I mainly based the design of the project on ingame screenshots of my female Breton. Of course, the ingame photos’s rights lay at Bethesda studios. You can see the finished costume here.
As always when planning big armor projects, I started by covering my mannequin with tape, so that the design could be drawn directly on the surface. It could also be helpful when forming the hot Worbla pieces.
Afterwards, it looked like this:
The torso is lined with fabric, on which the leather could be glued on easily.
Afterwards, I had to prepare the holes for the various sizes of lacing and sewing.
In contrast, the smaller parts are not lined, so that the leather serves as a base, to which all pieces had to be attached.
The metal-looking pieces were made out of Worbla, because real metal was way too shiny and didn‘t match the reference. However, they could be used to get the Worbla into shape.
They were attached with both glue and rivets, depending on the pressure put on the individual pieces afterwards.
Since Skyrim is a country very similar to Scandinavia or the Vikings‘ mythological world, I decided to use reindeer fur. Of course, I used a second-hand fur and cut it into pieces instead of a brand new item.
As a conclusion, I had to use some tricks to get the fur into shape, for example by adding invisible seams.
After all pieces mentioned above were attached to the torso, it looked like this:
By the way, the lining will be hidden by the big belt, so I did not add any leather there.
I used a completely different technique to built the base layer of the bracers: By glueing several layers of foam to each other, a 3D model could be created.
In the next step, I covered everything with Worbla and used some tools to show the pattern’s outline.
By reheating the piece, a round form could be achieved. I used Vallejo primer to prepare the surface for coloring.
The other metal-looking pieces were created in the same way.
Next, they were painted with silver and black colors of Vallejo. I added several layers of varnish afterwards.
I decided to use hooks and eyes in combination with some elastic cord for the straps.
On this photo, you can see the three layers of the left shoulder part finally attached to each other.
The bracers didn’t need any straps or hooks at all, because they are wide enough to slip over the wrist. I tried to save some material as well.
Last but not least, some leftover pieces of fur were glued to both sides.
I am very happy about the final look of the Scale Armor. It is a combination of leather, metal-looking parts and a lot of fur, which makes it a very characteristic item of Skyrim.
Have a look at my other Making-of and WIP pages!