DIY Custom Worbla LOL Surprise Doll Dress

Let's make new clothes for the LOL Surprise dolls out of Worbla scraps!

This is a craft for grown-ups; it requires the use of a heat gun, plus painting with nail polish.

Materials:

Worbla scraps
Nail polish

Supplies/Tools needed:

Heat gun
Scissors for Worbla
Paper
Permanent Marker

This craft took about 30 minutes to make, plus paint & drying time.

Wonder Woman Sword Part III

I found that a careless sponging paint job actually looked more rugged than a carefully gradient paint job.  I tried really carefully to create a gradient from the silver to the black (base) paint for the silver.  It took a lot of time and stress.  Than for the gold on black (base) paint, I was fed up and randomly jabbed my sponge in the correct areas ....  Funny how I love the gold part better.  It looks a lot like the scratchy sketch lines from a *some* comic artist styles. (A style I love)

Wonder Woman Sword Part II

I'm retrying some of Kamui Cosplay's painting techniques.  One in which you paint the base colour of your prop what you want the burnished colours to be.  I hadn't liked this technique in the last because it waste a lot of paint, and I can find I can achieve the same outcome with the opposite technique of applying the burnished colour afterwards.  I will admit, but made it much easier to ensure that the burnished colour are within the tiny crevices of all of the seams.  

I think I need to continue practicing between both painting orders to see which one I really prefer.  

This is the first time I'm doing the burnished gradient really not evenly.  Oddly I really like it, although I hated it while making it .... WHY ISN"T IS STRAIGHT ... takes a step back to look at it, Wow it's really cool :) ~Happy accident~

Wonder Woman Sword Part I

I've been rather stuck on this piece for a while.  Though I'm having fun learning to work with Worbla, my blade was such an issue.  I didn't want to make it out of Worbla cause that honestly would cost a lot of money for a flat sheet of plastic, so I resorted to insulation foam (found in many of our other large props).  I tried twice, resulting in blades that were too thick, too wide, just something I hated ...

Until yesterday when I came home to find that boyfriend had a package and left the box in our recycling stash.  Cardboard to save the day.  It's thin, flat, and sturdy when layered.  I can even create that angular middle and allow the blade edges to be thin (and now flake off when hitting someone with a foam piece).

So one AneComi Wonder Woman sword made from

1. Worbla and Craft Foam for the details

2. PVC for the Handle 

and added dimention and strengh within the blade

3. Cardboard for the blade

Worbla Tip: Tape

Simple Tip:  

Ever have your Foam or Worbla pieces fly away because of the wind from your heat gun?  Secure your Foam to your working surface with some office tape.  Or use it to keep those toothpicks steady, nobody will ever know it's been sandwhich inside.

What's this about Toothpicks? worbla-tips-tooth-picks

Worbla Tips: Tooth Picks

Simple Tip:  Toothpicks can be used to add dimensional design without using up extra Worbla.  Besides have you ever tried creating a straight line with a ball of warm Worbla?

Worbla Armor - Embossed Technique

 Here's a sneak preview of the Diablo III Barbarian Tier 5 armor I am building. All of these pieces were made using a thermoplastic called Worbla.

One reason you might use Worbla instead of Wonderflex to create your cosplay armor is in the unique ways that you can manipulate Worbla.

Here's how I create a embossed look on Worbla armor. This technique is more cost-effective than layering extra Worbla on top. Instead, you are layering your less-expensive (and easier-to-cut) craft foam.

You need:

Sheets of craft foam (in two contrasting colors)

Worbla (available from cosplaysupplies.com or yayahan.com)

Heat Gun

A pointy wooden tool

Sharpie for drawing your design

Good scissors
Elmer’s glue
A surface to work on that the Worbla will not stick to (I use a piece of glass shelving from IKEA)

First, cut out your design in craft foam and glue it to your craft foam pattern piece. Then layer Worbla over the craft foam and use a pointed wooden tool to press the thermoplastic down around the edges of the design. Let’s see an example:

This is going to be a plate that wraps around the outside of my upper arm.

Here I layered my design in green foam over yellow. The yellow will become my pattern piece for an upper-arm plate.

First I heated a piece of Worbla, then stuck the pattern piece on it with the green design side against the shiny side of the Worbla sheet.

Then I flipped it over.

Here you can see that it helps to use contrasting craft foam colors because you can see the darker green design through the plastic.

Next, I used the pointy tool to press the heated Worbla down around the design shapes and get nice, smooth edges.

The Worbla cools and hardens pretty quickly so I heated and worked on one quadrant of the piece at a time.

After finishing the relief, I heated a second piece of Worbla and stuck it to the back of the craft foam. Then I pressed the edges together to seal in the craft foam (sandwich!) and trimmed the excess.

Save your Worbla scraps, you can heat them up and use them for decorations, like claws and scrollwork!

Lastly I heated up the whole piece and curve it into shape around my upper arm, then let it cool.

Here is the completed piece after adding the spike and painting it.

In this last image you can see the hand plate on which I used both the craft foam relief technique and also layered strips of Worbla for the edge details. Here it is easy to see the visual difference you get – with the relief technique you will have smooth, rounded edges, and with the layering technique you will have sharp edges., which looks great for border outlines.

Did you know? Worbla (or "Worbla's Finest Art") is made from renewable natural raw materials is also known as Rhenoflex RX 5050 which was originally engineered by a German company for the purpose of industrial shoe-making. You can buy it in the U.S. from cosplaysupplies.com or yayahan.com

Worbla Techniques: Embossed/Relief Patterns

Worbla is a thermoplastic, popularly used for cosplay armor because it is so easy to work with and the resulting armor is quite durable. You can cut it with a good pair of scissors and you can mold it by hand after heating it up. Also, there is virtually zero waste because you can heat up the scraps and use it like clay to create detail ornamentation.

Worbla armor is usually created by sandwiching a stabilizing piece of craft foam between two pieces of Worbla.

Here's how you can create a relief design using inexpensive craft foam instead of using extra layers of expensive Worbla. The relief pattern will have smooth edges like an embossed design; if you layer Worbla instead you will have sharper edges.

You need:

Sheets of craft foam (in two contrasting colors)

Worbla (available from cosplaysupplies.com or yayahan.com)

Heat Gun

A pointy wooden tool

Sharpie for drawing your design

Good scissors
Elmer's glue
A surface to work on that the Worbla will not stick to (I use a piece of glass shelving from IKEA)

Cut out your design in craft foam and glue it to your craft foam pattern piece. Then layer Worbla over the craft foam and use a pointed wooden tool to press the thermoplastic down around the edges of the design.

Let's see an example:

Here I layered my design in green foam over yellow. The yellow will become my pattern piece for an upper-arm plate.

First I heated a piece of Worbla, then stuck the pattern piece on it with the green design side against the shiny side of the Worbla sheet. Then I flipped it over.

Here you can see how it helps to use contrasting craft foam colors. You can see the darker green design through the plastic. I can use my fingers to feel out the design and start to press the Worbla down, but it is much easier if I can see the pattern.

Next, I used the pointy tool to press the heated Worbla down around the design shapes and get nice, smooth edges.

The Worbla cools and hardens pretty quickly so I heated and worked on one quadrant of the piece at a time.

After finishing the relief, I heated a second piece of Worbla and stuck it to the back of the craft foam. Then I pressed the edges together to seal in the craft foam (sandwich!) and trimmed the excess.

 

Save your Worbla scraps, you can heat them up and use them for decorations, like claws and scrollwork!

Lastly I heated up the whole piece and curve it into shape around my upper arm, then let it cool.

Here's the hand plate with ornamentation added. On this piece I used both the craft foam relief technique and also layered strips of Worbla for the edge details.