So the Elf Fantasy Fair in the Netherlands is coming up soon and I was thinking about a nice "quick" costume for cosplaying. I ended up with the fearsome Witch King of Angmar from the Lord of the Rings trilogy as he was pretty badass ^^.

Step 1: Print & Cut Out the Patterns

Needed:

- paper / cardboard

- split pins

- glue

- scissor

- Templates:

Helmet:

I used the witch king helmet template (unfolded by "movieman", model ripped by "nintendude") which you can download here:

~~http://www.4shared.com/file/z2ccoSI_/Witch_King_helmet.html~~

https://www.mediafire.com/file/zlp9ibi7mlt4ns2/witch-king-helmet.pdo

I made this from paper and reinforced it a bit with some cardboard parts.

Gauntlets, feet and shoulders

These are handmade by me and only fit my size. So just experiment a bit and look how it fits on you.

I first made a paper version to make parts on my size and then checked out how they articulate (move) with each other using split pens and adjust them. Then I made them out of cardboard. This is the last chance to get this right! After fiberglassing you can't adjust this anymore, so make sure it's correct at this point.

Swords

Modeled by reference and unfolded by me. I looked up the original dimensions and made them 1:1.

You can download those here:

> > WitchKingOfAngmar_TemplatesByMetalfist < <

(For the shoulders you will need to cut the bottom part (dot line) and fold them over each other till they align)

WitchKingOfAngmar_TemplatesByMetalfist.zip
Download

Step 2: Fiberglassing

Needed:
- Polyester resin (with it's hardener)
- Fiber glass mat (300 gr/m2)
- Aluminium foil & underground to protect floor
- Disposable gloves
- Thick gloves
- Disposable paint brushes
- Cups to mix the resin and hardener in
- Stir sticks
- Scissors
- Respirator
- Protective eye glasses

Prepare workplace
- Make sure the room is well ventilated (outside is best)
- The temperature for my polyester resin had to be 15 degree Celsius at least.
- Put something on the floor to protect it against accidental drips.
- Cover the table with aluminium foil (and you can use lubricant so the resin doesn't stick)
- Put some cups, stir sticks, disposable paint brushes and a pack of disposable gloves ready at the table

Prepare fiber glass mat
Put some thick gloves on to work with the fiberglass mat. Don't touch it with your bare hands as it can leave tiny fiberglass fibers in your hand. Now you can either cut the fiberglass mat with scissors or tear them apart with your hands into matching patterns. The plus side of tearing it apart with your hands is that it won't leave edges. you can also combine these techniques with each other. So you cut where edges are and where fiberglass mat meets in the middle you can tear.

Put on your disposable gloves, protective eye glasses and respirator.

Mix the resin and hardener according to the prescription in a cup. Stir it with a stir stick to make sure it's mixed. You will have a limited amount of time to work with it before it hardens (about 15-20 min, depending on the amount of hardener).
Put resin on the inside and outside. Then put the fiberglass mat on the inside and put more resin on the fiberglass mat till it's completely wet from the resin. Then put in preferably in the sun as it will speed up the drying process. Once it's dry you can add extra layers for more strength.
Make sure your piece will not deform due to the extra weight of the resin!
Put extra supports and forms (covered in aluminum foil) on it to make sure it stays the same shape! Be careful that the resin filled fiberglass will not collapse or fall from the weight. Do one side at a time. Once it's dry and hard, you can't change it anymore.

Let it dry 24 hours.

Cut the fiberglass parts that are sticking out off with a scissor (or dremel tool). Be careful! These are very sharp!

Step 3: Putty & Sanding

Needed:
- Putty (with its hardener)
- Squeegee
- Surface for mixing
- Paper
- 40/150/600 grit sandpaper (optionally hand sander)
- Disposable gloves
- Protective eye glasses
- Respirator
- Dremel tool

Prepare workplace
Cover your workplace again to make sure nothing gets dirty. Put the mixing surface, paper, extra gloves, squeegee ready at the table.

Put on your disposable gloves, protective eye glasses and respirator.
Mix the putty with the hardener. You will have a limited amount of time to work with it again. Put it on the piece in strokes and let it dry. Do all the pieces this way and let them preferably dry in the sun again to speed up the drying process.
Make sure it's completely dry before you start sanding otherwise the sand paper will fill up and becomes useless.

Then sand it a bit. Don't sand it to much as we don't want to have a smooth helmet. It will look more weathered and worn down.
Don't forget to sand the inside as you don't want to be scratched!

You can use a dremel to add details in it like cuts in the edges.

Step 4: Painting

Needed:
- Black paint
- White paint
- Metallic paint (pewter or silver is fine)
- 2 paintbrushes (1x normal, 1x dry round brush)

First I applied a black layer of paint as a base with a flat brush and let it dry. I also painted the inside.

Then I mixed some white and black paint to get a grey color. Next I am going to use a different method. I picked a round dry brush (they have special brushes for this in the art shops), put some grey paint on the tip and stamp it on to achieve different intensities of grey on the black to make it look more metal-like and weathered. You may want to try it out on some paper first. As it is a very thin layer of grey it will dry pretty quickly.

As you might have noticed it still misses the shine of metal. So I applied a third layer with a metallic paint (pewter in my case, but you could also use silver) with the same stamping technique. Let it dry and you are done with this step.

Step 5: Gauntlets

Needed:
- pressure pins / thin cloth
- thread and needles / scissors
- gloves

I made 2 versions of gauntlets: the witch king gauntlet and a simplified version for a nazgul.
I tried out 2 methods to apply the pieces to the gloves:

- Pressure pins (witch king version)
This method uses pressure studs so you can easily detach the glove and replace it with another one. Sew the finger pieces onto a piece of thin cloth that follows your finger and put pressure pins on the top of the fingers. It does not articulate the fingers as well as the other method, but it you do not have to sew into your gloves. If you apply more pressure pins it will articulate better.

- Sewing (nazgul version)
This method I used was to sew the pieces all together onto the gloves and this gives a better look when articulating your fingers.

Step 6: Robe

Look at local shop for a basic robe or something that looks like it.
Buy 2m/3m (or more if you are tall) of the same cloth extra (dimensions: 2m x 1,5m)
Get a old looking belt where you can put your weapons on.
Get black cloth where you can see through (for the helmet)

cut the cloth in half 1mx1,5 m
Try out where the extra cloth will come
and sew it on the robe.

Cut the edges for a more teared appearance
Weather the edges of the cloth by grating it, putting sand on it, stepping on it etc!

Step 7: Last Things

Needed:
- screws and rings etc.
- screwdriver
- flat elastic bands
- rope

You need to be able to comfortably wear the costume without everything falling apart.
So I applied screws to moving parts and secure them firmly. Especially the feet as they move a lot.

I also applying flat elastic bands to the shoulders, gauntlets and feet. I secured them using the screws.
Also apply some black rope to the top shoulder parts so they stay roughly in place.
Then I added some tape on the elastic bands that go under my shoes for protection.

It is also pretty important to make the helmet comfortable to wear.
So apply foam in the inside and try it out for a few hours and adjust it.