Construction Details:

I spent a lot of time breaking down the shapes to Steiner's armor before cutting anything so that I had a good strategy going in. The armor is made from layering foam and worbla and accenting it with metal rivets. Everything was coated with plastic spray and then painted varying tones of silver and pewter. Some pieces attach together with snaps while others with Velcro, which makes the entire armor easier to get on and off and to store. The metal chain mail underneath was store bought as I did not have enough time before the con to make one by hand. However, the larger black "curtain" mail on his arms I made by cutting individual plastic rings and melting the plastic enough to link them together. They attach to the armor with metal hooks.



I enlarged my hands by taking rings of piping insulation foam and attaching them to a pair of gloves to build up my fingers and hand. I then made Steiner's gloves large enough to go over the entire thing. The rings are cut at the joints, so that the hand feels very real. The belts I cut from a roll of cowhide and stained with leather tanning. The pattern is painted on for now but I want to take the time to emboss it in the future. The buckle is made from foam backed with plastic. The shoes have real shoes underneath, and the armor is snapped on to create a hinge on the front foot so I can run in them without the armor catching on anything.



For the sword, the blade is wood, but the hilt is a combination of wood, worbla, and the grip end of a wiffle ball bat.

Personal Thoughts:

I love FF9, and though Steiner isn't my favorite character from the game, I just had to cosplay him. He's so goofy in a buffoonish, stick-in-the-mud kind of way. It was a lot of fun to wear this and have an excuse to be silly.

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