Warrior Archangel Costume with Cable Controlled Wings

I went as an archangel for Halloween. The design I made worked for me (6'3'', 170 lbs), but can be adjusted to any size and/or shape depending on what winged creature you'd like to be. The costume took ~40 hours of work and $200, give or take. The majority of time and cost went into the feathers, so the time and cost are quite variable depending on your final design.

Components of the costume: robe, armor, cloak, wings, halo, sword, sandals

What you will need for the robe:
A white robe/nightie/dress
OR enough white fabric to make a robe - I don't have the sewing expertise to do this, so I bought a white robe for $10 at Goodwill.

Armor:
2 yards brown upholstery pleather (feel free to use different leather or pleather - I used upholstery pleather for the cost).
Canvas or burlap (I used old carry bags made of canvas)
~25 yards of 18 gauge gold-plated wire
~50 brass eyelets of appropriate size

Cloak:
2.5 yards navy blue artificial velvet (again, feel free to use real - I did not)

Wings:
1x 2ft long, 2in diameter PVC pipe (cut in half)
2x 2ft long, 1.5in diameter PVC pipes
1x 10ft long, 1in diameter PVC pipe (cut in half)
2x 2in-1.5in 45 degree PVC elbows
5x 3ft long, 0.5in diameter dowels
~1lb white turkey feathers (you can use more or less depending on how fluffy you want the wings)
3x 6ft long white feather boas - this was just enough for this design. If the wings were larger, I'd need a fourth.
Enough white fabric (or other material) to stretch across the wings - I used about a twin bed's worth of an old sheet.
1 12x12x1in wooden board
6 wood screws
2x nylon ratchet straps at least 4 feet long
5 feet steel cable (the lowest rating I could find had a 750lb limit - this was plenty).
Velcro straps
Staple gun
NOTE: It may be necessary to enlist a friend for help when rigging the cloak and wings together.

Halo:
3 yards 16 gauge gold plated wire

Sword:
4 yards brown satin ribbon
A sword (mine is real, you can use a prop, or a spear, or nothing - your choice).

Sandals:
Feel free to make sandals if you want. I would suggest either twine or using lightly colored wood and twisted rope in a Roman style shoe. I used a pair of brown leather flip-flops that I own.

Tools/other materials
A huge amount of hot glue - I used about 100 6in sticks
Toothless pliers (also called ring pliers)
Duct tape
Packaging tape
Twine
Nylon string
Cyanoacrylate - NOTE: Cyanoacrylate (CA) is dangerous not just because it bonds skin, but it also reacts violently with cotton (ie bursts into flames). Do not let it touch your skin, clothes, paper towels, etc.
Power drill
Rotary tool with cutting bits and sanding bits
General tool set
Safety equipment including at least goggles and a respirator

Step 1 Armor (base)

I cut a piece of newspaper to the general shape that I wanted to use as a template (photo 1).

I used the template to cut out multiple layers of white canvas (from old canvas bags) in order to give the armor some thickness. I hot-glued these together (photos 2 and 3).

I hot-glued nylon cord and some metal wire to create a frame (photo 4).

I cut out the pleather slightly larger than the template (photo 5) so I could fold and hot glue the edges down (photo 6).

Congratulations, you now have a leather breastplate! The mail comes after the jump.

Comments

[bobby sissom]

nice armor pics they opened my eyes to better understanding the process of chainmail working and patterns keep up the good work

[thepelton]

Neat. I would have used a chainmail shirt, and there is some instructables on that.