Introduction: Shredder - Ninja Turtles
This tutorial was created about two years after I made the Shredder costume.
Almost none of the items are still intact.
The helmet was destroyed, any fabric that I used was destroyed. The only things to survive are the armor pieces, and they have been damaged.
This is just a guide on how to approach the costume since I will not have many developmental pics.
Be careful in making any costume since I do not assume responsibility from anything that may happen from following any instructions on my instructables.
This item barely cost anything. I think the paint cost the most at $10 bringing the whole cost of the costume to about $25. Then again, I had a lot of the materials, as many of you probably will too.
Materials:
helmet
balloon
papier mache (see my Mola Ram instructable to find out my method of papier mache)
Silver spray paint
thin cardboard (cereal box is great)
old baseball cap
masking tape
paintball mask
string (shoelace is good)
spackle is optional
armor pieces
empty 2L soda bottles (probably 1 or 2)
thin cardboard (again, cereal box is good)
papier mache
masking tape
Silver spray paint
velcro (I prefer the kind that has an adhesive side to it)
Clothing
Gray sleeveless shirt
gray cloth (another gray shirt will do, make sure the grays match)
black pants (sweat pants are nice and baggy)
purple cape (I had a purple bed sheet in the house, I just used that...less expensive than buying one)
black boots
black cloth (can get this anyway, old shirt is good)
Almost none of the items are still intact.
The helmet was destroyed, any fabric that I used was destroyed. The only things to survive are the armor pieces, and they have been damaged.
This is just a guide on how to approach the costume since I will not have many developmental pics.
Be careful in making any costume since I do not assume responsibility from anything that may happen from following any instructions on my instructables.
This item barely cost anything. I think the paint cost the most at $10 bringing the whole cost of the costume to about $25. Then again, I had a lot of the materials, as many of you probably will too.
Materials:
helmet
balloon
papier mache (see my Mola Ram instructable to find out my method of papier mache)
Silver spray paint
thin cardboard (cereal box is great)
old baseball cap
masking tape
paintball mask
string (shoelace is good)
spackle is optional
armor pieces
empty 2L soda bottles (probably 1 or 2)
thin cardboard (again, cereal box is good)
papier mache
masking tape
Silver spray paint
velcro (I prefer the kind that has an adhesive side to it)
Clothing
Gray sleeveless shirt
gray cloth (another gray shirt will do, make sure the grays match)
black pants (sweat pants are nice and baggy)
purple cape (I had a purple bed sheet in the house, I just used that...less expensive than buying one)
black boots
black cloth (can get this anyway, old shirt is good)
Step 1:
If you don't know how to papier mache, check out my instructable on making a Mola Ram costume.
What you basically want to do, is papier mache a balloon that is roughly the size of your head. This will form the base of Shredder's helmet.
Add many layers to make it sturdy, once completed, pop the excess balloon and you will have the helmet shell.
What you basically want to do, is papier mache a balloon that is roughly the size of your head. This will form the base of Shredder's helmet.
Add many layers to make it sturdy, once completed, pop the excess balloon and you will have the helmet shell.
Step 2: The Helmet
If you look at the picture. The helmet has a samurai style to it. By taking thin cardboard shaped correctly, you can wrap around the inside of the helmet to achieve the desired result. The shape should look like something in the picture.
Use Picture 1 as a reference for all of the steps.
So what you want to do is:
Take the helmet shell that you created from the balloon.
1.Wrap thin cardboard along the inside of the helmet. Secure it to the helmet using masking tape.
2.Once you achieved the desired look, add a lot of masking tape to both the inside and outside of the helmet. This step takes a lot of practice.
3.I would then papier mache the thin cardboard completely to make it sturdy.
4.At this time, use papier mache to "glue" the cardboard to the base of the helmet. It is wise to papier mache the inside of the helmet as well.
Sorry I don't have a pic for this step. Just use trial and error, that is what I did when trying to achieve the best look for this part.
Look At Picture 2.
For the extra helmet pieces, or fin blades at the top of the helmet and at the sides, just use thin cardboard and tape it to the base of the helmet. Proceed to papier mache the fins as you did to samurai section of the helmet.
This shows the general shape you want the fins to be. The picture is an aerial view. The middle fin is indicated by the black line. It should look just like the other two fins, just going up and down.
Take an old baseball cap and cut the brim off. Glue or tape the baseball cap to the inside of the helmet. make sure you fit the baseball cap to you size first. The cap will help make sure that the helmet stays on your head properly.
If you see areas that need touching up, you can use spackle to fill in areas and lightly sand it. This can be useful to help keep the fins attached as well as filling in any gaps.
The mouth section is a paintball mask which was painted with silver spray paint. I used black shoelace to secure the paintball mask around my head. You can't see the shoelace and it made it easy for me to put the mask up and down so I could eat/drink.
Use Picture 1 as a reference for all of the steps.
So what you want to do is:
Take the helmet shell that you created from the balloon.
1.Wrap thin cardboard along the inside of the helmet. Secure it to the helmet using masking tape.
2.Once you achieved the desired look, add a lot of masking tape to both the inside and outside of the helmet. This step takes a lot of practice.
3.I would then papier mache the thin cardboard completely to make it sturdy.
4.At this time, use papier mache to "glue" the cardboard to the base of the helmet. It is wise to papier mache the inside of the helmet as well.
Sorry I don't have a pic for this step. Just use trial and error, that is what I did when trying to achieve the best look for this part.
Look At Picture 2.
For the extra helmet pieces, or fin blades at the top of the helmet and at the sides, just use thin cardboard and tape it to the base of the helmet. Proceed to papier mache the fins as you did to samurai section of the helmet.
This shows the general shape you want the fins to be. The picture is an aerial view. The middle fin is indicated by the black line. It should look just like the other two fins, just going up and down.
Take an old baseball cap and cut the brim off. Glue or tape the baseball cap to the inside of the helmet. make sure you fit the baseball cap to you size first. The cap will help make sure that the helmet stays on your head properly.
If you see areas that need touching up, you can use spackle to fill in areas and lightly sand it. This can be useful to help keep the fins attached as well as filling in any gaps.
The mouth section is a paintball mask which was painted with silver spray paint. I used black shoelace to secure the paintball mask around my head. You can't see the shoelace and it made it easy for me to put the mask up and down so I could eat/drink.
Step 3: The Armor Pieces
The armor pieces are made from cardboard, 2L plastic bottles, papier mache, silver paint, masking tape, and velcro.
The pictures were taken over two years later. A lot of damage has been done to these armor pieces, so forgive the look of some of them. They weren't bad when I created first created them.
What you want to do is create cardboard spikes that will be attached to a base that will make up the gauntlets, leg guards, shoulder pads, and hand protectors.
Create each spike as you see fit, but make them around the same size for each armor piece. What I mean is, the spikes should be the same size on the shoulder pads, a larger size on the leg guards, but all of them should be the same size on the leg guards and so on.
The easiest one to create would be the hand protectors. Look at Picture 1 for a view of the hand protectors. All I used was a thin piece of cardboard with two pieces of cardboard shaped like the spikes. I taped the spikes to the cardboard with masking tape, papier mached the entire pieces, then spray painted the whole things. I used velcro on the underside that will loop around my hand to secure it.
Pictures 2-5 show the shoulder piece at different angles. The same concept was used for the shoulder pads. What I ended up using for the shoulder pads was part of a balloon that I had papier mached earlier. I had to create two papier mache balloons when constructing my helmet since the first balloon got ruined. I used the left over material of the first balloon which had a curved surface, for my shoulder pads. You can just use thin cardboard shaped correctly to achieve the right shape. Notice that there is velcro underneath the shoulder pads. I used velcro to attach the shoulder pads directly to my gray shirt.
Pictures 6-7 show the shin guards. Which again, same concept as before. This is more like the hand protectors than anything else. They are thin cardboard pieces with spikes attached to them. On the underside is velcro that wraps around my like to secure them.
Pictures 8-10 arm guards. For these, I used 2L soda bottles. I cut the bottles to so that the curved top would be near my elbow, to almost act as a protector for the elbow. The bottle will probably not be long enough, so I taped another piece of the plastic bottle at the bottom to extend the length. The spikes were attached like the other pieces, the whole thing was papier mached, and spray painted. Once again, these are secured to my arm with velcro straps.
The pictures were taken over two years later. A lot of damage has been done to these armor pieces, so forgive the look of some of them. They weren't bad when I created first created them.
What you want to do is create cardboard spikes that will be attached to a base that will make up the gauntlets, leg guards, shoulder pads, and hand protectors.
Create each spike as you see fit, but make them around the same size for each armor piece. What I mean is, the spikes should be the same size on the shoulder pads, a larger size on the leg guards, but all of them should be the same size on the leg guards and so on.
The easiest one to create would be the hand protectors. Look at Picture 1 for a view of the hand protectors. All I used was a thin piece of cardboard with two pieces of cardboard shaped like the spikes. I taped the spikes to the cardboard with masking tape, papier mached the entire pieces, then spray painted the whole things. I used velcro on the underside that will loop around my hand to secure it.
Pictures 2-5 show the shoulder piece at different angles. The same concept was used for the shoulder pads. What I ended up using for the shoulder pads was part of a balloon that I had papier mached earlier. I had to create two papier mache balloons when constructing my helmet since the first balloon got ruined. I used the left over material of the first balloon which had a curved surface, for my shoulder pads. You can just use thin cardboard shaped correctly to achieve the right shape. Notice that there is velcro underneath the shoulder pads. I used velcro to attach the shoulder pads directly to my gray shirt.
Pictures 6-7 show the shin guards. Which again, same concept as before. This is more like the hand protectors than anything else. They are thin cardboard pieces with spikes attached to them. On the underside is velcro that wraps around my like to secure them.
Pictures 8-10 arm guards. For these, I used 2L soda bottles. I cut the bottles to so that the curved top would be near my elbow, to almost act as a protector for the elbow. The bottle will probably not be long enough, so I taped another piece of the plastic bottle at the bottom to extend the length. The spikes were attached like the other pieces, the whole thing was papier mached, and spray painted. Once again, these are secured to my arm with velcro straps.
Step 4: The Clothing
This is a depiction of Shredder from the cartoon/movie. The helmet is similar to the movie style with some cartoonish elements.
The clothing is completely designed off the cartoon.
Look at Picture 1 and 2 for reference.
All I wore as the base was a gray sleeveless shirt and a pair of black sweatpants with black boots.
The front flap was created with another gray shirt that was cut to my desired dimensions. It was then glued to a piece of black fabric which I used for the belt. The belt was tied with a simple knot in the back, which was hidden by the cape.
The cape was a purple bed sheet. I cut a hole at the top of the bed sheet to put my head through. You can see how the cape wraps around my neck in the front. This was achieved by leaving enough space for the fabric to bunch up in the front. I then took safety pins and carefully cinched the front so it looked ruffled. I made sure the pins stayed hidden.
If you look at Picture 3 you can see the black circle where I cut the hole for my head. I left enough space in front to allow the cape to bunch up. The green sections are the sections of the cape that need to be bunched up so you don't get a pointy look in the front.
I would advise you to just cut a slit instead of an entire circle. Just stick your head through the slit and the hole will come naturally.
The clothing is completely designed off the cartoon.
Look at Picture 1 and 2 for reference.
All I wore as the base was a gray sleeveless shirt and a pair of black sweatpants with black boots.
The front flap was created with another gray shirt that was cut to my desired dimensions. It was then glued to a piece of black fabric which I used for the belt. The belt was tied with a simple knot in the back, which was hidden by the cape.
The cape was a purple bed sheet. I cut a hole at the top of the bed sheet to put my head through. You can see how the cape wraps around my neck in the front. This was achieved by leaving enough space for the fabric to bunch up in the front. I then took safety pins and carefully cinched the front so it looked ruffled. I made sure the pins stayed hidden.
If you look at Picture 3 you can see the black circle where I cut the hole for my head. I left enough space in front to allow the cape to bunch up. The green sections are the sections of the cape that need to be bunched up so you don't get a pointy look in the front.
I would advise you to just cut a slit instead of an entire circle. Just stick your head through the slit and the hole will come naturally.
Step 5: Get Friends Involved
Since I love themed costumes, my friend got in the action as Casey Jones.
The picture is a little blurry, but you can see how he made out with his costume.
If we had time, we would have made a papier mache version of his mask since it is so unique looking. But he managed by just getting a Friday the 13th mask for about 5 bucks and drawing the distinct lines on the mask with a black marker.
It was great when we went out and saw a few people dressed up as turtles...not many people are Shredder and Casey Jones though
The picture is a little blurry, but you can see how he made out with his costume.
If we had time, we would have made a papier mache version of his mask since it is so unique looking. But he managed by just getting a Friday the 13th mask for about 5 bucks and drawing the distinct lines on the mask with a black marker.
It was great when we went out and saw a few people dressed up as turtles...not many people are Shredder and Casey Jones though