Introduction: Ring Wraith Costume

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I decided to make this costume but I failed to make it in a timely fashion for two different events. So, when another event for a costume competition came up, I decided to make this costume for that event. This costume uses several previous instructables and a few extra things and links will be added as appropriate.

Step 1: Gather Instructables and Materials

This is a combination of several instructables and a few other bits. I've tried to include approximate costs. Some of the items I already had and others I have estimated the cost of but it should be a reasonably close guess at how much it all is. There will be left over parts but I have included the original parts' cost since you do need to buy the items in the first place. I have not included the cost of the tools or other consumables since they aren't strictly part of the costume itself, just a way to create it.

The instructables:

The other bits:

  • Black gi trousers (cotton trousers that could be used for martial arts) (£14)
  • Black canvas belt (to hold some containers since I didn't have pockets) (about £10)
  • Containers attached to the belt so I could carry some stuff with me (acquired for free but about £3 each, maybe?)
  • Boots that I had used for quite some time (about £50)
  • A black, long sleeved sports top so that I could be warm but not overheating (about £10 depending on where you get it from)

So, for me, the cost was about £72 and quite a bit for the hot glue. So probably £75 all in. If you need to add more bits, then the cost would go up appropriately. If you were to match everything here, it would cost about £150.

Step 2: How It Was Used

A friend had the One Ring prop and the flickering torch prop. When I emulated looking round for the prop, I would discover the One Ring only to be scared off by the flickering torch (representing a fire torch but much more safely). I took the inspiration from the fight at Weathertop from the Lord of the Rings film. It's not too accurate to the film but it did portray my costume as belonging to a ring wraith, which was the point of the little show.

Step 3: Conclusion

I did enjoy creating all of this costume. Some parts of it were more challenging than others and some parts were more enjoyable than others. I hope to be able to use all of this again or maybe just parts of it for alternative costumes.

There are improvements that could be made but these are mostly detailed in each of the relevant instructables.

  • I probably should have worn all of the costume more so that I could get understand how it moves.
  • According to the films, the costume is meant to look more ragged and worn, as if it had been on the road for a long time. As far as I know, the books don't mention the quality of the outfit and don't make any reference to the robes being well worn. I went for the non ragged approach so that I could use the robe for other events without needing to do lots of repairs on it.
  • I could've made more pieces of the costume out of metal. If I did, it would be more robust and have a better feel to it but it would raise the overall cost and time for making the costume.
  • I could have used more layers for the robe but I wasn't keen on using 8 layers of clothing and 50m of fabric to be more authentic. It would make it far too hot to be inside and wearing it, add quite a lot to the cost and make it quite a lot heavier too.