Blade Costume

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

Awesome work.........Jhonny Matiu
Your Blade Vest looks pretty good, and your sewing skills are pretty impressive my friend. Just like you I'm a Blade fan and for several months i've been doing my own research in order to construct a close to possible movie accurate Blade ammo vest. Thanks to your tread I'll probably be utilizing your technique of the red stripe down the center of the webbing straps. On some of the sample webbing straps that I did. I just stitched red stitch down the center of the webbing and re-stitched the center several times over, but I think your method displays the red line very movie accurate.

thanks man, glad it was of some help to ya. I was actually considering doing exactly the same thing for the webbing too lol. Yeah I found it pretty hard trying to find something to follow which is why I kinda ended up doing my own take on it, but I wish you the best of luck with your build and can't wait to see how it goes dude.

There's a guy I found on FB that's done the vest 3 times over now, and he's pretty much got it down pat. His names Raymond Ramos, and his photos show his progression towards it, really cool stuff (wish I hadda found him closer to completing my own version lol). That may help with more reference if ya can find him.

- - - Updated - - -

Really nice job -- and great attitude in the pics, even with out all the props. =)

cheers man, am already thinking about a photoshoot haha (kidding lol)

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

these are my attempt at making leather pants (or in this case PVC). Certainly not easy, and definitely not the best looking or fit.

Will be altering these and then reviewing whether I want to put myself through that pain again (sewing nightmare lol).

again because I don't plan, and I'm impatient, I just bought an old pair of jeans that fit from the thrift shop, deconstructed them, patterned from those onto the PVC, and tried to put it back together again (therein began my pain), but they ain't too bad, they fit fair enough (again, I will alter them so they fit and look better), but I'm tossing up whether to just go with a different kind of material and try it again.

Nonetheless, these are the pants I'm wearing in the last set of pics.

 

[GRMM REAPRR]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

Thanks for the info, after viewing Raymond Ramos Blade vest? "NO OFFENSE TO HIS CRAFTSMANSHIP" But in my opinion your Blade vest is far more detailed.


The pants look "pretty good", the material you used looks pretty similar to the original one's Blade wore in the movie. From what, I was able to gather the original pants Blade wore; were made of black faux Leather. Which is imitation Leather, the light weight material allowed him to move much freely in order for him to perform his martial arts kicks. At some point

www.icollector.com

had the original, screen used Blade costume for sale before it sold to a private collector.

http://www.icollector.com/Wesley-Snipes-hero-Blade-costume-from-Blade_i8632761




Hope some of this info helps, keep up the good work and keep us posted with more awesome pics my friend.

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

Thanks for the info, after viewing Raymond Ramos Blade vest? "NO OFFENSE TO HIS CRAFTSMANSHIP" But in my opinion your Blade vest is far more detailed.


The pants look "pretty good", the material you used looks pretty similar to the original one's Blade wore in the movie. From what, I was able to gather the original pants Blade wore; were made of black faux Leather. Which is imitation Leather, the light weight material allowed him to move much freely in order for him to perform his martial arts kicks. At some point

www.icollector.com

had the original, screen used Blade costume for sale before it sold to a private collector.

http://www.icollector.com/Wesley-Snipes-hero-Blade-costume-from-Blade_i8632761


View attachment 359269

Hope some of this info helps, keep up the good work and keep us posted with more awesome pics my friend.

Wow, thanks man. I'm pretty much in awe of his build but I really appreciate it. I've actually been chatting with him a fair bit and he wants to have a go at combining his method with mine for the EDTA Darts. Am really looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Yeah the pants were just an absolute nightmare to try, but a lot of lessons learned from that one experiment and they turned out, as you say pretty good haha. Yeah I did actually consider that when I was looking for material for the pants (staying in leather pants with the vest all day hmmmmm lol), but it kinda came down to what I could find and cost too (nonetheless I think with everything associated to this build, I'm nearly $300), but I think the more I do this sorta thing, maybe the wider my eyes grow in seeing things around I can use. Were it not for advice from people in forums and definitely my partner, the props part would probably still have me well entrenched in the 'what do I do now' area lol

absolutely man, any reference and advice I'm greatly appreciative of, and thank you so much, is really cool to see other people think it looks okay.

I'll post more once I've painted the Darts and started mocking up the gun extension. Then it'll just be the stakes and sword (am fearing that one lol)

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

finally got the domes done. This completes the vest

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

here's how I went about the holster for the stakes.

A friend of mine has a wood lathe so he did the stakes for me (I may revisit the design though but they'll do for now).

Basically it's just a polypropylene strap around the leg, a neoprene strip for the looping round the stakes, and some plastic (from an ice cream punnet lid) that I painted silver for the metal plates between each stake.

To fix the plates to the holster I used the reverse side of a female press stud (had I used the correct side of a male press stud, it would've been too big, and as much as it would've been more correct I guess, I have a fair amount of female studs left over from putting domes on the vest).

Getting a hole through the neoprene and the webbing wasn't the easiest thing in the whole world to do, so perhaps I would advise heating a metal skewer or something and making the hole that way (be super careful of course lol), and then be sure to place something soft (wood, or even spare plastic from the ice cream lid) over the end of the press stud before you hammer it, or else your paint will come off and I would imagine trying to paint the plates whilst they're attached to the holster ain't gonna be easy

apart from that I think the pictures pretty much lay it out as I did it, hope this helps someone

 

[Grimwood]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

Stellar work! About those pants: Are they skin tight? Can you move in them?

I looked at the Blade costume for sale and you were probably better off not buying it. The description said it was covered in a sticky substance... Blade sweat? Vamp blood? Who knows!

Are you going to make the trench coat as well?

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

Thank you. They are a little tight about the waist (cough cough lol), but I am currently in the process of remedying that lol

movement in them, apart from being quite squelchy (not sure how else to describe it lol, it basically squelches a lot when I walk), movement isn't inhibited at all, and they're quite light to wear. I would think though, after a whole day it'll be shower time as soon as I get in the door of home so lol

I did consider buying a costume when I first thought about going to Armageddon (NZ's version of a Con) but I thought I would give making it a try first. Once I started, I liked it too much to stop so yeah

I did consider it yes, but I figured it would cover basically everything I've done build-wise, so for now I'm not going to do the trenchcoat, but I may have a crack at sewing one if time allows and use it for photos (if I can source a photographer and venue (obviously thinking night time, industrial setting kinda thing)

Thanks again for your comment though, greatly appreciated

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

so had a little tinker with some Photobooth software today and decided what a perfect opportunity to take a few pics of the get up so far (okay I had no other way to take pics of myself, and my partners at work - I wanted to see how the whole thing looks so far lol)

obviously missing the glaive, sword, and still gotta customise the Mac-10

 

[GRMM REAPRR]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

Awesome poses....lol

Looks like you had a great time taking those pics? The only thing that Blade version 2.0 is missing "NOW", is a sexy vampire chick posing by his side? ha ha

By the way great work, are you also going to be adding the additional belt buckle & harness strap for the Mac-11? The belt buckle visually gives the rest of the costume a full complete look along with the vest. Don't know if your also planning on taking up the challenge of making Blades Sword along with back carrying holster? "I BET THAT PROP WOULD FULLY COMPLETE YOUR LOOK"

KEPP UP THE GREAT-WORK AND KEEP US UPDATED... WITH THE PROGRESS

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

haha Thank you, yeah it was fun actually. Thank god we live in the country kinda cause the neighbours may have wonder what the hell if we weren't.

Indeed my friend, I hear what ya saying there

Yeah I actually done the belt up and will make the loop for the stake holster and then it'll be onto planning the sword and scabbard. I'm thinking of something different to the scabbard that is commonly shown when searching for the Blade sword (the one in your ref pic also). I'm going to have a go at having the scabbard basically held by a stiff leather hoop (kind of oval shaped), that will be held on the back of the vest by press studs.

Pretty much like it looks if you pause the scene where Blade is fitting the goons after knocking out the young girl in the archives. You'll see his scabbard is only a hoop that almost looks bolted on to his vest but yeah that's what I'm thinking.

I have an idea already of how I'm gonna go about it but want to tackle the sword first lol (again thank you for the awesome ref pics)

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

so I finally got my behind into starting on the gun prop. I'll add more description in on this later...

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

so basically these are the cut out pieces from above that I traced from the templates.

3 piece thickness for the upper part of the extension and just 2 pieces for the lower piece.

I cut out an area for the barrel of the gun to sit in obviously.

At this point I kinda wasn't sure what I was going to do next, seal the foam and just paint it or cover in with filler and then sand it, took at least a week of hohum before I settled on something

 

[Roy Batty]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

I remember seeing this build a few years back when i did my Snake Plissken Mac:

http://www.hollywoodhardware.de/blade.htm

Check it out. This may be of some help.

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

I had actually seen this awhile back when I started thinking about doing a Blade cosplay, I could never find it once I started though lol (of course)

Thanks for the post Roy. I've actually completed my Mac-11 but if I ever get to upgrade the costume (which I am looking at doing for sure), then I will definitely be following this closely (or as close as I can get to it lol)

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

whilst I was thinking of how I would cover/coat the extension I figured I would try out an earlier idea I had for the raised half-round impression on the extension.

Pretty much I figured I would use a glue stick from our small glue gun and try and cut one in half, so I tried it out and placed it on the template to see how it looked. It didn't seem to bad so I went with it.

Once I got through that I decided on covering the foam with the cardboard template, thinking it would add strength somewhat and also because I was getting impatient with it. This didn't really make it easier, but it got the build moving again so...

at the bottom you can see I just used a couple pieces of foam board for the part around the extension.

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

here is just the extension with the templates glued on, bit of a gap between all the pieces but again, it meant the process could keep moving forward lol

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

the initial few pics show where I'm coating the extension with Gesso (about 5 coats on all surfaces), and then the straws are what I used for the raised round part (I'm sure there must be a name for it).

Basically I just cut a straw in half as best I could, hot glued the ends to the lower part of the extension, and then coating it with Gesso as well strengthened it quite well.

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

and now just the detailing to go. I replaced the foam board with craft foam, it just wasn't working out well, and the craft foam was just so much easier to work with

the front of the extension is just a craft foam face, with 4 eyelets surrounding a larger eyelet reversed, which basically forms the barrel of the gun (can't get much more Con-Safe than that lol), then just the rest of the detailing along the side and then I coated the whole thing with black Gesso to seal, and prime and then spray painted the whole thing black

 

[Jhonny Matiu]

Re: Blade / Daywalker Costume.....so far

and onto the holster, drawing a good deal of inspiration from Raymond Ramos ECA, I traced the gun onto some cardboard and then drafted a template for the holster based on that. Checked the gun against it to see how it would look, and then set about making a box-type bottom to hold the gun. Because the shape of the Mac-11 is not exactly your typical gun the box section at the bottom serves to hold the gun securely.

Once I'd measured roughly what I gauged to be the size I needed I cut it out and then tried to fold it together. I taped it in place just to check the guns fit in it once it was done and then glued it in place after that.

Seeing as the cardboard was not as stiff as I figured it would need to be (and on advice from Raymond Ramos) I glued 3 plastic rulers to the back of the holster, which reinforced it quite well, and then covered the holster completely with the same vinyl I used for the vest. As a mark of Respect to Raymond Ramos (for his great input and inspiration, as well as his many good comments on how I'm coming along with this) I will be placing the same Blade logo he has on his holster.

One thing I'm pretty happy with more than anything on the holster is the angle pieces of foam behind the holster, which serve to hold the holster more securely against my leg once it's strapped on