Nazgul - Halloween shortcuts

Here we present some shortcuts from our members.

Looking for more armor info? Check our tips section.

Need to fake boots?

Quick Ringwrath pattern: http://home.kabelfoon.nl/~triade/CostumeG/Ringwraith.html

Want to do Ring Wraiths real fast but just aren't quite ready for Halloween costumes??? And don't want 50 yards of fabric.

You want black sweats or jeans and a long sleeved black shirt, turtleneck if you have it. Black gloves and shoes (unless you're going for gauntlets and fake armor) You going to have to find a black robe, or make a little something for the next layer.

Check out Naomi's quick wizard. robe. Just don't finish the edges. It's slit front and back and sides to give everything a more wispy look. If you get carried away, make two. The first layer has the long sleeves, the 2nd is a long sleeveless vest.

Don't want to sew at all, did out your old Scream costume that's sitting in the back of the closet. Slit the sides.

For the hood get a large square of thin black fabric and fold it diagonally. Wear that over your head and let the long triangle points hang down in front.

To get the ragged look the defines the Ring Wraiths from ever other black hooded thing, you need to trash the edges. Cut/tear the edges a little raggedy. Take a wire brush, like the kind they use to scrape paint, or just plain sand paper and brush all the edges outward. That will really make them ragged and wispy .

Rub dirt in the edges. The ring wraiths are rather mud splattered or use bits of brown paint. You can splatter it on by dipping in a tooth brush and flicking the bristles. (Warning, you'll end up with paint on a lot more than the fabric doing this, so work outside,)

Extra accessories if you have time... belted sword. Belt under the long vest but over the robe. Gauntlets, see below.

Rummage sale and Walmart

For the layer directly next to the skin I am revamping an old, crummy black silk ball gown I found at a rummage sale, as it will wick any sweat from his body - we're in Mississippi, so cold winters are a rarity - and is breathable. It requires some redrafting, as the skirt is much too full and the body rather too narrow, but there's enough fabric to do it nicely. It was also suitably frayed and splotched already, which means I don't have to age it (a step saved is a step...that I don't have to do!!).

The under-robe I'm making with wrist-length fitted sleeves that the gauntlets will fit over.

The fabric for one of the underlayers, the outer robe, and cowl hood with the drapey neck bits (my, I'm technical!) is a sort of loose, waffly weave - looks a lot like a coarse linen, but is smoother - in jet black.($1 a yard, Walmart.) It's cool because the weave is very coarse and lets a lot of air through. It also frays beautifully at the edges, for that centuries-old look.

I'm using watered-down gold paint to do the designs on the hood: I haven't got an embroidery machine to embroider it properly. Yet, the paint looks very nice and old

== Megan

Stiff hood

you're going to need something to shape the front of the hood. Something like buckram (which they use for hats) is best. However, you could use stiff plastic needlework canvas, heavy interfacing or just for one night use thin cardboard. Anything to give you the stiffness.

To cheat the wide headpiece, you're going to need to build a bonnet. Figure out how wide you want the hood to be from front to back. It needs to cover you head and stick out from your face a bit. About a foot might work. Fold this into an upside down "U". To keep in in that shape cut another piece of cardboard that you can tape to the edges of the "U" to keep the shape. Yup, it's going to look a bit like a bonnet... and to get it to stay in place, you're going to have to use an old theatrical trick... put in some ties, like black shoelaces. Don't tie it under your chin, tie it behind. If you're using cardboard, instead of canvas you're going to really need to reinforce that tie spot.

If your hood fabric is sheer, you'll need to spray paint the "bonnet" black.

Take and tuck that bonnet into the center folded square of hood fabric. Now you've got a still hood that extends over your face. The long fabric tales in front will help the bonnet stay forward. It won't be tonally stable but will look better than tying the bonnet in front.

Another option is to tack the "bonnet" onto a tight fitting baseball cap without the brim.

If you have some ultra sheer black gauze, you can hang it in the front part of the "U" so your face is even more obscured. Don't tack it all the way down... you still want to be able to eat and drink in your costumes.

If you black out your face with makeup, the effect will be even better. (That's what they did in the movie.)

== Cat

Hiding the face

we use a semi-sheer matte black poly knit over people's faces in our theater. Just attach a hunk of it along the top inside of the hood (a couple of inches back; the hood should extend forward of the wearer's face, anyway). If you want (and it helps with seeing 8-), you can tuck the lower edge into the neck of the underlying clothing.

== Emc^2

Gauntlets

When I did my Sauron Lite quick costume I made the gauntlet plates out of tough plastic with cable ties holding them together. I used black ones of course, but you may find that small white ones would work as well for 'bone'.

You just need to make sure you don't make the finger plates too tight to get your hands into the gloves! The major problem is that you need to use thin cardboard otherwise the digits end up being too thick.

== Rob

Find out a lot more about Faking Gauntlets over in our Tips section

Armored Boots

Check various bits of our scrapbook including: Boots from Vinyl Flooring

No sew... but you do have to dye

i really like the idea of the dyed cheesecloth (and it's cheap!), make one layer like a long poncho, one layer like a hooded cloak, and one or two more layers like different length shawls - catch all but the poncho layer in a pin at the throat. Of course wear ninja-blacks underneath. If you start with an old sheet for the "hooded cloak" layer you can paint the "hood" with stiffy. Then just black out your face or hang a piece of cheesecloth from inside the hood. It could work. You know how you make a "hooded cloak" from a sheet... drape it over your head, hold it closed at your throat and pin it; the part over you head can then fall back like a "hood" and the rest drapes down around. Completely no sew in anything.

== Judy

Disclaimer: Everything here is just provided to help you out as a suggestion. .

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This page was last updated 04/22/08