How to Make a Saber Lily costume

Step 9 Shaping the Armor

For the armor, I went with a thermoplastic called Wonderflex.  You can heat up the plastic, shape it, then it will hold it's shape as it cools.  People have used hair dryers, heat guns, and boiling water to heat it.  I used a heat gun.  Wonderflex is thin and you can cut it with a pair of scissors.  It's self adhesive, so when  you heat it up you can stick it to other pieces of wonderflex and it will create a strong bond as it cools.  The bond between two pieces of Wonderflex is stronger than the bond created with hot glue.  I actually have a problem getting hot glue to stick to Wonderflex.  If you need to attach small parts to the Wonderflex, I would try using Krazy glue instead.

For the gauntlets and boots, I put Wonderflex over a pair of gloves and boots to make it easier to put the parts together.

1.  Draft out the shapes and cut out the shapes from the Wonderflex.

2.  Use the heat gun to heat up the Wonderflex.  It should be wobbly and flexible after heating.

3.  Shape the wonderflex by either holding it in a shape or putting it on a mold until it cools.

4.  Wonderflex can be used over and over, so keep reheating and shaping until the shape is right.