Ezio cosplay progress - Robes and glove

(All of these Ezio progress posts are retrospective. I started work on this after summer in 2013 and it's been a slow process ever since.)

Ezio's robes are detailed, layered and all manner of other difficult and time-consuming things. I studied them for a long time, figuring out what goes on what layer and how it would all be worn in the end. Again, I used Mueldex's patterns as a base and modified them as I saw fit.

I mocked them up at first with old bedsheets and scrap fabric, altering them along the way to make them as accurate as possible. Once I'd decided that they looked good, I traced them onto thick fabric and tried them on.

  I'm still in the process of refining, hemming and sewing them together. The hood is something that needs a lot of work too... it's really hard to get the shape right and is something that every AC cosplayer knows the pain of (′︿‵｡)


The glove on Ezio's right hand was something I was considering buying, but I couldn't find anything fitting or reasonably priced. So I made my own.

I got an old leather glove, undid the stitching and used the pieces as a pattern. Just to make sure it would fit, and to practice how I would sew it, I made a mockup of it with some spare interfacing.

I only had just enough nice leather to fit all the pieces on, so I had to be careful...

I marked out the holes with a white gel pen and punched them with a seam ripper and a hole piercing thing.

Progress shots...

By now, the only thing left to sew is the outer edge that runs along the pinky.Then I've got to get more leather and make the big cuff.

Ezio cosplay progress - Pauldron

(All of these Ezio progress posts are retrospective. I started work on this after summer in 2013 and it's been a slow process ever since.)

The pauldron pattern was also modified from one of Mueldex's. I decided to go with the design seen in AC2's official art, since the in-game default one was pretty plain.

In-game model

Official art

I used official art, screenshots, the XNALara model, the statue and Fevereon's build as reference for the general shape and engraved patterns. I drew the details on paper and cleaned them up in PS. I only drew one half of the top pattern; it was symmetrical at first but I warped it so it would fit the shape of the pauldron when it was layed out. I then traced it onto some thicker tracing paper and layed it on top of the top pauldron layer, using a ball point roller to engrave it into the leather.

I did as much as I could with ball points and a DS stylus... I used water to soften the leather so the tooling would stay there. However, as the water dried I could see how much I'd actually done to the leather. You can see in the bottom right picture how different it looks when it's wet.

This was the most I could do using pure elbow grease.

I then got my rotary tool and passed over all the patterns plenty of times with a range of bits so they were visibly deep. I also engraved the lines which would split the pauldron into sections.

I made a quick paper pattern for the padding and cut the pieces out of thick piles of scrap fabric, loosely stitching them so they wouldn't fall apart.

 I actually didn't end up using the two end pieces since they made the pauldron too thick to sew and would get in the way of rivets. 
Here are the sections half sewn and the edges still open... I sewed the middle line first and carefully repositioned and clamped the layers each time I had to sew a new line so the layers would line up as nicely as possible.

No more progress photos after this, but I sewed the edges together, dyed the whole thing lightly, dyed the patterns darker so they'd stand out more, passed over it with leather finish, added the rivets and ring things and it was done!
Here it is with the cape too, which is fake suede and red fabric.

Ezio cosplay progress - Vambrace

(All of these Ezio progress posts are retrospective. I started work on this after summer in 2013 and it's been a slow process ever since.)

The vambrace was the first part I started work on. I wanted this costume to be as accurate and sturdy as possible in terms of materials, so I went with actual leather and metal rivets instead of the PU stuff and painted googly eyes.

Thankfully I only had to make one of them to match Ezio's default outfit in AC2. It's chunky, incredibly detailed and holds the housing for the hidden blade between two layers of leather. I'd never worked with leather before, especially not with the rough, hardly treated stuff, so I knew it would be a challenge. I used a range of sources as reference: concept art, screenshots, the in-game model in XNALara and the official statue.

I found a really useful website which had patterns and tutorials for making AC costumes. I got my patterns back when they were free. I messed about with them a bit to make them fit my arm and added an extra layer of leather to make it match the game model better.

The top two pattern pieces are vambrace layers and the bottom two are pauldron layers (which I'll cover in another post).

• Tweaked and finalised the patterns, traced them and cut them out from the leather
• Oiled them with neatsfoot oil (commonly used by horseriders) - took a few passes to get a nice dark, uniform colour and softness
• Took the bottom, innermost layer (the one you can see on the top-right in the patterns photo) and dyed it with dark brown leather dye diluted with alcohol, then engraved a border round it and made a pattern on it (with a screwdriver and a DS stylus, since I didn't have a rotary tool at that point...)

• Applied PU leather finish, punched holes along the edges, widened them and grommeted them
• Took the top two layers, aligned them and sewed them together, then engraved them (with my new rotary tool :P)

• By this point I'd made patterns for the metal part which would be attached on top of it, so I drilled holes to fit it as you can see above
• Cut straps and riveted them into place, gave them buckles - gave the bottom layer some placeholder ties (also tested how the blade housing would fit between the layers)

• Applied PU leather finish, punched holes all along the edges of that double-layered piece and riveted them, dyed the engraved patterns so they'd stand out more

That was the leather part all done. I was also working on the hidden blade at the same time.

It's a modified drawer slide. The final thing will have a plastic blade and working stops for it... I have a plan for how it's going to work, but the pieces are so small and need to fit into tight spaces so it's taking a while.

Next came the metal detailing on top.

I decided to make it out of polymer clay. I attempted a sheet steel base, but it was difficult to get clean, symmetrical edges without warping due to its shape. I got it cut out but didn't end up using it. I went for a Sculpy base instead, which looked much much better but was also extremely brittle. I can think of better ways to have made it now, but I stuck with it back then. I baked it curved by putting it on my rolled up English jotter which was tied to a grill by an elaborate network of strings.

I then drilled holes through it to match the holes in the leather and put short bolts in each hole with the head on top and the nuts screwed on underneath. I did this so I would be able to take the whole thing off if I needed to, most importantly for the baking of the clay on top, but because of the fragility of the Sculpy I couldn't.

So, I went in and sculpted on top of it with silver Fimo clay. The whole thing was done in one shot...

 I ended up having to bake it like that (yes, the leather went in the oven) since the Sculpy didn't want to budge without snapping. The leather and PU finish survived the heat fine. No weird fumes, burning or hardening anywhere.

After it had fully hardened, I passed over it with silver Rub'n Buff, weathered it with watered down black acrylic paint and painted the engraved details to make them stand out more. After another light pass of the Rub'n Buff (and the jewel glued in) it looks like this. All done!