GoldenAge
Caped Crusader
Registered: 02-2004
Location: london
Posts: 1262
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Leather Cowl Faceplate - How To & Info
Not the finished product – I was going to wait till I’d got the cowl complete to show you guys but tim put the idea of a “how to” thread in my mind.
Since I just got some paying freelance work that’s going to delay my work on this by another 8-12 weeks I thought I’d play show-and-tell now; especially since David has his jacket on the way and some of you might be thinking about the leather cowl idea once again.
I’m pre shaping the leather and making the seams as low-impact as possible (this test is made up of 3 pieces, leather starts to bunch once the curve gets too extreme so you need to pick your seam points to account for that. I will be trying to make a shaped skull shell to go under the brow and other areas to help it keep it’s shape: but that’s a whole other leaning curve for later in the year.
My advice if you want to go this route is to
Make a sculpt in hard clay or plaster and cover it with epoxy putty for the details –
Choose untanned leather as it’s easier to shape
Follow the old Roman lead – they made leather armour by beating leather (breaking the fibers helps the leather hold the new shape) over a chest sculpt and then sandwiching it between the sculpt and a sculpt negative ;see the pics of my bat-finger for what I mean.
You need to allow for the width of the leather between the sculpt and the negative – which after many trials I managed by coating the base sculpt in latex and then making the negative mold over that. The latex peels off the sculpt and you have a negative slightly larger than the base. Worked for me at any rate.
You can make the negative in sections and then use cable ties and gaffer tape to hold the two together while shaping the leather. Anyone who doesn’t have enough headaches that wants to try this – I’m only an email away if you want any advice or help I’m able to give (bearing in mind that I’m learning as I go. And NO expert.)
I hope to have a full cowl complete after a few months – in the meantime here’s beakys faceplate to whet our appetites for Davids jacket-matching cowl. I’d have dropped kicked this project out the window in despair if not for David and his inspiring work which always gives me the nudge I need to get back in the workroom so kudos to you DY1.
what I mean by base sculpt and sculpt negative... eg.
Last edited by Deadly Lemur, 3/7/2006, 11:31 pm
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2/19/2005, 11:00 am
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Vittorio
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Registered: 12-2004
Location: Portland Oregon
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Re: Leather cowl faceplate WIP update - and a little how-to info
That is flipping awesome! I had always wondered about using leather for chest plates and things. I love that faceplate/cowl!
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2/19/2005, 11:38 am
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The BlackBat
Registered: 01-2004
Posts: 8469
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Re: Leather cowl faceplate WIP update - and a little how-to info
Sweet work GA! Even though that's not finished I'm loving what you've got so far. I was hoping you'd post something like this and will be looking forward to your further progress updates. I'll also probably be in touch with you at some point on a project like this for myself. Thanks guy.
BTW...how did you sculpt that finger so likelike?...It looks just like Bat-finger:lol :p
~Tim :batfly
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"We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on his or her own light."
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2/19/2005, 12:56 pm
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Brin Londo
Keeper of the Cave
Registered: 02-2004
Location: Mississippi
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Re: Leather cowl faceplate WIP update - and a little how-to info
Marvelous work so far, and very inspiring. This kind of thing is the meat and potatoes of the BOTB.
Keep up the great work, and keep updating.
-Brin
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You don't choose the Bat, the Bat chooses you.
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2/19/2005, 3:27 pm
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Drew Knight
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Registered: 04-2004
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Re: Leather cowl faceplate WIP update - and a little how-to info
"Friggin" cool!
Drew Knight :rollin
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2/19/2005, 3:28 pm
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Thundercracker
Dark Knight
Registered: 06-2004
Location: England
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Re: Leather cowl faceplate WIP update - and a little how-to info
That's well cool, how long did it take to get that faceplate how it is?
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Unitam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant
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2/19/2005, 4:58 pm
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Blackwood Bat
Registered: 02-2004
Location: ummm...the Batcave
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Re: Leather cowl faceplate WIP update - and a little how-to info
Wow,that is some fine work there GA.
mmmm..meat and potatoes. Now I'm hungry.
John :flapbat
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"Wile E. Coyote is my reality,Bugs Bunny is my goal."
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2/19/2005, 5:04 pm
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GoldenAge
Caped Crusader
Registered: 02-2004
Location: london
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Re: Leather cowl faceplate WIP update - and a little how-to info
Thanks guys, the (bat)thumbs up vote keeps me on the case withh this project - I'm keen to get this done and show off the whole suit...
Thunder: "how long" is a tricky question - from "hey that would be a neat way of making a cowl" to the pic you see above has been around 18 months to 2 years so far... in actual hours from start to finish the face section above took maybe 4 days graft.
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2/20/2005, 6:15 am
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lujho
BOTB Member
Registered: 02-2004
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Posts: 79
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Re: Leather cowl faceplate WIP update - and a little how-to info
That's awesome. And it proves that something like the manip in my avatar is totally possible. Well, Daredevil already proves that, but what you've done just reinforces it more.
The lenses look great. My only gripe is that they lack the more triangular shape that Batman's eyes have in the cartoons and comics - and my avatar. The right shaped eyes would really push it over the edge as far as being a near-perfect representation of the comic art.
I seriously can't want to see the first full-on great, refined leather cowl design. All these little steps and advances keep popping up, they just need to all be put together.
Last edited by lujho, 2/20/2005, 10:08 am
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Luke
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2/20/2005, 10:01 am
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GoldenAge
Caped Crusader
Registered: 02-2004
Location: london
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Re: Leather cowl faceplate WIP update - and a little how-to info
lujoh; Thanks for the feedback - i hope you don't mind but that photo manip of yours has been printed out and on my work area wall since i first saw it - it's exactly the look i'm hoping for (not I should add that i'm copying the style, but for sheer "thats what I am aiming for" inspiration...)
As to the eyes - after posting the pic and staring at the faceplate over and over I had a few hours spare yesterday and instead of leather working I got my jig-saw out and removed the jaw and eyes on the sculpt and am reworking them today. again.
next test will have slightly more "comic book" eyes never fear.
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2/20/2005, 11:39 am
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