Introduction: The Dark Knight Rises Batman Costume
In this Instructable I'm going to show you how to make a batman suit from the Dark Knight/Dark Knight Rises. Before we begin, this costume is not cheap it does have a higher cost; however, it does not cost as much as this monstrosity or look as bad.
To start off there are 10 pieces to the costume, the mask, neck, shoulders, gauntlets, chest piece, gloves, belt, pants, boots cape, under suit, and mesh suit.
Of all these items only some will be made, and some will be purchased for ease, convenience and time saving, those items are the gloves, the mask, the gauntlets, the belt, the boots, andthe under suit. Although they are not cheap the quality is not cheap either and these items can be used for more than just your batman costume. Now lets move on to materials you will need.
The materials you will need in this Instructable are:
Glue 5$
Paint 5$
Elastic 3$
Foam Sheets 15$
Rivets 2$
Aluminum Sheet 5$
Mesh 3$
Paper .25$
Bowls 2$
Velcro 3$
Carbon fiber sheet 10$
Computer(optional) 250-1700$
Black Thread 1$
Black Fabric 5$
The total cost for our materials is 60$ give or take some.
*Most of the materials are easy to find at hobby lobby, with exception of aluminum sheet, rivets, bowls, and carbon fiber sheet(oh and the computer). Rivets and rivet guns can be found at home depot along with aluminum sheet and carbon fiber sheet can be bought here.
The tools that you will need are:
Pop rivet gun
Exacto knife
Scissors
Patience
Hands(not necessary)
Metal cutting scissors
Cutting board
Sewing machine
Pencil
Dremel
More Patience
Needle
Now lets continue with our instructions on buying the items.
To start off there are 10 pieces to the costume, the mask, neck, shoulders, gauntlets, chest piece, gloves, belt, pants, boots cape, under suit, and mesh suit.
Of all these items only some will be made, and some will be purchased for ease, convenience and time saving, those items are the gloves, the mask, the gauntlets, the belt, the boots, andthe under suit. Although they are not cheap the quality is not cheap either and these items can be used for more than just your batman costume. Now lets move on to materials you will need.
The materials you will need in this Instructable are:
Glue 5$
Paint 5$
Elastic 3$
Foam Sheets 15$
Rivets 2$
Aluminum Sheet 5$
Mesh 3$
Paper .25$
Bowls 2$
Velcro 3$
Carbon fiber sheet 10$
Computer(optional) 250-1700$
Black Thread 1$
Black Fabric 5$
The total cost for our materials is 60$ give or take some.
*Most of the materials are easy to find at hobby lobby, with exception of aluminum sheet, rivets, bowls, and carbon fiber sheet(oh and the computer). Rivets and rivet guns can be found at home depot along with aluminum sheet and carbon fiber sheet can be bought here.
The tools that you will need are:
Pop rivet gun
Exacto knife
Scissors
Patience
Hands(not necessary)
Metal cutting scissors
Cutting board
Sewing machine
Pencil
Dremel
More Patience
Needle
Now lets continue with our instructions on buying the items.
Step 1: Buying Your Necessary Equipment
Okay as mentioned earlier you will have to buy some, well actually several, things. Those include gloves, the mask, the gauntlets, the belt, the boots, and the under suit. All of these items can be purchased on Amazon.com with your discretion.
Here are all links to each piece(just click on word):
Mask
Gloves
Belt
Gauntlets
Boots
Under Suit
The costs of each piece is:
Mask ................................26$
Gloves .............................30$
Belt ...................................18$
Gauntlets .........................26$
Boots ................................64$
Under Suit ........................26$
______________________
Total 190$
* The gloves were bought at an army surplus store but can be found online, the gauntlets were purchased online but can be bought at Toys-R-Us, the under suit was bought at Party City with a coupon which made it cheaper.
** Also keep in mind although this is a lot of money at least you wont look like this----------->Scary Batman or Scarier Batman
Here are all links to each piece(just click on word):
Mask
Gloves
Belt
Gauntlets
Boots
Under Suit
The costs of each piece is:
Mask ................................26$
Gloves .............................30$
Belt ...................................18$
Gauntlets .........................26$
Boots ................................64$
Under Suit ........................26$
______________________
Total 190$
* The gloves were bought at an army surplus store but can be found online, the gauntlets were purchased online but can be bought at Toys-R-Us, the under suit was bought at Party City with a coupon which made it cheaper.
** Also keep in mind although this is a lot of money at least you wont look like this----------->Scary Batman or Scarier Batman
Step 2: Chest Piece(most Important Part)
My way of making the chest piece involves a little bit of everything. Before we begin lets get all materials ready. For this part you will need: Aluminum Sheet, Pop Rivets, Foam sheets, Glue, Carbon Fiber Sheet, and materials to cut aluminum and foam, the rivet gun, and some paper and a pencil.
Before i started anything i first sat down and looked at several pictures of the Dark Knight Suit, after examining them for very long periods of time and making crummy sketches i finally came up with a pretty good one(sort of). So in the sketch i have a basic outline as to what the ab pieces look like and what shape they have, also how it will be held together and connected one to another. I put it in the computer and fixed it to look nicer with straight lines.
After that i printed it out and cut my foam pieces to the shapes of the abs and combined them to make the whole torso piece by binding them to long strips that run on the back of the abs.I also put the middle one and glued it so it would be held as a whole.
Now for the pectorals, i used a model making program similar to blender and rendered a hexagon then i mirrored it over and formed what is now the pectorals. After this i put the sketch through a program to convert it so i could open it using Pepakura 3, a paper fold making program that takes a 3D shape and flattens it out so you cant just cut it and fold, in this case bend, it into its 3D shape. I printed out the 2D template traced it on to the sheet metal and cut the sheet metal accordingly. I ended up cutting to pentagon shaped pieces and binding them in the middle with a piece of aluminum and rivets. once i had a sturdy base, i went about making the batman symbol on paper and cutting out a foam piece. I covered the Aluminum with the foam piece and then placed the batman symbol on top.
With the abs there are also side pieces which i went about tracing and cutting out. Then lastly i went in and added carbon fiber to the abs to add detail.
With that said i got an old black tank top and then glued all the pieces to my shirt except for the top chest which i used velcro on. The reason for the velcro was so i could easily attach and unattach my cape which you will see later.
Before i started anything i first sat down and looked at several pictures of the Dark Knight Suit, after examining them for very long periods of time and making crummy sketches i finally came up with a pretty good one(sort of). So in the sketch i have a basic outline as to what the ab pieces look like and what shape they have, also how it will be held together and connected one to another. I put it in the computer and fixed it to look nicer with straight lines.
After that i printed it out and cut my foam pieces to the shapes of the abs and combined them to make the whole torso piece by binding them to long strips that run on the back of the abs.I also put the middle one and glued it so it would be held as a whole.
Now for the pectorals, i used a model making program similar to blender and rendered a hexagon then i mirrored it over and formed what is now the pectorals. After this i put the sketch through a program to convert it so i could open it using Pepakura 3, a paper fold making program that takes a 3D shape and flattens it out so you cant just cut it and fold, in this case bend, it into its 3D shape. I printed out the 2D template traced it on to the sheet metal and cut the sheet metal accordingly. I ended up cutting to pentagon shaped pieces and binding them in the middle with a piece of aluminum and rivets. once i had a sturdy base, i went about making the batman symbol on paper and cutting out a foam piece. I covered the Aluminum with the foam piece and then placed the batman symbol on top.
With the abs there are also side pieces which i went about tracing and cutting out. Then lastly i went in and added carbon fiber to the abs to add detail.
With that said i got an old black tank top and then glued all the pieces to my shirt except for the top chest which i used velcro on. The reason for the velcro was so i could easily attach and unattach my cape which you will see later.
Step 3: Gauntlets Too Small...
So as you can tell the gauntlets are for kids, :'(. But now worries we can fix that. First you want to start off by removing the elastic piece at the very front, if I'm right your hand probably doesn't fit through so remove that bad boy. Next remove the Velcro pieces from the rest of the gauntlet so that means use an Exacto knife or something else and cut off the elastic strap with Velcro and the Velcro from the very last strap.
No that we are set up to make these our own, take out your scissors or exacto knife and cut off the little section on the front to divide it into two sections at the front. Now pull out the elastic that we have in our materials section and attach it to the gauntlet on one side( preferably with a sowing machine, and then add Velcro to attach it to the other. So you should now have three straps very front second from the front and very back. For the middle region, where there is nothing, we will just use elastic and attach it to both sides by sowing it to the gauntlet.
Now we should have a completed gauntlet that you can put on and it will hold nicely. We do however need to add the elbow piece which can either be made out of the foam sheets and attached to the gauntlet or it can be attached to the costume the choice is yours.
No that we are set up to make these our own, take out your scissors or exacto knife and cut off the little section on the front to divide it into two sections at the front. Now pull out the elastic that we have in our materials section and attach it to the gauntlet on one side( preferably with a sowing machine, and then add Velcro to attach it to the other. So you should now have three straps very front second from the front and very back. For the middle region, where there is nothing, we will just use elastic and attach it to both sides by sowing it to the gauntlet.
Now we should have a completed gauntlet that you can put on and it will hold nicely. We do however need to add the elbow piece which can either be made out of the foam sheets and attached to the gauntlet or it can be attached to the costume the choice is yours.
Step 4: Shoulders
Now we have to create our shoulders. The shoulders consist of two parts: the shoulder plate and the arm piece. Basically you have a big shoulder plate that well goes on your shoulder this will be made out of round bowls, in my case they are hard plastic that I have cut, with the dremel, to look more like the shoulders. Since my bowl was clear i painted it black to match the actual suit.
I then glued to the bottom of the shoulder a T shaped piece that has i cut out of the foam pieces. The arm piece also needs carbon fiber for detail. To hold the shoulder in place i have used the velcro on the shoulder plate and connected it to the arm piece in a crossing fashion.
The armor plate also has details at the top (corner piece) which i traced on paper and cut out. Then i cut the pieces of foam and glued them the the top front of the shoulder plate. Also to hold the shoulder plate in place i have added velcro that attaches it to the shirt where the chest and side abs are glued on.
I then glued to the bottom of the shoulder a T shaped piece that has i cut out of the foam pieces. The arm piece also needs carbon fiber for detail. To hold the shoulder in place i have used the velcro on the shoulder plate and connected it to the arm piece in a crossing fashion.
The armor plate also has details at the top (corner piece) which i traced on paper and cut out. Then i cut the pieces of foam and glued them the the top front of the shoulder plate. Also to hold the shoulder plate in place i have added velcro that attaches it to the shirt where the chest and side abs are glued on.
Step 5: Neck/Collar Piece
The neck and collar piece work very similar to the abs on the chest piece. Just like the abs i used some paper and made out the basic form for the neck piece. I traced it onto the foam sheets and then using scissors or a knife i cut it out and glued all the pieces together.
The way that the neck piece is attached is with some elastic and Velcro as you might recall with the gauntlet the elastic is attached to one side and Velcro to the other. it is effective because it allows movement.
The collar piece is a little tricky to make but once I figured out the design i was able to make it like i made the neck and abs. I traced it and cut it out.
EDIT: I ended up not using the neck piece because it fit tight and dd not have time to fix it.
The way that the neck piece is attached is with some elastic and Velcro as you might recall with the gauntlet the elastic is attached to one side and Velcro to the other. it is effective because it allows movement.
The collar piece is a little tricky to make but once I figured out the design i was able to make it like i made the neck and abs. I traced it and cut it out.
EDIT: I ended up not using the neck piece because it fit tight and dd not have time to fix it.
Step 6: Legs
Same as the chest and abs and neck, i made a schematic for all individual pieces and cut them out with exacto knives. I then put on my morphsuit and glued them to my legs with hot glue it was hot but worth it.
Step 7: Mesh
Batmans black suit has a mesh look to it so my method of fixing that was to make a mesh suit to go on top of my morphsuit.
For this I bought a mesh fabric (something like this mesh)I found at Walmart which was super easy to find. Then I did like I did with my cape, I layed it on the floor layed on top and outlined my body making sure to leave room on my tracing so when I put it on it would fit. I used a white crayon then afterwards went back and ran some sowing thread through my outlines to make a rough suit. Then i took scissors and cut the excess material off. On the initial trace I didn't fit my arms so I also make those.
For the arms I used the same method I put my arm traced it out then sewed it then cut it. After I had a rough suit I took it to the sewing machine and sewed it up really nice . I sowed the body, then the arms, then the arms to the body. To get in the suit I cut the back and added a piece of fabric (also by sewing it on their) to both sides of the cut. Then I added Velcro so I can now get in it and Velcro it closed.
EDIT: I messed this up completely when i went to sow so it is now in mesh heaven...or the trash.
For this I bought a mesh fabric (something like this mesh)I found at Walmart which was super easy to find. Then I did like I did with my cape, I layed it on the floor layed on top and outlined my body making sure to leave room on my tracing so when I put it on it would fit. I used a white crayon then afterwards went back and ran some sowing thread through my outlines to make a rough suit. Then i took scissors and cut the excess material off. On the initial trace I didn't fit my arms so I also make those.
For the arms I used the same method I put my arm traced it out then sewed it then cut it. After I had a rough suit I took it to the sewing machine and sewed it up really nice . I sowed the body, then the arms, then the arms to the body. To get in the suit I cut the back and added a piece of fabric (also by sewing it on their) to both sides of the cut. Then I added Velcro so I can now get in it and Velcro it closed.
EDIT: I messed this up completely when i went to sow so it is now in mesh heaven...or the trash.
Step 8: Cape
Now for the iconic Batman cape. For this part you will need black fabric, some rubber bands, sowing machine(preferably), and some cord or strap and some clips.
For the actual cape i took my fabric, which was kind of stretchy, doubled it over and layed it on the floor. I then layed on top marked off the height it needed to be and cut it to the length i needed (a little over shoulder height). Since i wanted a heavier nicer cape i doubled the fabric then just rolled the edges over and sowed them to have it doubled, heavier, and thicker. When i sowed this i only sowed the bottom and sides of the cape not the top. I left the top unsowed because i was unsure of how i was going to hold it. As you can see i decided to grab the corners and pull them in i then used a rubber band to hold them in place and later sowed it after i attached my cape support system.
For the support system the cord I use is parachute cord/paracord/550 test cord, the cord in this case will be used to attach the cape to your body and hold it without having your costume get pulled up. As you can see above I have one big length with two clips strung through and with one clip attached. This part will go around your chest and clip in front of your chest. This piece will hold the cape. To attach the cape I have taken more paracord and attached it to the end of the clips that the chest piece was strung through. Then that paracord end is tied on to the cape. After I cut the lenth of cape I didn't need and pulled it back then sowed it.
The way this works is it wraps around your chest and can't be pulled up very much since you can adjust it then you just take your cape and clip it on there.
Although my cape was very heavy it flowed with the wind amazingly and thanks to this system worked wonders.
For the actual cape i took my fabric, which was kind of stretchy, doubled it over and layed it on the floor. I then layed on top marked off the height it needed to be and cut it to the length i needed (a little over shoulder height). Since i wanted a heavier nicer cape i doubled the fabric then just rolled the edges over and sowed them to have it doubled, heavier, and thicker. When i sowed this i only sowed the bottom and sides of the cape not the top. I left the top unsowed because i was unsure of how i was going to hold it. As you can see i decided to grab the corners and pull them in i then used a rubber band to hold them in place and later sowed it after i attached my cape support system.
For the support system the cord I use is parachute cord/paracord/550 test cord, the cord in this case will be used to attach the cape to your body and hold it without having your costume get pulled up. As you can see above I have one big length with two clips strung through and with one clip attached. This part will go around your chest and clip in front of your chest. This piece will hold the cape. To attach the cape I have taken more paracord and attached it to the end of the clips that the chest piece was strung through. Then that paracord end is tied on to the cape. After I cut the lenth of cape I didn't need and pulled it back then sowed it.
The way this works is it wraps around your chest and can't be pulled up very much since you can adjust it then you just take your cape and clip it on there.
Although my cape was very heavy it flowed with the wind amazingly and thanks to this system worked wonders.
Participated in the
Halloween Costume Contest
