How to Make Costume Armor

Co-authored by Lois Wade

Last Updated: March 31, 2024

Making costume armor is great for festivals, Halloween parties, and other themed events. To make lightweight, flexible costume armor, you just need a few materials like craft foam, heat, glue and paint. Making costume armor can be a fun project for kids or can be used to create some convincing movie props. You can make your armor as simple or as intricate as you want depending on your needs.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Designing the Armor

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1
Sketch the armor design. Focus on the basic shapes (their size, and connections for adjoining pieces) rather than the color or detail, which can be dealt with later. Decide where and how individual pieces will overlap so that they can be connected and flexible. Simplify the structure where possible to avoid juggling lots of pieces and having to connect them in too many places (which will weaken it). You can also look online for ready-made patterns for armor, some of which you will even be able to print out. Here is a list of some common pieces of armor you will likely want to sketch:
1. Helmet
2. Breastplate
3. Pauldrons or shoulder pieces
4. Shield
5. Gorget or neck protector.
6. Arm pieces such as rerebrace, vambraces, and gauntlets.
7. Leg pieces such as cuisses, poleyn, and greaves.
Measure the head size, height, waist size, arm and leg length, and any other needed measurements for the person that will be wearing the armor. These measurements will help determine the necessary dimensions that you will need to make the helmet, breastplate, shoulder armor, or any other miscellaneous coverings. Though these won’t be your primary means of sizing the armor, they will be useful to reference whenever you’re making a cut, connection, or alteration that you can’t accurately test.

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The fastest way to do this is to have a friend hold pieces of flexible, sturdy paper (such as poster board) against you and draw each piece of the design individually, creating a rough outline that you could then modify as necessary. A more accurate method would be to make a form (or a mannequin) to build the paper template around.
Make sure all the pieces have been accounted for and adjust their sizes or proportions as necessary. Whenever you have matching pieces (e.g.: two shin plates, gauntlets, etc.), choose the nicer version and scrap the other one; that way, you can use the nice one as the pattern for the other to keep your armor symmetrical. When you’re happy with your pieces, clean up and smooth out the lines, label both your original sketch and the corresponding pieces (making note of any that will be duplicated), and cut all the shapes.
5
Transfer the template to craft foam. Trace each piece to the craft foam with a ball-point pen (which will glide smoothly over the material without snagging or tearing). Making duplicates of pieces where necessary. Label the undersides and then cut the shapes out.
- To make very large pieces, you may need to patch two pieces of foam together. Preferably, attach the pieces where it is inconspicuous, or can be integrated into the design. For example, creating a seam down the center of a breastplate.
- You can use a number of other materials to create your costume armor, such as cardboard, Wonderflex or anything else that suits your means. The same steps can be applied to any material.
- To make your foam go further, trace large pieces first and then fit the smaller ones in around them.
Lightly sketch the designs with a ball-point pen or a dull knife ^{[1]
X
Research source} and when you’re happy, go over them several times while pressing hard to engrave them into the foam. It’s much easier to draw on the foam while it’s flat and not yet assembled. Just be sure not to tear the materials.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Assembling the Armor

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1
Shape and contour the craft foam to your body. Since it’s flexible, this will simply be a matter of gluing it into curves in many places. In some places, however, you will want to mold the foam into shapes that hold on their own. This is done by holding the foam near a steady, safe heat source (such as a heat gun or stove) to soften it and then manually bending it over another object such as a liter bottle or rolling pin.
- You will only have a few seconds to do this, so work quickly. It’s best to test your technique on a few scrap pieces beforehand so that you learn how to heat the foam without causing it to scorch, shrink, or bubble.
- If you want you can also try using a hair dryer on high heat or an iron to heat the foam.
- If you don't have a heat source you can try wrapping the armor around a rounded object for a couple days to create the desired curves. You can create arm or leg pieces around a Pringles can and use a rubber band to hold them in place.
White school glue is fine for this. ^{[2]
X
Research source} In some cases (ex. in places with lots of overlap or dramatic curves), it will make sense to do this after the pieces have already been heat-molded to keep from putting undue strain on the material. However, when you’re dealing with pieces that require minimal molding or don’t overlap in a way that constricts their movement too much, you might want to glue them together before molding them.
Flip joined pieces over, paint them with glue, and smooth a gauzy fabric (ex. cotton crinkle gaze or cheesecloth) over them, making sure to work into creases and curves with a pointed edge. After it dries, cut away the excess and apply one more coat of glue.
If you are dealing with lots of pieces, you might have to assemble a number of them just to make one section of one part of the armor. Think about where it makes the most sense to join subsections together before connecting them to make larger pieces.
Since the foam is flexible, you will have quite a bit of leeway with this: a well-placed seam that you can force your way into and out of would be no problem for craft foam. For traditional-style armor, however, you will want to mimic the way that real armor is assembled by connecting various pieces with leather or fabric straps that you can untie/unbuckle as necessary.
6
Decide how to attach the armor to your body. Unless you’ve made a full, one-piece suit, you will likely have to attach separate sections differently. Wearing a tight-fitting outfit underneath the armor and attaching Velcro to a number of places as anchor points would work well provided that you line everything up correctly.
- You might, for example, stick double-sided Velcro to the necessary parts of your under-outfit. Press the armor onto these points in front of a mirror until the look right. Then more firmly attach each Velcro half to its respective part of the ensemble using thread or a strong glue to hold the pieces in place.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Painting Your Armor

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If you embossed a design into your armor, simply draw over it with fabric paint from a squirt-tube to create a raised design. You might have to do this more than once to make it more visible. Since the results will be thick, allow this to dry overnight.
Since the foam is spongy, you will need to seal it before applying any glue. One suggested mixture is 1 part school glue or Sobo glue, 1 part flexible fabric glue, and 2 parts water. Apply and dry thin coats until sealant no longer forms holes where air bubbles from the foam pop through. This may take as many as 7 or 8 coats, but because the layers are thin, the dry time shouldn’t be unbearable. Don’t allow debris to stick to the glue or it will produce bumps in the armor.
If the armor sticks out in places (leaving the underside exposed), painting the back will give it a more professional look.
Because the foam will bend and move with your body, ordinary paints will crack. On a piece of scrap foam, experiment with flexible craft paints (ex. fabric paint) to see what will work for your design. Be sure to apply the paint evenly to prevent streaking and work it into and cracks or crevices.
This can be done by brushing dark acrylic paint (ex. a mixture of black and green for a tarnished copper look) over your armor and wiping most of it away before it dries so that hints of it remain in the cracks.

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Question

What if I want to make a mask for a helmet?

Community Answer

You could get a plastic mask and alter it to what you like, then build foam on top of it.

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How can I install LED lighting to my costume armor?

Cecilia Flores

Top Answerer

Talk to a professional cosplayer or even an electrical engineer about this, because lights can be very dangerous. They can break and glass can hurt you, they could burn you, they could start a fire, so much can go wrong. When you wear the costume, always have someone with you so that if something goes wrong, they can help you.

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Could I make it out of cardboard?

Community Answer

Yes, but if it flattens, you will have to use more than a single layer of cardboard.

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Tips

Pay attention to details. The trick to making your costume armor look real are the little details you add to your pieces.

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You can use the heat gun to add details like large gashes or nicks. Cut a thin line (or larger depending on what you want) with a razor and put your heat gun over it keep it moving doesn't take long, the foam will expand and make a nice looking open line.

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Warnings

Be careful when using a heat gun. Don't put it too close to the armor or keep in one place to long on your armor or else it will burn.

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Be careful when heating and using knives or scissors.

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Things You'll Need

Sketch paper
Pencil, ball-point pen
Flexible measuring tape (ex. sewing tape)
Sturdy, flexible paper such as poster board
Scissors, utility blade
Craft foam (preferably in the color of your desired product)
Steady, unwavering heat sources (ex. heat gun)
White school glue
Gauzy fabric
Paint brushes
Accessories (ex. Velcro, leather or fabric straps)
Squirt-tube fabric paint
Flexible fabric glue.
Acrylic paint
Flexible paint (ex. fabric paint)

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[2]

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How to Make Costume Armor

Steps

Designing the Armor

Assembling the Armor

Painting Your Armor

Community Q&A

Tips

Warnings

Things You'll Need

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