Neil's wearing a great costume for a fancy dress party! If you want to make one, you'll need to look in comics or books first to get inspiration for a design. Then once you have one... |
...start by drawing around an old t-shirt onto some cardboard box card. |
Use this shape as a size guide for drawing the body plate. Taper in the sides into a shallow V-shape at the bottom. |
Cut the shape out... |
...then pad it out using lots of newspaper. Use plenty of sticky tape to secure the newspaper to the cardboard box card. |
Next, make two pillows of newspaper and tape these to the body plate for muscular pecs! |
Fold up six rectangular pieces of newspaper and tape these to the body plate as well, for a six pack! |
When everything's taped in place, cover the whole thing with lengths of cling film. Take time to push the film into all the ridges and creases. |
Next, mix up some PVA glue with water and use the mixture to paste on a layer of torn up newspaper. |
Do three or four layers on top of the cling film, and when it's dried, carefully prise the body plate off the mould, and you'll have something that looks like this. |
Carefully tidy up the edges with a pair of scissors, and then you can paint! |
This one has emphasised muscles in a different colour! |
Next, attach four lengths of ribbon to the body plate so that it will stay on you! Tape two loops to the shoulders... |
...and tape another length half way up the body plate, to go around your waist. Do the same on the other side - and use plenty of tape for this. |
The idea is to slip your arms through the loops, and tie the bottom length around your body. |
If you brush a layer of PVA glue onto the body plate and let it dry, it'll go shiny! |
Next, the helmet! Blow up a balloon that's bigger than your head, and stand it in a mug or bowl to keep it steady. |
About a third of the way down the balloon, use a marker to draw a line that's about the same size as the width of your face. For accuracy, why not measure the width of your face with a ruler? |
Draw a curved line down from either side... |
...and join the lines up at the back as a guide for the shape of the helmet. |
Now use PVA glue mixed with water to paste three of four layers of torn newspaper pieces onto the balloon - but only go up to the lines you drew! |
When the newspaper has dried, pop the balloon... |
...and then carefully tidy up the edges with a pair of scissors. |
To make a visor, take a piece of cereal box card that's long enough to bend around the front of the helmet. |
Draw an upside down triangle that stretches the whole length of the card... |
...then draw a line down the centre... |
...and then about 1cm from the centre, draw eye holes. |
Cut the whole thing out. |
Attach the visor to the front of the helmet, using sticky tape. |
For a crest, cut out a long strip of cardboard box card that's about 2cm wide, and bend it over middle of the helmet, taping in position as you go. |
Do the same again twice more, to give the crest some height. |
When everything's taped in place, paste on a couple more layers of torn newspaper and let them dry. |
Then paint the helmet to match the body plate - and that's it! |
Here's another idea... |
...and another... |
...and another! Try it yourself! |