The Foam Cave

How to Make Gauntlets / Arm Guards

By Charles | December 9, 2014 - 5:26 pm |September 4, 2018 Blog, Uncategorized

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I just put up a new tutorial on how to make gauntlets. It covers how to take correct measurements, making a template, assembling, and different fastening options. It also includes a free gauntlet base template that prints out full size in a variety of sizes. Check out the full tutorial here.

Spider-Carnage Razor Fingers and Web Cartridge Wrist Guards

By Charles | December 7, 2014 - 3:40 pm |September 4, 2018 Blog, Build Pics

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I was commissioned a little while back to make some Spider-Carnage razor fingers and web cartridge arm guards.

I based the fingers on an origami-style finger extension. I made a paper template first and then cut them out of 3 and 5mm thick foam. To make the bottom of the fingers look a little more finished I wrapped and glued a length of polypropylene webbing around them.

I made a makeshift painting stand for them out of cardboard and paint brushes, gave them a red base coat and then some black vein details.

For the wrist guards I again made a paper template first and then cut the cartridges out of 5mm foam. I glued all the pieces onto polypropylene webbing and added velcro straps to fasten then together, then painted with a metallic silver acrylic paint.

The templates for both items are in the shop now here.

Young Justice Robin Utility Belt

By Charles | December 7, 2014 - 3:31 pm |May 17, 2015 Blog, Build Pics

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I was commissioned by a customer to make a Young Justice Robin belt. After designing a template, I cut the shapes out of 3 and 5mm thick eva foam sheets. For the round buckle, I found a toy plastic ball from the local craft store and cut it in half (it was hallow and easy to cut), and then used a heat gun to stretch a layer of foam sheet over the ball and glued the edges of the foam to a base layer of foam under the ball. Everything was hand painted with acrylic paint. The pouches attach to the belt with chicago screws, and a length of polypropylene webbing was glued to the back of the belt for extra durability. A velcro strap was made to secure the belt from the back, and more webbing was used to make the baton straps.

I also made the customer an alternative set of much slimmer, decorative pouches that could be swapped in and worn when he didn’t need to hold anything in the belt.

The template for the belt is available here.

Captain America Winter Soldier Utility Belt

By Charles | December 7, 2014 - 2:57 pm |September 4, 2018 Blog, Build Pics

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After designing a template for the Captain America WS belt, I cut all the shapes out of 3 and 5mm eva foam. The buckle is a very simple three flat shapes of 5mm foam glued together with super glue. The pouches attach to the belt with chicago screws, a length of polypropylene webbing was glued to the back of the belt, and velcro was added to secure it at the back. It was all hand painted with brown and metallic silver acrylic paint. After painting I sprayed on a couple coats of clear plasti-dip to protect the finish and make it a little more durable.

The template for the belt is available here.

Green Power Ranger Gauntlets

By Charles | December 7, 2014 - 2:18 pm |September 4, 2018 Blog, Build Pics

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A while back I was commissioned by a customer to make a pair of green Power Ranger gauntlets based on the design of my new 52 Batman gauntlets. We played around with a few different designs that incorporated elements of both gauntlets before ultimately deciding to go with a more traditional green ranger design. I made a paper template and cut all the shapes out of 3mm eva foam. Ideally I would want to paint the green spikes and gold band separately before gluing it all together, but because of the particular design of these gauntlets I had to glue everything together first. When you glue together several layers of foam, the resulting block of foam will be quite rigid and won’t want to bend. If there aren’t any complicated design elements on the item, you can glue the layers together while holding them in a curved position, and it will retain that curved shape after the glue dries. But if there are complicated design elements that would become distorted and misaligned if glued while bent, it’s best to glue all the layers flat first, and then use a heat gun to gradually bend it into the correct shape. SO, that’s what I had to do in this instance and then when painting I had to mask off all the different colored shapes with tape, which works, but takes much longer and doesn’t produce as clean lines as painting everything separately would. I used regular acrylic paint from the local hobby store. Velcro was added to the inside for fastening them closed.

The template for the gauntlets is available here.

Sinestro Corps Gauntlets

By Charles | December 7, 2014 - 1:43 pm |May 17, 2015 Blog, Build Pics

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I was commissioned to make a pair of Sinestro Corps gauntlets. I started by making a paper template and then cutting the shapes out of 3mm eva foam and gluing them together with super glue. When gluing on velcro to the inside edges, I held the foam in a bent position so that it would retain a bit of a curve when it dried. This way the ends continued the curvature of the rest of the gauntlets when closed, instead of pointing outwards in a “V” shape, as often happens otherwise if they are left completely flat. They were hand painted with acrylics.