Costume Analysis

After Dragon Con I learned alot about not just my Haldir Armor, but costuming in general.
This page highlights things I would do differently, and changes I can or can't make.
This analysis isn't meant to beat myself up over details, but rather, to help those who
are just starting out so you can pass by the mistakes I made and make your costumes better.

I love this costume, and I know it's not possible to get it perfect. This is just an exercise.

First off, it was a mistake to never try on the entire costume before I had to wear it all in public for several hours.
That would be the one thing I would suggest, even though it would seem obvious.
Second, the weight of the chest armor was almost too much for me to bare for more than an hour.
Third, make sure you have someone to HELP you get the armor on.
Without Art, Kev, Jonathan and Jose's help, I don't think I would have been able to figure it out.
And last but not least, make sure to have duct tape, string, thread and some kind of adhesive, JUST IN CASE.
Without last minute touch ups, I doubt I could have gone two steps without something falling off!

Chest Armor

Elven Archer doll --- ROM in Toronto 2002 --- Weta 2003 ---FIDM 2003
(More pix on the Alleycatscratch site)

The first thing I notice is that the entire chest piece hung low on me. This is partly to do with the way I sculpted the arm hole much to big (1), and partly because I didn't have it strapped up high enough. The leather padding I made was much thicker, on purpose, to help make me look less feminine, but the straps that were supposed to be connected to the chest armor (2) came undone and rode up. I can't change the sculpt now, but I can better secure the straps to the armor. The other major problem I actually knew from the get go was the shoulder bells. (3) They continued to slip down my arm, even though I tied them up to the chest armor. I made them a tiny bit too big as well. The sculpt is also a bit bumpy here and there, which I could sand, if I had the time, but I don't think I will. Color wise, I don't think I could be happier. As the pictures show, the costume changes colors in different lights and was rarely shown well in the movie, at least I can't get a decent screen snap. One thing I may do is darken the straps (2) even if I connect them better, just to make sure they don't show.

HEAD

I can't make myself more masculine than I did, but the eyebrows were very effective. The ears could have stood to have a bit more make up on them and the line done away with with latex. Ironing my hair worked well and the only problem I had was braiding the ear braids thin enough. That will just take practice.

My neck piece needs some reworking. The sleeves were wonderfully cool (I left them unsewn underneath where they attached to the neck piece). But the leaves on the neck (1) are just WAY too big. It's a small detail, but for close up shots like this, it would make a better effect if they were smaller.

I'm also not sure about the cape. I didn't do the pin shot because I was struggling enough with the cape that I didn't want to put my friends through the process of trying to pin it right. My material was not wool, it was sinthetic and VERY slippery. It seemed to want to slid off my shoulders all over the place! It's also much too bright, even though it is a beautiful material. As the next picture set will show, I might have to redo the cape altogether, so if I find a better color, I might as well!

Oh, also, here it is really easy to see how Haldir's shoulder pads (2) are so much thinner than mine!

BACK

What can I say, my cape is just too small. The material is too thin, and though it is thin, it is very heavy, which is why I made it small! I also didn't have a quiver, whih I doubt I'll ever make at this point. The other point about the cape was that in order to keep it from sliding down my arms, it had to be tucked into my back armor, and it looks funky... Looking at this picture I realized I could have spend more time ironing the back of my hair... (I know, nit pick *L*)

SIDE

The sideviews on the far left are borrowed from Ian Smith's report on the San Diego Comic Con. (used by permission) and comparing my armor with it and the costume exhibit from FIDM 2003 (from the Alleycatscratch site) I am again convinced the shoulder bells are my biggest problem. I'm fairly pleased with the skirts in general, though it would be nice if the maille was a tiny bit shinier. And I still like my red boots with this costume, even though that's not very accurate. I'm very pleased with the wrist guards, and I will be gluing the armor to the vinyl rather than the velcro that holds it now. The hip armor is very lumpy when examined close up, but from a distance, it passes. I could sand and repaint, but at this point... naaaah......

I have yet to get a good shot of Haldir's sheath, so I went by what the dolls looks like.
But comparing my sword to his, mine is MUCH too big... I'll work on getting a picture up for comparison.

From the front I can see I need to make my skirt come together more, which should be an easy fix. It is a good length though. My Hip Armor looks a little too flat, not enough like separate leaves, and this is unfixable, I'd have to resculpt it. I had thought that maybe my hip armor was too high, but it looks like maybe it just doesnt come together enough in the front... again, nothing I can really do anything about. And my chest armor, again looks too low, something I might be able to fix by strapping it on tighter and higher.

It's also easy to see here that my cloak is hobbit size compared to what it should be. *L*

Hopefully this little exercise has been helpful to those of you building your own armor, both in how to spot details by comparing the pictures, and in giving you ideas of how to do your own to make it more accurate. The last thing I would want to do is make someone feel like they have to get theirs perfect to be happy with it. I'm very pleased with what I did and I've heard nothing but good things from those who saw it either. I'm just doing this to get better at the craft. Something a buddy of mine taught me to do... Oh look, there he is right below these word's... Thanks Art! (He not only hosts my site, but he helped me put the armor on and took the reference shots.)