protection as well. A coffee break beforehand works too. ;)
Another mistake I made: I applied my Bondo too thick. Make sure you do thin coats of it and let it dry before you add more. After you Bondo and let it dry for at least 24 hours, it's time to sand. Now you can sand it down to make it nice and smooth, but I really liked the texture of the Bondo. So I sanded the entire thing, but did more so in some areas than others using 80 grit.
Next are the spikes. For those I bought wooden dowels in two different diameters. The large diameter I cut at 5 inches I believe and the smaller diameter were cut at 2.5 inches. I used a belt sander to make a nice point at the end of all of them and I sanded down the base of the smaller dowels so it would sit against the larger at approximately a 45 degree angle (see pic below). I hot glued these guys together then used epoxy to attach them to the helm. Mold the epoxy so once you paint it will look like a weld.
If you look at the "cheek" pieces you can tell they look a little floppy. To fix this I used craft sticks (those tongue depressor things) and glued them on the inside to support it.
Next is the magical part. Making this come alive with paint. I used a black primer as a base paint and then used a hammered silver spray paint 24 hours later. There's a lot of little crevices so make sure you cover them all!!
Sorry I don't have a picture of just the hammered silver. :(
You can see the texture of it in the next pic though.
To add detail I wanted to show some wear and tear, the witchking has been around for a while. So I added some rust. To do some I mixed three different colors of acrylic paint. I used a small dab of green, a generous bit of rust red, and a dab of orange. I mixed this in very small amounts because I didn't know how much I'd need and because of that I got a couple different colors of rust which made it even more awesome. To apply I used a dry brush that had been around for a while (the bristles are pretty frayed), dabbed it in the paint, blotted most of it off then dabbed it onto the helm in the areas I wanted rust. DON'T brush it on! It won't look right.
Yes it looks weird right now. After the rust dries, grab your black acrylic paint and and dry brush it onto the helm. Use very little at a time, you can always add more. I ended up dry brushing over it three times including a little on the spikes). And this is what I got.
You're done with your helm! If you might experience any wet conditions, I would definitely seal in your paint with a matte sealer.
For the hand armour I bought opera length black gloves and craft foam. I free handed the pieces on the craft foam and cut them out. Now this stage I did a day and a half before the contest, so it is by far no means perfect. I love the way the fingers turned out, but the hand could be better. Once you cut them out you want to form the pieces to your hand. Heat the craft foam over the stove until it becomes super flexible and put it over the appropriate part of your hand/finger, hold til it cools and your shaped. Please be careful not to burn yourself. Once your formed, spray paint hammered silver and add any detailing you want. Then hot glue to the glove. I glued it on while wearing the glove and now have burn scared from giving myself a 2nd degree burn--don't be stupid like me. I also made very crude shoulder pauldrons at the LAST minute. I would remake them the same way I made the gloves and give more attention to detail as for grooves and ridges. Mine are very flat. :/
Last but not least, you need some clothes. I bought 3 yards of black twill. Folded it in half and made a glorious poncho with the creation of sleeves.
After that I used the scraps from the sleeves to make a hood and sewed that on. I used the rest of the scraps to make a scarf, yes, a scarf. With that scarf i tore the crap out of it and even burned it alive to give it some authenticity. I tore up the edges of the poncho robe thing too. Form there I took a black jersey sheet, held it vertical and cut some arm holes in it. It became the outer layer which also got torn up and beat to death. I added a black leather belt I have and that became my clothes.
Last but not least, add some height. Mr. Witchking looks to be an extremely tall dude. I'm 5ft. Not gunna cut it. So I bought sheetrock stilts off of amazon for $65. I figured I could sell them to some construction guy on craigslist afterwards. If you go this route, practice on them!!! They are super sketchy at first, but I got the hang of them quickly and never fell. Although on the night of my costume contest, I almost went down. Thank gods my friend just so happened to be standing in front of me. So practice!
Assemble your costume, grab your sword and FIND THE HALFLING!!!
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