Costume Pieces

[Equus]

Hey folks! Long time no talk. ^_^ Had a question and I figured there\'s a bunch of artistic type people with experience in different mediums, so this would be a good place to hit.

There\'s a costume that I\'m working on that involves several things that I haven\'t really worked with. Namely, buckles and a prop rifle piece.

For the buckles, there are designs on them that would probably need to be custom made, and the only suggestion I\'ve gotten so far (besides metalworking which is a little beyond me at this moment) is using sculpty (sp?). Does anyone have any suggestions of materials to build up on top of a purchased buckle and cloak clasp to create designs?

The second part is the prop rifle. It\'s long and thankfully pretty mch symmetrical down it\'s axis. I was considering using plastic pipes and other material, but I\'d probably lose most of the \"heft\" of the piece because of that. The other extreme is using metal pieces, but that would probably be unnecessarilly heavy, so I was hoping to avoid that as well. Someone had suggested filing with marine foam or something, but I have no experience in the stuff besides seeing it used in the scene shop back at the U.

Any help would be really appreciated! Thanks! *wavies*

 

[Valander]

Hey there. I actually have a friend you should talk to. She\'s done some costuming work, and has some great ideas. PM me and we\'ll get together and I\'ll see if she has any ideas.

In the meantime...

If you\'re wanting to actually build on top of the metal, then your best bet is probably green stuff. You could, though, do a \"push mold\" kind of thing and use Super Sculpey. Just make a flat blob of milliput or even plaster, then carve out the filigree or even the whole buckle, so that you have a \'negative\'. Shove a bunch of sculpey in there, carefully remove it, and bake it. Some good metallic paints and you should be good to go.

For the gun, if you\'re wanting heft, then I\'d say use metal tubing for the barrel (like you might find in the plumbing section of Home Despot). The stock could be a little trickier, but you might be able to carve it out of insulation foam (the pink/blue/grey kind), and then get some top coat for it. Sorry, I can\'t remember what the stuff is called, but it\'s actually designed to seal foam like this. The insulation foam is actually really easy to work with--cut it with a foam cutter and use fine sand paper to shape it.

Hope that helps. And I expect pictures or at least an announcement for the finished product!

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Equus
For the buckles, there are designs on them that would probably need to be custom made, and the only suggestion I\'ve gotten so far (besides metalworking which is a little beyond me at this moment) is using sculpty (sp?). Does anyone have any suggestions of materials to build up on top of a purchased buckle and cloak clasp to create designs?

Aves Apoxie Sculpt, MagicSculp, A+B or Milliput.

Originally posted by Equus
The second part is the prop rifle. It\'s long and thankfully pretty mch symmetrical down it\'s axis. I was considering using plastic pipes and other material, but I\'d probably lose most of the \"heft\" of the piece because of that.

You could pack the barrel with ball bearings or something to give it some mass.

Einion

 

[PaintMonger]

If it is an actual firearm you wish to duplicate you may be able to simply buy a stock and then build the metal parts with plastic and pipe. If it is a muzzleloader you may be able to find plans for carving the stock which you could do in wood, or foam if you rather. Dixie Gunworks is an exelent sorce. A wood stock would give heft even if the barrel is light.

 

[Wolf Fang]

equus its simple... use a deactivated rifle or.... get the dactivated peices and make your own stock.. then you still have the right weight and feel and its not a fire arm its a \"toy\"

 

[Hieronymus]

Try these guys for the gun.

 

[vincegamer]

Depending on how detailed you want the gun, you could go to a store that sells marching band equipment.
They usually sell \"rifles\" made of wood. If you want more detail, you can carve the wood (honest, woodworking has got to be a bit easier than metalworking).
It has good weight but not excessive, and you start with a better shape than pieces of tubing.

I also suspect it\'s cheaper than buying gun parts.

 

[Equus]

Thanks for the replies folks. It looks like I\'ll have to figure out buckle and clasp items with putty, but I have to buy more anyway. I think what little green stuff I have is probably hard as rock by now.

The costume is from an anime, so the gun is pretty stylized, which is why I haven\'t really looked into prop rifles that are available. Here\'s an example of it from a wallpaper:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/oracle81/3169bf0a.jpg

It\'s mostly symmetrical and doesn\'t really have an angle for it\'s stock.

 

[PaintMonger]

Ah, just watched it myself. Neat show. The tapered barrel is going to be the hard bit. I would look at golf club shafts or BIG fishing poles. once you find the shaft carve the lock area out of ridged foam then coat it with arylic urethane for strength. Use a length of plastic pipe for the stock and foam again for the butt/cane top. Just make shure that a solid rod runs the entire length to prevent it breaking in half. Those are my thoughts for what they are worth. Be shure and post a pic when it\'s done!

 

[vincegamer]

That\'s not a gun, that\'s a crutch.
You might seriously look at medical supply stores for canes.

 

[Equus]

Originally posted by vincegamer
That\'s not a gun, that\'s a crutch.
You might seriously look at medical supply stores for canes.

LoL! My mom describes it as \"that thing...sword...gun...staff?\" It actually is a gun, you see him use it once in the series.

@ Paintmonger - Some nice things to think about. The taper was something I hadn\'t thought about. Thanks! There\'s probably some sport stores around here where I can buy relatively expensive club shafts or fishing poles. Maybe a cheapy pool cue might work too.