Wearenotlinear
Well-Known Member
So this is my first time building something out of cardboard like this.
I got the idea from this guy on youtube: Dali DIY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idMHOaqKjuw
He makes tons of cowls and helmets from cardboard and provides templates and reference pics on his blog.
However, I don't have a printer (3D or plain old 2D) so I decided to free hand it using my measurements.
I wanted the comic book colors of red and purple but with the worn and textured look of the Days of Future Past helmet.
I started with two cereal boxes (Golden puffs and Frosted Mini Wheats, not that the brand is very important).
I traced out my shapes, cut it out and taped it together with packing tape.


Then I took some thicker cardboard and drew a template for how I wanted the details to look. This is the more customized part. I stuck to the comic book style but added my own flare so to speak.


Then I taped those in place.
I mixed wood glue with water and brushed the whole thing. Let it set for a few minutes, then took layers of single ply toilet paper and wood glue-water mixture and basically papier-mached the whole thing.
It looked like this after:


Once that dried I was ready to paint.
I used up all my red paint on the back spider of my spidey costume, so I mixed colors til I found one I liked: Cordial Wine puffy paint mixed with Orange puffy paint. It has a nice darkness to it, but still very red. I used a brush.

I did the same for the purple, didn't have any purple, so I mixed Cordial Wine puff paint with Navy Blue. Came out a nice dark purple.
Using the puff paint gave the finished look a nice sheen and a sturdy vinyl feel. With the cardboard beneath and the layers of glue and paper, it's fairly sturdy but still flexible enough to get on and off.

I more or less finished the whole thing in two days, a total of 6 hours of work from start to finish.
Here it is finished, with the purple line added to the bottom rim of the helmet.





I just need to paint the inside black and I'll be done. Oh! almost forgot, and I plan on adding a gem or something to the middle area above the brow, but I won't be doing the wings like in the comics.
I'm probably going to do the whole costume, so as I finished pieces I'll add them here. Thinking of rigging some electro-magnets and lights in the gloves for fun times!
Let me know what you all think. I like the way it turned out.
I got the idea from this guy on youtube: Dali DIY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idMHOaqKjuw
He makes tons of cowls and helmets from cardboard and provides templates and reference pics on his blog.
However, I don't have a printer (3D or plain old 2D) so I decided to free hand it using my measurements.
I wanted the comic book colors of red and purple but with the worn and textured look of the Days of Future Past helmet.
I started with two cereal boxes (Golden puffs and Frosted Mini Wheats, not that the brand is very important).
I traced out my shapes, cut it out and taped it together with packing tape.



Then I took some thicker cardboard and drew a template for how I wanted the details to look. This is the more customized part. I stuck to the comic book style but added my own flare so to speak.


Then I taped those in place.
I mixed wood glue with water and brushed the whole thing. Let it set for a few minutes, then took layers of single ply toilet paper and wood glue-water mixture and basically papier-mached the whole thing.
It looked like this after:


Once that dried I was ready to paint.
I used up all my red paint on the back spider of my spidey costume, so I mixed colors til I found one I liked: Cordial Wine puffy paint mixed with Orange puffy paint. It has a nice darkness to it, but still very red. I used a brush.

I did the same for the purple, didn't have any purple, so I mixed Cordial Wine puff paint with Navy Blue. Came out a nice dark purple.
Using the puff paint gave the finished look a nice sheen and a sturdy vinyl feel. With the cardboard beneath and the layers of glue and paper, it's fairly sturdy but still flexible enough to get on and off.

I more or less finished the whole thing in two days, a total of 6 hours of work from start to finish.
Here it is finished, with the purple line added to the bottom rim of the helmet.





I just need to paint the inside black and I'll be done. Oh! almost forgot, and I plan on adding a gem or something to the middle area above the brow, but I won't be doing the wings like in the comics.
I'm probably going to do the whole costume, so as I finished pieces I'll add them here. Thinking of rigging some electro-magnets and lights in the gloves for fun times!
Let me know what you all think. I like the way it turned out.
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