How to make Vincent's Claw

I am planning to dress up as Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy Seven. I'm working on his Advent Children costume for Anime Festival Orlando 2010. I did a bit of research and the consensus appears to be that the cape and claw are the hardest parts. So I chose to start there. 

Since I've never made armor before, fake or otherwise, I decided to start with a paper mock up. If you read along you'll see how I managed my claw, and possibly be able to make your own.

Be sure to wear work gloves and eye protection while cutting, or hammering, so as to avoid injury. I didn't wear gloves and now I have several cuts that could have been easily avoided. Don't do it!

Step 1: Materials

If you do everything I did chances are you will wind up with articulated gauntlets of some sort. I will not be providing my pattern in 1:1 scale at all (There will be pictures of parts of it), but I will tell you how I made it so you can make your own. Before you start, find a glove! One that fits well (all the way down to the webbing). If you intend to make Vincent's claw like I did, or any sort of forearm protection, you may want the glove to continue past your wrist a couple of inches.

Ok, for this you will need the paper materials and the metal materials
Paper:
- Some Rockin' Tunes (I like Metal or Techno for this)
- Poster Board
- Sharpie
- Straight Edge (A ruler works)
- Scissors
- Tape
- Razor Knife (optional, I only used it when I lost the scissors to be honest)
- Flat Thumbtacks OR Paper Fasteners (Not Pushpins!)
- Patience and lots of it
- The glove (I forgot at this point so mine fits my hand well without a glove, I need to tinker now! Don't make my mistake)

For the metal work you will need:
- More music (Metal is great when cutting it XD)
- The Sharpie still
- The pattern you just made (So the final piece fits you!)
- Pliers
- Tin Snips
- A File
- Whitney Punch
- Two Piece Rivets (My home depot didn't even know what they were I get them from Tandy)
- Your Metal (I used 26 gauge steel with a zinc plating like this one at home depot I had lots left over, since I needed more for more armor, but if you only want the gauntlet, get less)
- Ball Peen Hammer
- Anvil (A hard rock will probably work, everything in this project is fairly malleable)
- A piece of scrap and some magnets for cleanup

At this point in purchasing, I has still under thirty dollars, which was what I hoped to spend on the gauntlet and boots.

Comments

[HeavenBlueRose]

Dang! I wish i could make my vincent claw like that. Very Awesome though! :D

[Xeaphius]

amazing. been looking at this for months now and i finally got all my stuff to make it happen. i tried out doing fingers but i keep messing up on the sizes for the pieces to fit together. all and all though this is awesome.

[curvy77]

i wonder iuf i can make a cheaper version of that. my bros found tons of scrap behind our fence and the metal is pretty cheap. also already black =). any tips on how to add any designs?

[Cthulu]

Sweeet.

[ravenhaker]

you think you could make a template for the parts cuz I'm trying to make the fingers but it looks really stupid and im not quite sure how the should look

[Ghostfox21]

Well, since I didn't want everyone to have mine exactly I showed just the progress, however, I do have the general shapes still in a notebook. If I can find them I'll upload them when I have a working scanner again.

[traitor561]

so cool is the claw and fingers tin or metal or is it poster board please post thanks oh you should get news paper crumble it up and then put silver paint on the paper and rub it on the spots wear you think the metal would rub and get scratched up give it that cool worn out look ;)

[traitor561]

almost for got tin like from soda cans would propbably be lighter and easyer make :D

[Ghostfox21]

Well, I'm fairly certain that it's a thin steel, and I think soda cans would be too thin. If the material is too thin, then you won't be able to dull it enough to be safe wearing it. Also, I personally won't be aging the claw since Vincent's isn't and mine needs to be as accurate as I can make it. (my apologies for any misspellings or loss of continuity, I'm typing this from my iPod because my computer refuses to access the internet)

[(YOUR N]

Hey dude I'm typing on my iPod to

[WhiteTigerTails]

JUST bought the metal. I'll post a pic once I'm done.

[Ghostfox21]

Awesome! I can't wait to see

[WhiteTigerTails]

I won't have it done until sometime next week, but I'll be doing the rough measuring sometime soon.

[Ghostfox21]

Awesome, keep me posted I'll waist where I can

[traitor561]

well here is a pic of mine with tin it isnt as cool as yours but mine looks like reddie crugers claw glove

[Ghostfox21]

Looking good, just give it a paint job and it's ready to roll Plus no one will know your favorite soda Haha I'm glad to have helped

[traitor561]

but there is a problem the tin wont stay on i used tacky glue but its not working very well any ideas on what to do? ;(

[Ghostfox21]

Well, I didn't affix them to my gloves, since it is so thin you might be able to put thumbtacks through point out and then flatten the point down

[WhiteTigerTails]

I have to build one. HAVE to. It'll go great with several of the costuming ideas that I have in store.

[FFVIIBOY]

Awesome! i made a Vincent Gauntlet but its not as awesome as this

[Chin797]

this looks great maybe I go build one since i like final fantasy so much (I have all the games xD) it really looks awesome especially since you did it for the first time

[Ghostfox21]

If you give it a go let me know, I'd like to see how yours comes out! Feel free to ask for help if you get stuck anywhere

[Culturespy]

Good job on the process. Nice work, especially for a first attempt. Way to go!

[Ghostfox21]

Thanks, If you give it a go, let me know. I'd like to see how it works out for others.