Life-sized Twilight Princess Redead Knight : 38 Steps (with Pictures)

In this instuctable I'm going to show you how to make a life-sized Redead knight from The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. This mummy stands over six feet tall and is made using everyday and easy to get materials and tools so anybody can make it.

This is the largest and most ambitious project I have ever made. It was started on a whim and without much of a plan. With the pandemic I was spending more time at home, and decided to replay all of the Legend of Zelda games that I own (which is most of them). As I played through them I realized there are a lot of really creepy monsters in those games that would work perfectly for Halloween. I decided to start with the creepiest looking monster, and to me that's the redeads from Twilight Princess.

I decided to jump right into making my redead and see what I could do. My goal was to make it look really cool and creepy without spending a huge amount of money. Because of this, the main supplies for this project are cardboard, paper, masking tape, and glue. There's probably an easier way to make something like this but I think my way came out pretty good and didn't cost me much at all.

Even though this instructable is for a redead, I think it would be pretty easy to alter it to make a regular mummy or you could even leave it unwrapped, throw some clothes on it and make a zombie. Since I made it "life-sized" the armor, cape, and sword can be made by themselves to be used as a costume. Throughout the building of this monster I kept in mind that after Halloween I would have to be able to pack it safely away until next year. Because of this I made it so the head, armor, and sword are all easily removable (which means if you ever need a quick zombie knight costume you can just borrow it from this guy). This project took me quite awhile to make and has a lot of steps so be prepared for a very long instructable. I split the body, sword, and armor into separate sections so just look for my cat if you want to skip a section. Here we go!

Step 1: The Mummy

In the next 14 steps I'm going to be showing you how the make the body and head of the mummy. The body is mostly made out of paper and tape with a PVC pipe frame running through it. I added links to some the less common supplies I bought for this project so you don't have to look too far if you want to make it.

Supplies for the body and head:

Thin Brown Paper (This paper makes up a bulk of the mummy's body. Anywhere I say "paper" and it's not for paper mache assume I'm using this unless I specifically state otherwise)
Four 3/4" x 10' PVC Pipe
Nine Joints for the PVC Pipe - four 90 degree, three 45 degree, one tee, and one cross
PVC Primer and Cement
Lots of Masking Tape (I went through six small rolls)
Regular Printer Paper
School Glue (I used around five bottles)
Cheese Cloth - 5.5 yards, grade 50
One Regular Sized Latex Balloon
Spray Primer
Spray Paint - a dark grungy green and a black
Acrylic Paint - Dark brown and Black
Oven Bake Clay - "curry" or a similar gold/yellow/brown-ish color
A Random, Cheap Halloween Decoration with a red LED light inside
An X-acto Knife
Sharp Scissors
Measuring Tape
A Sponge Brush

Step 2: Cutting the PVC Pipe and Making the Frame/skeleton

The first step in making the mummy is creating its PVC pipe skeleton. Since I'm only using 3/4" wide pipe it's pretty easy to cut. I used a copping saw and it took less than a minute per cut. You're going to want to set up outside somewhere while cutting the pipes because the release a kind of chemically smell while it's being cut.

Here is the size and number of each piece I used for my mummy. It will help to label each piece with a permanent marker as you cut them.

Legs - 2 x 36"
Hips - 2 x 3"
Lower back 1 x 11"
Upper back 1 x 20"
Neck 1 x 5"
Shoulders 2 x 7"
Upper arms 2 x 11"
Lower arms 2 x 19"

You can mess around with the sizes if you want to make something a little different but I think it came out just about perfect for my mummy.

Once all the pieces are cut, you can pop it all together and see how it came out. It's probably easiest to look at the pictures to see how each piece is attached but I'll try to explain it too. I started with the legs, pop a 90-degree elbow on one end of each leg and then one of the hips into the other end of the elbow. Now use the tee to attach the hips together and have the remaining open socket on the tee pointing up and back a little ways. insert the lower back piece into the tee and then use the 45-degree elbow to attach the upper back to the lower back. Stick the cross fitting on top of the upper back and use it to attach the shoulders and neck. Now, before attaching the arms, use the two remaining 45-degree elbows to attach the lower arm pieces to the upper arm pieces. Finally, use 90-degree elbows to attach the arms to the shoulders. Every thing should fit pretty snugly together and not come apart too easy. Now you can carefully stand the skeleton/frame up, lean it against something, and slowly bend the joints until it's standing in the position you want it in.

Use a permanent marker to make marks where the pieces fit together so when you're gluing it you know how they go.

Step 3: Glue Together the Frame/skeleton

The next step is to glue the skeleton together. I highly recommend using PVC cement and primer. Once PVC pipe is glued together with this, it will never come apart again. This way you don't have to worry about any of the joints coming loose while you're making your zombie or after it's done.

Before gluing the frame together, set up a large, clear, flat area outside. The fumes from PVC cement and primer are very strong so make sure you only work with it outside and keep the containers down wind and away from your face. I also recommend wearing gloves because you'll never get this stuff off your fingers. This step is quick and easy as long as you are careful. Once the primer and cement dry most of the smell goes away and it's safe to bring them inside.

Start by sorting the pieces out so you know where everything is. Glue the pieces together in the same order that you put it together in the last step or what ever way works best for you. Use the applicator to spread the purple primer wherever the pipe and connector will be touching. Inside the connector piece and on the end of the pipe. Give this a few seconds to dry and then spread the cement over the primer. This stuff dries very fast so you need to be ready to fit the two pieces together and make sure they are in the right position. Once this dries, the two pieces will never come apart or move again so getting them into the correct position fast is very important. Hold them together for a minute or two even after you can't turn them anymore (I failed to do this and one of the arms drooped down and I had to saw through the shoulder piece and stick a new connector on there to turn it in the right direction again). Repeat this process for all the joints until your skeleton is all glued together. Once I figured out what I was doing, it only took about an hour to finish, including drying time.

Step 4: Make a Ribcage

This is where the big roll of brown paper comes in. After a bunch of experimenting, I finally found a way to make a nice looking rib cage. Start by cutting yourself a piece of paper somewhere around 50 inches long. Roll this up into a tight tube and tape it with masking tape so it doesn't unroll. Stick your thumb in one side and pull out the inside until the tube is about 20 inches long. Gently flatten the tube a little bit and bend it into a half circle/rib shape. Make a second one and tape both ribs together at one end and slide the ribs under your skeleton's upper back and center it. Now, bend the end on each rib in at about 1 1/2 inches to a tab on each end. Bring these two tabs together and tape them (see pic) so that it makes a slight indent where they meet. This makes one pair of ribs. Repeat this process three more times except make each subsequent pair of ribs about an inch to an inch and a half shorter than the pair before it.

Once all the ribs are done, line them up about 3/4 of an inch apart and tape them in place. to help keep them in the shape I wanted them in, I wrapped tape around the tab where the two ribs meet and then around the back (see pic). This held them in place nicely and made the ribs sit a little flatter.

Do not stand your skeleton up at this point or the ribs might lose shape.

Step 5: More Ribs and More

Very carefully stuff the rib cage with newspaper and use tape to hold it in. Newspaper is a little stiffer then the brown paper and will work better for holding the ribs in the right place. The ribs will probably be a little wonky but they looked pretty good for a mummy so I left them that way.

Next, wad up some paper and tape it around the mid section. I didn't use any measurements here and just kept adding more and taping it into place until I thought it looked good. Once it looks good to you, add a little extra on one or both sides under the rib cage. This is going to be for adding more ribs. I thought it looked spookier if it was missing ribs on one side but you can do both if you want it to be more accurate to the ones in the game. Make three more ribs like you did in the last step except keep them single and only pull them out an inch or so longer than they already are. Use tape to hold these bottom ribs in place.

For the hips, I wadded up more paper until it was hip bone shaped and about 9" tall then wrapped each one in a mostly unwrinkled piece of paper and taped it in place to make them look smoother. I used more tape to secure them to the skeleton just above the "hip bone" PVC pipes (see pic)

Step 6: "Flesh" Out the Skeleton

Now you need to bulk up and shape your zombie's arms and legs. For this part I just rolled up some pieces of the brown paper and slid the pipes of the arms and legs through them. Leave about 3" of pipe sticking out on both the legs and arms. How much paper "flesh" you want to add is up to you. The redeads in the game are tall and very skinny so I only added a pretty thin layer of paper. Be careful not to make the paper to loose around the pipes so the arms and legs arm not too squishy. I used tape to hold the paper in place and add some shape. Wrap tape tightly around the elbow, wrist, knee, and ankle areas. This will help define the muscles (or what's left of them). If anywhere looks like it needs some more paper, just wad up more and tape it where it's needed. At this point, until it gets covered in paper mache, you are pretty much sculpting your zombies body. So feel free to add or remove paper until you have your perfect zombie. And keep in mind the paper mache will smooth most of the wrinkles and cover small gaps.

Now it needs some knee caps. Fold a piece of 10" paper until it's a roughly 3" lumpy circle. Put it over your chosen knee area and tape one side down. Stuff a small wad of paper under the knee cap and tape the other side down. Do the same thing for the other side.

Step 7: Yay! It's Paper Mache Time!

Before starting the paper mache, make sure nothing is loose and put extra tape anywhere it needs it. Use chairs or something to prop your zombie up off the ground on but be sure to keep it horizontal. The exposed pipe won't be getting any paper mache yet so you can tape those parts down to hold your zombie in place.

Start by cutting a whole lot of 1-2" paper strips out of printer paper. This paper is stiffer so it will hold up better to being soaked in glue and dry harder than the brown paper. You are going to need a lot of paper strips so this part could be a bit tedious. I used a sharp pair of scissors and stacked the paper four or five piece at a time and cut them that way. Once you have a nice sized pile of paper strips, mix about three parts water to two parts glue in a container. The ratio of water to glue isn't too important. If it's too thin add some glue if it's too thick add some water.

Add a couple strips of paper to the bucket of glue and make sure they get completely covered. Let them sit for about twenty seconds and then carefully remove one strip and run it between two of your fingers to remove extra glue then pick a spot and start wrapping your zombie. repeat this until you run out of paper in your bucket and then add more. You need to work kinda fast when there are strips in the glue because the longer they sit in there the more delicate and harder to work with they get so only put a couple pieces in the glue at a time. It goes pretty fast once you get the hang of it. Just keep wrapping until all the brown paper is covered on the arms, legs, and top side of the torso. Wait for the paper mache to fully dry which takes about twelve hour, or over night and then very carefully flip the zombie over and paper mache the back.

The zombie is going to need three layers of paper mache. Each layer will make your zombie sturdier.

Step 8: Ugly Feet

To make feet, roll a 30" piece of brown paper into a hollow tube with a 3" diameter and loosely stuff it a little more than halfway with small pieces if crumbled up paper. Don't fill it too much because your going to flatten it out some later. Tape the filled end shut (see pic) and crunch up the empty part a little bit and then bend it up at about a ninety-degree angle. Slide the crinkled part over the pipe sticking out where it's foot should go. Make sure to push the foot all the way on to the bend in the foot so the pipe is in the heel and will be touching the ground when the zombie is standing. wrap tape around the top of the ankle to hold the foot on. Flatten the foot part down a bit so that it's a little flatter than you want your foot be. Use tape to hold the foot in the right position at about ninety-degrees from the leg. Loop the tape around the bottom of the foot, across the front of the ankle, around behind the ankle, and then back across the other way a couple times (see pic).

Once the foot is secured, it needs some toes. first figure out the best spacing for toes on your zombie foot. For mine, the big toe was about an inch and the rest of the toes were around a half inch wide. Use sharp scissors to cut between each toe to separate them and then wrap each individual toe in tape.

Now it's ready for some toe bones. Tightly roll three 6" pieces of paper into 12" tubes. use two pieces of tape to hold them in place and then cut them in half and flatten one end. Tape five of these tubes to the zombie foot with the flat end of each one at the base of a toe and the other end at the base of the ankle. Try to leave a little space between each bone.

Follow this whole process again to make a second foot. Once you have two feet on your zombie, they need to be covered in paper mache. Use the same method as before but cut a couple thinner strips of paper for the toes. When doing the top of the foot, slowly lay the paper strip down with one hand use the other to gently press it into the crack between the toes bones. Once the feet are completely covered, let them dry all the way and then repeat this process two more times for a total of three layers.

Step 9: Creepy Hands

Like you did with the feet, start by cutting a 30" piece of paper and roll it into a 12" long hollow tube with a 3" diameter. Cut it in half so you have two 6" long tubes. Starting with the arm that's reaching forward, slide one of the tubes over the PVC pipe until the pipe is about an inch away from sticking out of the tube. Crunch the other end tightly around the PVC pipe and tape in place (see pic). Stuff some crinkled up paper scraps into the open end of the paper tube until it's fairly firm but there is still a little room in there.

For the fingers, cut two more pieces of paper about 12" long and roll each into a tight tube. Cut each tube into thirds so you have six equal length tubes and use tape to stop them from unraveling. Like you did with the ribs, pull out the inner part until it's a little longer than twice its original size and repeat with four more of the small tubes to make five fingers. Carefully stuff four fingers into the hand between the paper stuffing the upper part of the paper tube. You can decide how long you want the fingers to be and keep in mind their length compared to each other (the pinky finger should be the shortest, etc...). Once you figure out the lengths use a little tape to hold them in place. For the thumb, tape one of the remaining tubes to the side of the hand about where the thumb should be. Wrap tape around where the thumb touches the hand but be careful not to squish it too much so extra tube can act as the thumb bone. Bend each finger except the thumb in two places to create the joints. Finally, wrap each finger completely in tape to give them more strength and stop them from getting soggy and drooping when they get paper mache wraped around them.

Repeat this process with the other hand but keep in mind that this one is going to be dragging the sword behind your mummy. To make sure I had it positioned right I used the handle of a bad badminton racket and held it in the position about how I wanted the sword to be held and put the hand together around that.

Once both hands are done it's time to make more paper shreds and the glue mixture for paper mache. Before wrapping each hand, lay a paper strip that has been softened in the glue mixture lengthwise on the back of one of the hands and pinch it up to make a hand bone that runs from the base of one of the fingers to the wrist (see pic). Repeat this with the other fingers and then wrap the rest of the hand normally. Each hand should get two layers of paper mache. Three layers would not leave enough space between the fingers.

Step 10: Time for a Head

For the head you're going to need a balloon. Blow the balloon up until looks like its a good size head for your zombie. Mine was about 26" in circumference. Tie the balloon and the tape the bottom to something to hold it still and then wrap it in three layers of paper mache leaving a small area around the tape uncovered. Once the paper mache is fully dry on the outside and feels pretty sturdy, remove the tape and pop the balloon. Hopefully the paper mache held up but if it shrunk in on itself when the balloon popped that's fine just pop it back out through the hole where the tape was. Now shape the face by making indents in the head (see pic). Make two kinda circular indents for the eyes, two longer indents for the cheek areas, and one for the mouth and nose. Keep working at it until it looks mostly face like.

Cut an upside down "V" shape where the nose should be just below and between the eyes using a x-acto knife. Now, cut a rectangle from the hole in the bottom to a little below the nose. For the jaw, make another paper tube out of a 12" piece of paper. Find the center of the tube and fold it in two places so you have an uneven rectangle in the middle that's about an inch across on top and a half inch on the bottom (see pic). On either end of the tube fold it up at about two inches and pinch it to hold it in place. Now, attach the jaw to the head by taping the ends of the tubes to the "cheek bones". To Make the eye sockets I cut "+" into each eye with w x-acto knife and folded the flaps inwards.

To make the inside of the zombie mouth I took a 12" piece of paper and folded it into a flat almost circle shape and shoved it in through the hole in the bottom of the head and taped it around the inside of the mouth and bottom jaw. I don't have exact instructions for this part so just kinda fold it and tape it until it looks good.

Now it all gets paper mache again. Be careful around the eye holes and gently push the paper strips in a little there to make an eye socket.

Once it's dry check to see if the head fits on your mummy. The neck stub on the body should fit into the hole on the bottom of the head . If the hole isn't big enough, cut it a little bigger and if it's too big just use more paper mache strips to make it smaller.

Step 11: Prime and Paint the Mummy

Bring your completely dry zombie outside and coat it with spray primer. Start with either the front or the back, let it dry, and then flip it over and spray the other side. Let the zombie dry however long it says to on your can of primer (mine took an hour) and then paint your zombie. I chose to paint my zombie with dark forest green spray paint. It took two coats to get the shade I wanted.

Follow the same steps for the head but after the paint dries, use black spray paint to darken the eyes and inside the mouth. Practice with the black paint on a board or something before spraying the head so you get an idea of how to do it without getting black paint everywhere you don't want it.

Step 12: Turn the Zombie Into a Mummy

It took a lot of trial and error to perfect this step but once I did, it didn't take long at all to wrap the mummy. Start by filling a medium sized bucket with warm water and mix a 1/2 cup of glue with a 1/2 cup of water in a second smaller bucket. Now cut strips of cheese cloth about 1-2" wide. The length doesn't matter too much. The cheese cloth I used came folded so I cut the strips and they unfolded to be about two feet long. Roll these strips up into tight little cheese cloth rolls and put them in the bucket of warm water. Squeeze the rolls in the water to get rid of as much air as possible .

While the cheese cloth rolls soak, prop the zombie body up off the ground again like you did for the paper mache. Once you're ready, take a cheese cloth roll and squeeze most of the water out of it so it's not dripping. Now pick a spot to start and use the cheese cloth like a bandage and unwrap the roll around the mummy. After you have a couple rolls wrapped on there, dip your fingers in the glue mixture and dab some on the cheese cloth. You don't have to put much glue on and try to keep the glue in the center and avoid the edges of the strips so they can get a little frazzled and stick up as they dry. You will probably have to flip the zombie over to cover its back just be sure to let the glue dry completely before doing that. Cut smaller strips of cheese cloth for the fingers that are about a 1/2" wide and no more than 6" long. When you wrap over the finger and foot bones use a little extra glue so they still hold their shape through the cheese cloth. The head gets wrapped the same way as the rest of the body but be sure to leave the mouth uncovered and a slit for the right eye uncovered.

Now the mummy needs a second layer that's going to be looser to make it look older and more worn out. Stand the mummy up and use soggy strips of cheese cloth to loosely wrap it again. Put the glue on in patches so most of the strips are loose and leave some ends unglued at different lengths so they can hang freely. The second layer dosn't have be as complete as the first layer. For the head, make the second layer a little looser than the first layer but not so loose you lose the structure of the face.

Step 13: Dirtying the Mummy

When you finish wrapping your mummy it's going to look a little too clean in its bright white wrappings so we need to make it dirty. I used "real brown" acrylic paint and a sponge brush to add "dirt" to my mummy. Just dip the brush in the paint wipe most of it off then dab and wipe paint all over the mummy. I didn't have a real method for doing this and just splotched it on. After you finish that, use the paint to add shadows to places like between the ribs, finger, and toe bones and the eyes, cheeks, and nose. Be sure to make the bottoms and side of the feet extra dirty looking too because this mummy has probably been shuffling around in very dirty places.

Step 14: Teeth

Now lets make the mummy some teeth. For these I used "curry" colored oven bake clay. Start by measuring the top part of your mummy's mouth and rolling out a small piece of clay to be the same length. This will act kind of like the gums to stick the teeth too. Attach six small, slightly flattened pieces of clay about 1/8" apart to the gum piece (see pic). The middle two should be about a 1/4" wide and 3/4" long. Make the other four slightly smaller. Flatten the ends of each tooth a little to make them more tooth shaped and then carefully put the teeth in the mummy's mouth to make sure everything it sized right. Use the same method to make the bottom teeth but make them a little thinner and the lengths a little more random like they are chipped and broken.

Make two slightly flat half circles out of foil to cook the teeth on to keep them from being completely flat. Cook the teeth according to the directions on the clay. Once they cool, use a line of hot glue along the gum part to glue them to the inside of the mouth with the gums covered.

Step 15: Intermission

This is a very long instructable and if you made it this far you deserve a cat (even if she is being a weirdo).

Step 16: The Sword

In the next ten steps I'm going to be showing you how I made the sword for my mummy. If you want to skip the mummy and just make a cool looking sword go ahead and start here.

Like the mummy, I had no idea what I was doing and just made it up as I went and somehow it all came together to make an awesome sword. The grip is part of a piece of PVC pipe running the sword's entire length from the hilt to the tip of the blade which holds it all together and makes it sturdy enough to be used as a "real" prop sword for a costume (just don't hit it against anything too hard, it's still mostly cardboard).

Here is the complete list of materials for the sword:

Card board - The middle section of the blade is made with a 30" x 7" x 6" amazon box. You can probably use a different sized box or sheets of cardboard but this one already has the folds in the right places so if it's at all possible try to use a box this size. (I got this box from ordering windshield wipers from amazon so now might be a good time to check if you need new ones too ;P)
Lots of Masking Tape
48" PVC Pipe (mine was leftover from making the mummy)
Those air bag thingies for shipping stuff
Cheese Cloth
Spray Primer
Spray Paint - metallic silver and black
Brown Acrylic Paint
Elmer's Glue
Hot Glue Gun
Scissors
X-acto Knife

Step 17: The Blade

Start by cutting through the tape on the bottom of the box and then along one of the corners so you have two separate pieces. Now cut along the crease that separates what was the long side of the box from the short side (I added guiding marks on the pictures just in case you couldn't understand my gibberish). This next part uses the larger pieces but keep the smaller pieces for later. Once you figure that out, cut a 1 1/4" strip off each of the flaps on the long sides of both of the remaining big pieces of the box.

Flip one of the pieces on top of the other one so the now trimmed flaps come together at a point and tape them in place (see pic). The flaps should push against each other some so the two pieces are propped apart a little bit so it's like a cardboard tunnel.

Step 18: Pointy Things for the Ends of the Blade

Cut eight 7" x 2" pieces of cardboard (you'll need four for the tip, the other are for the top of the blade). Now, take two of these pieces and set the end of one on top of the end of the other perpendicularly and mark and cut as shown in the picture. Use this cut piece as a guide to cut the other seven into the same shape to make eight rectangles with pointy ends (Yes, I did take a class in geometry, thank you for noticing).

Now take two of the pointy rectangles and tape the newly cut ends together to make an arrow shape. Make a second one of these and then stack them on top of each other. While holding the outer edges, pinch the two arrow thingies together so that the inner edges come apart and open up (see pic with my hand in it). Now, tape along the outer edges to hold the pieces together. Use the four remaining pointy rectangles to make a second one of these.

Step 19: Tip of the Blade

Choose one the pointy things you made to be the tip and insert it pointy side out into one end of the middle part of the blade until the outer edges of the pointy thing meet the outer edges of the blade and tape them together (see pic). Now use scraps of cardboard to make two triangles just larger than the triangle shaped holes between the tip and the middle of the blade. Set the triangle pieces over the holes on either side of the blade and then wrap the tip in tape.

Step 20: Top of the Blade

Now it's time for the 48" PVC pipe. Carefully stick the pipe all the way through the remaining open end of the sword as far as it will go without breaking or deforming the tip. Roll up a strip of cardboard about 16" x 2" into a tight spiral. slide this over the end of the PVC pipe until it's just inside the blade. This spiral is going to hold the pipe in place and help prop open the blade. If the spiral is too thick try to squish it down some or shorten the strip of cardboard. Make sure the pipe is perfectly centered and then hot glue the spiral to the inside of the blade and the pipe. To make the blade sturdier, stuff it with those air bag things used for shipping. You want enough in there that the blade is firm when you press on it but not bursting at the seams.

Take the second pointy thing that you made earlier and cut the tip off at a little less than an inch. Stick the pipe through where the tip was. If it doesn't fit cut the hole a little bigger. Slide it into the blade like you did with the tip and then wrap it in tape. Since this was to top of the blade I decided not to fill in the triangle holes with extra cardboard and just wrapped it in extra tape.

Step 21: Not Sure What This Part of the Sword Is Called

Cut a paper towel tube down to 4" long. Stuff some of the brown paper scraps inside and then slide the PVC pipe through it until it hits the blade. You will have to work the paper around a bit until it evenly surrounds the pipe.

Now, roll up one of the 30" strips of cardboard from step 17. Start with an inch long fold from one end and just roll/fold it up from there. Use tape to stop it from unrolling and then slide the pipe through the center of this rolled up cardboard thing. Before sliding it all the way to the paper towel tube, push the center of the roll out a little bit to make it a little longer and give it a tapered top. Press it down onto the paper towel tube and wrap tape around the top to smooth it out and hold it in place and then use hot glue where it touches the paper towel tube to secure it even more.

Step 22: Add the Guards

For the thinner, main part of the guards (part A) start with two 2 1/2 " x 6" pieces of cardboard. Press the ruler through the center lengthwise to make a crease and then fold along that line and wrap the whole thing in tape. Repeat for the second one. Use the x-acto knife to make a slit on both edge sides of the rolled up card board piece that was added in the last step. The slits should be big enough to stick the very ends of the guards into them.

For the thicker part of the guard that points back at the blade (part B), use two 4" x 6" pieces of cardboard. Use the ruler to crease and fold them in half like before and then use tape to keep it folded. On the short edge of one of these pieces, find the center and then use the ruler to draw a straight line from that point to top corner (see pic). Trim the cardboard along this line and wrap it in more tape. Use this finished piece as a guide while cutting the second one.

Now, use hot glue to attach the wider end of "B"s to the "A"s at about a half inch from the edge and so the trimmed parts on the "B"s will be facing inward once the guards are attached to the sword.

Cover the end of a "A" in hot glue and then press it into the slit in the rolled cardboard at a slight angle towards the blade and repeat with the second one once the glue cools (see pic).

Step 23: Now the End Bobble

Finally it's time to make the end bobble or whatever it's called. For this, cut the leftover strip of cardboard from step 17 down to 22". Roll this strip up as tightly as you can and use tape to keep it rolled. Push the bottom in a little bit to to make a bump on the top. now wrap the whole thing in tape. From the pictures I could find this piece has an almost diamond shape so I used folds in the tape to give it the impression of a diamond-ish shape. Finally cover the entire indented bottom part with hot glue and stick it on the end of the PVC pipe.

Step 24: Paint the Sword

Bring the sword outside and spray a coat of primer over the whole thing. Do one side at a time and let the primer dry before flipping it over. Once the primer dries, give the sword two coats of metallic silver. Read the directions on your can a spray paint to see how long to wait between coats. After the silver coats are done, do a very splotchy coat of black. The black is just to add grungy patches so don't put on too much and mostly focus on the edges of the blade, the guards, and the hilt of the sword.

Step 25: Mummify the Sword

Use the same technique from the mummy to wrap the sword: Cut strips of cheese cloth, roll them up and stick them in water, squeeze most of the water out of the rolls and unroll them around the sword, and finally dab on the glue mixture with your fingers to hold the wrappings in place (the glue mixture for this part is 50/50 water and glue). Wrap the guards and handle like I did in the picture and then wrap the blade randomly however you want it.

After the sword is fully wrapped and the glue is dry, get out another sponge brush and some brown paint. Brush a very light coat randomly all over the sword and the cheese cloth to make it look dirty. Use a slightly thicker layer of paint on the cheese cloth where ever it crosses an edge on the blade. This adds more definition and helps the sword keep its shape even under all the cloth.

Step 26: Intermission 2

Here's my cat again giving you a break from reading.

Step 27: The Armor

The armor is almost entirely made of cardboard. In the next seven (long) steps I'll show you how I made the armor. The pieces are pretty simple but I also added a lot of pictures so if my text gets confusing you can follow along with the pictures instead.

Supplies for the armor:

Lots of Cardboard - mostly regular thickness but you'll need some thin cereal box type cardboard for the shoulder plate
An Old Red Shirt (no, not a star trek security person just a regular shirt)
Hot Glue Gun with Lots of Glue
14 Medium Sized Googly Eyes
Blank Pins With Butterfly Clutches (or rubber clutches if you plan on using the armor for a costume)
Thin Wire (or ribbon or elastic if you plan on using the armor for a costume)
Spray Primer
Spray Paint - Metallic sliver and flat black
Ruler
Scissors
Marker
A Sponge Brush

Step 28: Every Ancient Mummified Knight Needs a Cape

I used parts of this shirt in a different project so ignore the circle cut out of the bottom. Start by cutting along the seam on the side of the shirt from the bottom up to the sleeve on both sides of the shirt and then across in the front only about 8" below the neck hole. Now cut out the bottom portion of the sleeves. Cut off the seams on the ends of the sleeves, around the neck hole, and at the bottom of the shirt. Now see how the cape fits on your mummy. remove the mummy's head, put the cape on and put the head back. Trim the cape until it fits and looks good.

Now you need to make the cape look a little more torn up and old. Make some cuts and tears in the bottom of the cape. In random places all over the cape, bunch up a tiny bit of the material and cut it to make holes. Carefully use the scissors to cut tiny slits mostly about 1/4" deep along all the edges. Make these slits crazy and have some longer some shorter and just everywhere. Finally use your fingers to pull and pick at all the edges of the cape including the holes to make it look frazzled and worn out.

Like you did on the rest of the mummy, use a sponge brush and brown paint to add dirt and stains to the cape.

Step 29: Cape Holding Things

I'm not sure what these are called but the gibdos in the game have two just below their shoulders and they appear to be for securing the cape.

To make these I cut two 4" cardboard circles. Cut a 1/2" strip from each side measuring from the widest part (see pic). Now cut straight lines from the center of the still rounded part to the corners you just made by cutting the strips from the side (see pic with guidelines on it). Once you have one complete hexagon you can use it as a pattern for cutting the next one so you don't have to measure it.

Step 30: The Visor

This broken visor hangs around the neck on the gibdos.

Start with a 5" x 10" pieces of cardboard. Pick one of the long edges to be the top and make a mark at the exact center of this edge. Now make a mark 3" down from the top on both the side edges. Use the ruler to draw straight lines from the mark on top to these two edge marks.

Now, make a mark 3" below the top mark and below each of the side marks. Like you did with the marks above them, use the ruler to make straight lines connecting the middle mark to the edge marks.

Use a X-acto knife to cut along these lines to make the visor. Press the ruler into the center to create a crease so you can bend the visor there (see pic). Now, use a pencil or marker five small elongated rectangle shapes on either side of the bend in the visor. There's no fancy measurements here so you can just look at the picture of mine and guesstimate. Try to have the rectangles mirror each other on either side of the bend and have them get slightly smaller as they get farther from the bend.

To make the visor sit on the mummy's shoulders a little better I added two more pieces of cardboard to the ends of the visor. Cut two scraps of cardboard to have about the same angle as the visor and glue them together so the scraps bend inward a little bit (kinda like cheap sun glasses). You won't see these pieces so they don't have to be perfect.

Step 31: The Chest Plate

Start with a 12" x 10 1/2" piece of cardboard. Pick one of the 12" sides to be the bottom and make two marks on the bottom edge each 4" in from the sides. Make a mark three inches above each of the first two. Use the ruler to draw a straight line from the marks on the bottom to the new marks directly above them. Now, along each side edge, make a mark 6" up from the bottom. Use the ruler again to draw a straight line from each of the side marks to the nearest mark from the second set of marks. (see picture with lines and measurements).

This piece of armor has fancy raised edges and center ridges. To make the raised edges, you will need five 7/8" wide strips of cardboard. Two should be 5", two more should be 2 5/8", and the last one should be 4". Lay the 4" piece along the bottom edge and then the 2 5/8" pieces along the short edges up from the bottom (see pic). The 5" pieces go along the angled sides with the ends resting on top of the ends of the 2 5/8" pieces. Draw a line going from the outside corner where these two intersect to the opposite corner of the 5" piece (see pic). Cut through both of these pieces at the same time along the line you just made. They should now come together as a neat corner. Do the same on the other side and then hot glue all the edge pieces in place.

To make the center ridge, cut three 3/4" x 5" strips of cardboard. Start by placing one of the strips directly in the center of the chest plate with one of the short ends butting up against the bottom raised edge. Put the other two so that they are perpendicular the raised edge pieces along the angled sides and cross each other on top of the center ridge. Try to keep the same amount of space between the these pieces and the edges as there is between the center ridge and the edges around it (see pic). Once the ridge pieces are in place, draw a line straight through the center of where the two angled pieces intersect and then pick up both pieces, being careful to keep them in the same position and cut through both at the same time along the line you made. They should now come together at a nice point. Reposition them back on the chest plate on top of the center ridge and draw an outline of the point they make on the center ridge (see pic). Cut the center ridge along these new lines and then all the ridge pieces should fit together nicely in the center. Make sure they are all positioned correctly and then hot glue them in place.

Step 32: Shoulder Plate

You are going to need thinner cardboard for this part because it needs to bend and curve. I used a box from canned cat food but a cereal box or something like that would work too just make sure you have four good sized flat pieces. Cut one of the pieces into a double tear drop/pointy lemon shape (see pic). It should about 11" long from pointed tip to pointed tip and 8" wide at the widest part of the rounded edges. Use this as a pattern two cut a second one. Trim the second one down so it's about an inch shorter and thinner. Repeat this step using the second piece as a pattern to make a third and then trim the third down an inch. Finally, use the third piece to make a fourth. Trim the fourth piece down by 2" along the rounded edges but keep the length to the point the same. Trim one of the pointed ends off of pieces two through four so that they have one pointed side and one flat side. This will help them fit together better.

Now you need to shape the pieces so that they will kind of curve around the shoulder. Tightly roll each piece up lengthwise and then unroll and roll up again widthwise. Do this two to three times until the cardboard stays mostly rounded and then curl the tips of each piece upwards a little. Stack the pieces partially on each other with the first piece on top to make sure they fit together good (see pic).

Now hold the first two pieces together and set them on the mummy's shoulder to figure out how you want them spaced. I liked it with the bottom piece sticking out about an inch. once you figure that out, hot glue them together and then repeat with the remaining pieces.

Step 33: Finishing Steps for the Armor

The armor now gets it's last few details. The shoulder plate and cape holding thingies all have rivets in them. After searching for something that would work, I found a bag of googly eyes. They were the perfect shape and thickness to work as rivets. Glue three googly eyes to each cape holder thingy and eight to the shoulder plate. On the cape holders, hot glue one of the googly eyes near the bottom corner and the other two near the top side corners (see pic). For the shoulder plate, hot glue four googly eyes on each side; one on the bottom part of each layer (see pic).

To make the pieces of armor look more like metal and less like cardboard once they are painted, cover all the exposed, cut edges of the cardboard in hot glue. This includes along the edges of the raised parts on the chest plate. Don't bother with the slits in the visor just get the outer edges.

Step 34: Shiny and Tarnished Armor

Set up a space outside that you can spread all the armor pieces out on and put a coat of primer one them. Once the primer dries, hit them with two to three coats of metallic silver. Wait for the silver to dry and then use the black spray paint to add some tarnish to them. Like before, start by practicing on a board or something until you know the right pressure and speed to just add some grungy looking patches and not just solid black spots. Add some tarnish all over the armor but leave some untouched patches so it still shines a little. Have the tarnish get more concentrated to almost fully black near the bottoms of the armor pieces except on the cape holders. After the black paint dries, spray the metallic silver directly on a scrap board in the same spot for a few seconds to make a puddle of paint. Dip one of your fingers in the paint and dab the silver on the top of each rivet on the armor. This will make them stick out better so they are not lost in the tarnish.

Step 35: Attaching the Armor

Like I mentioned earlier, while making this mummy I wanted to make sure I could easily store it away for next year so I made the armor easily removable. This means none of the armor pieces are directly attached the mummy's body.

For the chest plate, start by folding the top corners back slightly and then cut a small hole in each fold. Cut a piece of wire about 2' in length and slip it through one of the holes and twist it back around itself to secure it. Slide the other end through the other hole but don't twist it yet. Hang the wire over the neck and figure out how low the chest plate should hang before twisting the wire to secure it in place. Use the same method for the visor. If you are planning on using either of these pieces of armor in a costume switch out the wire for ribbon or elastic and make sure the visor is very loose to to make them more comfortable and avoid accidents.

The rest of the armor pieces are attached directly to the cape. To do this I used blank pins with butterfly clutch backs to pin them on. To start, hot glue one blank pin near the top of the back of each cape holder thing. The top is the part with two rivets so the blank pins should be right between those two rivets but on the back. These should now easily clip on once you put the cape on the mummy. For the shoulder plate, hot glue two pins on the inside of the second layer of the armor (see pic). Positioning the shoulder plate was a little more difficult but once it was on the pins held nicely. If you plan to use any of these pieces in a costume switch the metal butterfly clutches out for rubber clutches to make them more comfortable. I used metal ones on my mummy because they have a tighter hold.

Step 36: Final Assembly

To give my redead a glowy eye, I pulled a red LED light thing out of a dollar tree halloween decoration and made a hole in the right eye socket of the mummy head and stuck the light thing through the hole in the bottom of the head and poked the LED out of the eye hole.

After I finished the Mummy I decided to darken the shadowed areas more and used black paint in places like between the ribs and finger bones to make the unshadowed areas pop.

To attach the sword to the hand, I just wrapped the fingers around the sword handle and used very thin wire to hold them in place.

Once the sword was attached my redead knight had no problem standing on its own. If yours has trouble standing you can either try adding weight to its feet or standing it next to something solid and use thin wire to hold it up.

Remember if you make this redead and set it up outside, it is not water proof and has to be brought in before any rain.