14 Sep Maker’s Monday: Bracers
Hi everyone! Welcome back to another maker’s monday! This week we’re going to be doing a short little post of shaping gauntlets for your arms! Materials you’ll need are craft foam, something to cut, something to make holes, and something to fasten.
First thing you’re going to want to do is pick a shape. We’re doing Leo’s bracers so we’re going to need a pointed top,
and a half circle to go over the hands. The bracers are going to be the full length of my forearm, and are going to have a slight gap to make sure they don’t completely cover the inside of your arms. Get a pattern ready with the proper measurements and cut out two of them!
Once you have your flat pieces ready you’re going to want to measure out where you’ll be creating the holes to thread through. There are plenty of ways to do this but I ended up using a soldering iron to just burn some holes into the foam. If you go this route make sure you have plenty of ventilation and lung protection. Also make sure to give them a bit of time to cool before you go on to the next step.
Ready to go? Great! The next thing you’re going to want to get out is your heat gun. You’re going to want to give a nice blast of heat and take the time to roll it into a nice round shape. When you’re finished with the first round of shaping, get them laced up as soon as they’re cool to the touch. Depending on material used and size of the holes it may take a little time and the foam may start to become a bit uncurled, but don’t worry about it too much.
Once everything is properly laced up you’re going to hit it with the heat gun again to make sure it helps mould to the shape you need. And from there you can just give it some time to adjust to its new form! You’ll want to unlace it to paint it, but I suggest once the job is done you lace it back up as soon as possible to make sure the paint doesn’t crack as soon as they take shape again.
And that’s it! A relatively simple process for one of the many accessories you could be wearing. I hope to see you again next week when I start discussing some sewing! Till then!