BAT COSTUME LOCKER
THE MAKINGS OF A BAT SUIT
I've had so many requests to tell how I've made my Bat suit, I decided it was time to share some info. These may not be the best ways to do things, but it's the way I've done them, my ideas may not work for everybody, so don't take them as written in stone. Now, lets get started...
(CLICK HERE FOR AN INTERIOR COWL PICTURE)
Well, let's start with the cowl shall we? This is the Morris B&R cowl, or the Clooney cowl. The one pictured was made from really thin flimsy latex. After Dremeling off the pimples, and filling any extra holes with liquid latex, I reinforced the cowl by hanging it upside down and pouring latex into it. I did this several times and even added gauze strips to further strengthen the rubber. After the latex completely cured (a couple of days), I made some latex encased wires to go up inside the ears so they could be shaped better, I then attached them with more latex to make them one with the cowl. I also added some cape clips that I sculpted myself.
You'll notice on the back of the cowl, I've sewn in a black zipper, once it is zipped up you have to look hard to see it.
And... I Dremeled off the DC Comics information on the back of the cowl. :)
Next we look at the chest armor. My chest armor is from B&R, I originally removed the shoulder pieces (I just thought they looked crappy), I intend to reattach better ones some time in the future, I'll keep you posted on that. As you can see, I have painted the field inside the emblem yellow, after the Onstar commercials look, I didn't like the all black emblem anyway. I have also painted clear epoxy over the emblem to make it more shiny.
My armor is attached to a rigid chest piece that I had from another costume, I just love the look I get when the kids come up and punch or poke me and find that the armor is hard. No more of that "You're not the real Batman, that's just rubber!" The armor is attached to me with nylon straps that buckle in the back, easy to get into and out of.
Let's see now...the all important utility belt, as you can plainly see, this belt is not a replica. If anything, it's an amalgamation of different belts from the movies, it has the capsules on the sides like the Keaton version, but it has the design work like the Clooney version. And what about that buckle?
The buckle itself was patterned after the Kilmer buckle from Batman Forever, sculpted and molded in fibreglass by myself. This belt has been black since B&R, but recently with all the other bat suits I've seen on the internet, I decided to change it back to the gold color to set myself apart from my Bat brothers.
I actually contact cemented the B&R latex belt pieces (cut and trimmed), to a leather belt blank, then I bolted my fibreglass capsules through both pieces and attached the buckle onto the front with the contact cement. I also trimmed the upper and lower edges of the belt blank with plastic car door edge protectors that you can find at any car parts store, the belt latches in the back with industrial strength Velcro.
COMING NEXT...THE BODY SUIT!!
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