Chest and Hip Armor

The above pictures are from the Weta Warehouse, thanks to Lalaith!
Click for high Rez (except last on right)

Click for larger picture
The back armor is the doll (I edited out the arrow shooting nob)
The two on the right were taken from a movie in an article on Filmforce.ing.com

Metal color Description:
from Morgain on the Alleycat Scratch Yahoo list
The metal was more brass than gold, if I am making sense...more of a slight greenish cast than reddish to the yellow. Possibly what they would call an antique gold, though gold doesn't tarnish...

Construction Description:
from Leiasky on the Alleycat Scratch Yahoo list
The hip armor is joined at the back by elastic. You can see the thin strips of it as it hangs off the mannequin. There are also hidden rivets joining the pieces together, the elastic is NOT what holds them together.

The blueprints (not to human scale) were created using the doll as a template.


Create a metal base using wire mesh and a wire. Push sculpty (or other home oven bake clay) into metal and then carve design.	Bake and spray with gold paint. Click either picture for larger image.	Fill in color with plastic paint.

The emblems are supposed to represent different houses of elves.
I don't know the house represented here, but for more examples to choose from you can go the these links:

I'm still working out the kinks in this template, but this is what I have so far (it's the second one...)

Below are directions I plan to use..
I will put up progress pictures when I start working on this piece.


Create posterboard base and cover with duct tape. I have left the padding on the dress form and covered with plasticso I can get the right shape and modpodge directly on the form without damaging anything.	Modpodge paper mache. In order to get the chest piece on and off, the front part must be able to bend. I fabric glued a piece of suede to hold it together and keep it flexible. I will cover the suede edges with the epoxi clay to keep it in place.	Cover with Gapoxio clay and sand until smooth


Sculpt in design. Sand again around the design to make sure any small bits are not left. Click picture for larger view	Paint gold and bronze Click picture for larger view	Aged with Rub and Buff and pueter powder (there are holes below the rivets that I still need to fill in.)