We had a Medieval Faire coming up and my twins wanted to go as Hiccup and Astrid from How To Train Your Dragon / Riders of Berk series. They are really huge fans of the movie and especially the TV show.
Here are some picture of them from the Medieval Faire.
The costumes took about a month to construct on weekends and some nights.
Initially, I started work on Astrid's costume by molding all the skulls and spikes using Crayola Air Dry Clay.
After that, I started modeling her shoulder armor out of foam and hot glue.
I did a paint job on the skulls to give them some definition and finished modeling the shoulder armor
Primed, painted, hilighted, weathered, and clear coated the shoulder armor, then superglued on the skulls.
I started next on Huccup's Gronkle-Iron Shield. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the making of this. It is a cardboard core. Two, strong cardboard discs, with strapping sandwiched between them. I covered it in thin, high density foam sheets while detail work was done with foamies. The center bowl was built up with thick foam then trimmed back. I did not do so well and tried filling in gaps with paintable silicone. As you can see, I could not smooth it out as well as I hoped. It was covered in filler primer, painted with silver automotive paint and then used black acrylic to weather it. The ensignia was done with a vinyl cutter I have. I later used some extra silver paint to put damage/cracking marks across the esignia. Lastly, it was clear coated many times as I expect this thing is going to get hit in it's future.
After the shield I went on to build Astrid's Battle Axe. I did this late at night and did not take pictures of the process. I made her battle axe out of a PVC pipe, cardboard, and thick foam. I cut the blade out of cardboard. I then used my table saw to put a slit in the end of PVC pipe. I then hotglued the two pieces together. I cut out some foam blade pieces that were bigger than the cardboard and hot glued then over the cardboard. I then used a Dremel to "sharpen" the blade. I used some duct tape at the lower part of the handle to "fatten' it up and to prevent slippage if swung. I primed it, painted, detailed, weather, then clear coated it. Lastly, I bought some leather strapping and hot glued it to the handle and also hot glued some studs for accents. As you can see, my daughter loves the battle axe.
Hiccups sword was a very plain wooden sword we got from a previous Medieval Faire visit. I used a sander to bevel and sharpen the blade and to also reduce its weight. I duct taped the handle for better grip. I used a Dremel to carve Hiccup's name in "Vikingnese". Then, I painted it using the same methods as I did on the other items.
Hiccup's helmet was simple. I bought the official toy one from Toy R' Us for $13. I turned the horns up and hot glued them into position so they stayed put. I measured my son's head and added a foam ring inside the helmet so it does not easily slip off, yet, still comfortable for him to wear. I liked the color of the horns, but not the helmet. So, taped up the horns and primed and painted the helmet with automotive silver paint followed by a quick black acrylic weather job. I pulled the tape off the horns and did the same weather job to the horns then finished up with many layers of clear coat.
Here is Hiccup Haddock, with most of the gear on. The shirt was sewn by my wife, as was the vest. The vest is made out of brown, furry blanket material. The sash was from material we are going to be using on Astrid's skirt. The boots he will be wearing should be delivered soon, hence the bare feet.
I am not quite done with Astrid's outfit quite yet. Her skirt is partially done. I did not use real leather for her skirt as I though it might be too heavy with all of the added skulls. We bought some leather-looking material at the store. Next, we wrapped the material around foam pieces and left some excess at the top so that they could be sewn to the waistband of the skirt. I then super-glued the skulls to the material. Yes, I know there is a gap in the skulls as that is where her canter/pouch is located. I added the spikes later.
The material for her shirt came from a scarf I purchased online. It's not perfect but was as close as I could get.
Here are some picture of them from the Medieval Faire.
The costumes took about a month to construct on weekends and some nights.
Initially, I started work on Astrid's costume by molding all the skulls and spikes using Crayola Air Dry Clay.
After that, I started modeling her shoulder armor out of foam and hot glue.
I did a paint job on the skulls to give them some definition and finished modeling the shoulder armor
Primed, painted, hilighted, weathered, and clear coated the shoulder armor, then superglued on the skulls.
I started next on Huccup's Gronkle-Iron Shield. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the making of this. It is a cardboard core. Two, strong cardboard discs, with strapping sandwiched between them. I covered it in thin, high density foam sheets while detail work was done with foamies. The center bowl was built up with thick foam then trimmed back. I did not do so well and tried filling in gaps with paintable silicone. As you can see, I could not smooth it out as well as I hoped. It was covered in filler primer, painted with silver automotive paint and then used black acrylic to weather it. The ensignia was done with a vinyl cutter I have. I later used some extra silver paint to put damage/cracking marks across the esignia. Lastly, it was clear coated many times as I expect this thing is going to get hit in it's future.
After the shield I went on to build Astrid's Battle Axe. I did this late at night and did not take pictures of the process. I made her battle axe out of a PVC pipe, cardboard, and thick foam. I cut the blade out of cardboard. I then used my table saw to put a slit in the end of PVC pipe. I then hotglued the two pieces together. I cut out some foam blade pieces that were bigger than the cardboard and hot glued then over the cardboard. I then used a Dremel to "sharpen" the blade. I used some duct tape at the lower part of the handle to "fatten' it up and to prevent slippage if swung. I primed it, painted, detailed, weather, then clear coated it. Lastly, I bought some leather strapping and hot glued it to the handle and also hot glued some studs for accents. As you can see, my daughter loves the battle axe.
Hiccups sword was a very plain wooden sword we got from a previous Medieval Faire visit. I used a sander to bevel and sharpen the blade and to also reduce its weight. I duct taped the handle for better grip. I used a Dremel to carve Hiccup's name in "Vikingnese". Then, I painted it using the same methods as I did on the other items.
Hiccup's helmet was simple. I bought the official toy one from Toy R' Us for $13. I turned the horns up and hot glued them into position so they stayed put. I measured my son's head and added a foam ring inside the helmet so it does not easily slip off, yet, still comfortable for him to wear. I liked the color of the horns, but not the helmet. So, taped up the horns and primed and painted the helmet with automotive silver paint followed by a quick black acrylic weather job. I pulled the tape off the horns and did the same weather job to the horns then finished up with many layers of clear coat.
Here is Hiccup Haddock, with most of the gear on. The shirt was sewn by my wife, as was the vest. The vest is made out of brown, furry blanket material. The sash was from material we are going to be using on Astrid's skirt. The boots he will be wearing should be delivered soon, hence the bare feet.
I am not quite done with Astrid's outfit quite yet. Her skirt is partially done. I did not use real leather for her skirt as I though it might be too heavy with all of the added skulls. We bought some leather-looking material at the store. Next, we wrapped the material around foam pieces and left some excess at the top so that they could be sewn to the waistband of the skirt. I then super-glued the skulls to the material. Yes, I know there is a gap in the skulls as that is where her canter/pouch is located. I added the spikes later.
The material for her shirt came from a scarf I purchased online. It's not perfect but was as close as I could get.
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