How to Cosplay... Turning Craft Foam Into Leather 

Holy crap you are a genius!!! Aluminum foil to do that? WOW

genius! I used your technique and it worked well :-) I also tried taking a clean piece of tinfoil and then pressed it up against the stucco on the outside wall, then pressed it with a soft sponge- to captured some real interesting deep & slightly more exaggerated leather-like texture. thanks for sharing :-)

eva foam works with grommets. Also if the holes are perfect circles they have more strength then slots/slits (holes that are perfectly circularly punched tend to tear much less than holes that are just poked with a pen or something)

This turned out so cool!!!!

Thank you for the tutorial, it looks fantastic! I was just considering to by some bulk leather to make bracers/shin guards but this looks so real and the other advantage is that I've got lots of foam and experience working with it. Thank you!

My type of crafts, super simple!!!

that looks really great!!

I watched about five videos on this subjects and this is the best for sure! Thank you very much

This is so awesome! i can't thank you enough, i am working on my daenerys targaryen qarth leather outfit and trying to brainstorm ideas about how to go about it, and this is going to be such a money saver! you rock! i'm subbed

A great way to source leather is to buy cheap second hand clothes which use leather. You can get a fair bit of leather fairly cheap that way.

This is so amazing!!! Thank you for taking the time to make this!

Awsome tut! I def wanna try your method, and those bracers look fantastic!

If you use grommets or the metal hole lines that you see on a lot of more expensive hoodies or coats where the laces/drawstrings are- it will help make the holes more sturdy and they won't tear. You can find these pieces at any craft store.

Wow! This was great!

This is pure genius!!

wow, this is great (and tedious) thanks for the tutorial!!!

This was suuuuper helpful!! Thank you!! :D

simple, for the holes, what u can do is use washers used for dividing bolts, metal ones for the back or front, to give it a genuine look XD, or just in the back so u don't se them :)

Thank you so much for this!!!!! I'm gonna use it on my donna troy cosplay

This is amazing! Great tutorial!

Thank you soooo much!!!! I'm going to try it for like steampunks stuff!

Hi try the memory keepers Croc. It will punch holes and you can add the hole protector brads. lace up more freely

Awesome tutorial! I made my Khal Dro-gal crossplay belt with eva foam and I did my best to get the texture of leather but it would have come out so much cooler had I used your technique! Next time!

Awesome tutorial! Thanks for sharing :)

Interesting tip with the aluminium. I'll definitely have to try it, thank you!

You are so talented!! Did you ever try the black foam base? I am working on my first cosplay, eep!

THANKS A MILLION...THIS IS SO BRILLIANT.....SO USEFUL... THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS WONDERFUL IDEA

Ohhh mu lord u aré really talented! 👌🏼

Thanks a lot! It's really helpful!

awesome! thanks

Amazing tutorial, thanks!!! :)

Brilliant video

Awesome, thank you very much! You are amazing :D

Awesome! Genius! Inspiring! :)

Genius idea! :) thanks

Use a piece of card stock sandwiched in between another piece of foam for the lace up part

Just wondering if you let each layer dry (brown paint and pva glue) before adding another layer? I'd like to use this technique for my Aloy cosplay, I just don't remember this being specified in your video.

than you so much

Genius!

very clever

This is smart. Thanks

How strong is the foam once this is all said and done? Can it be used to make a bag, or will it fall apart? (I'm more curious about being able to sew pieces together into a purse or bag of sorts). Thank you!!

1: Would it be worth doing the foil/iron thing two or more times to get a finer texture? 2: would backing your faux leather with non-woven fusible interfacing add some strength maybe? 3: Grommets pounded into the holes would give strength, but I'm not sure you want that look. 4: starting with black foam is a good option if you want dark brown 'leather', but with lighter leathers you might want to start with the brown foam, and simply add two or three lighter shades - not doing any black. It might be worth going a shade lighter on each of your three applications of highlight drybrushing - BTW what you were doing in the video was not drybrushing, so much as overbrushing. Drybrushing requires that you remove most of the paint from your brush before applying it to the surface.

This is great ah 😊😊

What thickness of foam did you use? As the thickness is realistic for lether too. Btw amazing tutorial!!

This might be a stupid question, but: is there a difference between pva glue an woodglue?

Hey! Can you make a tutorial of how you make the belt and the bracers? I want to know how to do it. Thank you 💕

I've watched a few vids on this, some say you should do it outside because of any fumes but you seemed to do inside, which do you think is best? (I live in the south of england and we've got rain for the next few days :P so if I could do it inside..........) cheers :)

have you considered backing with duck tape? my friend backs all her worbla armor with dt and it makes it easy to clean/sanitize. I bet it would strengthen craft foam too (I'm going to give it a try :p)

with the lace up holes have you tryed like a thin plastic to back it (ie the plastic bin type plastic)

I think that you should try to use instant glue for make more rigid the foam. One coat from the back of the piece should be enought.

+pompberry Hey! Have you considered backing the craft loam (at the danger zone holes) with Worbla or Wonderflex? I'm going to use Worbla on the shin guards I'm making and hopefully it adds some durability. Thanks for the tutorial! I'm definitely putting aluminum foil to use.

This is so smart

💖💖💖

this is a good way

going to use this to make a better quality leather armor from fallout 4, but where do I buy the glue? just like... at a craft store?

What kind of glue was used?

very interesting

would other types of glue work? like elmers or even mod podge?

how does the glue feel under the fabric? does it leave a noticeable layer?

oh very nice! :-)

Genius.

Can you do a Khal Drogo Cosplay Tutorial?

This is really helpful, thank you! What's the benefit of layering the paint and glue three times? Is there a reason you can't just paint and glue it one time? What do you think of backing the foam with duct tape for sturdiness? Seems like it might be easier than fabric (though maybe uncomfortable if it's on bare skin).

Which paint did You used? 😅

+Elizbeth Jativa Ruiz acrylics

try to use liquid latex tro protect your foam on the holes

would this work with a heat press? like what you use for shirts? I'm wondering if that would speed up the process.

thank you so much! But I wonder... can I still bend it, and cut it and basically craft it afterwards?

I would back it with thin ABS plastic.

It's a great tutorial! I want to know how to turn it into Khal Drogo belt and bracelets. Could you help me?

Holy shit, I would never come up with this on my own. Did you try different colours of foam? Can I,for ex, take an orange foam and paint it brown/black?

WITCHCRAFT!!!

Do you recommend a certain type of PVA glue? I've read online that Elmers glue is a type of PVA glue. Would that work?

Will multi colored foam work? my store didn't have any brown foam.

Are you using plain old craft foam? when I use the iron on the foam is curls up. any idea why?

i think i'll use this for my cosplay, but it will be red. wish me luck 😄😄😄

Zenkyu, zenkyu, sorry my Spanish my no espíc inglés

how did you make the foam to belt/bracers?

HEy this tutorial is amazing! thank you very much. I'm using for a khal drogo cosplay also. Btw, did you post any tutorial or further info on your khal drogo cosplay somewhere else?

really wish people wouldn't refer to leather as cruel, its a byproduct of the meat industry. if everyone stopped using leather tomorrow there would be no less cows being killed.

Muito bom o vídeo, vou usar esse tutorial! Ah, e quanto aos furos do cinto, já tentou colocar cadarço de ilhós por baixo? 4.bp.blogspot.com/-H7eSH4cTjiw/UFDFFQHESnI/AAAAAAAAHBc/qtN5RPUFjfA/s1600/Cal%C3%A7a_metaleira.JPG (na parte que fica em contato com a pele, pra não aparecer) Eu acho que resolveria o problema e é fácil de encontrar em qualquer loja de aviamentos :)

Hey! big fan of your videos. you made me be able to get started with a new passion of cosplaying! I know you're busy making videos but it would do me big deal if you can make tutorial on how to make that belt and those bracers for khal drogo. And i've seen countless tutorials for other game of thrones cosplays but none for khal drogo. Just a food for thought.

The lesson was very interesting but the background music was annoying as H-E-double toothpicks!! Also made it harder to hear what you were saying at times and very distracting. I hope future videos will skip the noise so we can concentrate on the lesson.

OMG I love you! Me and my partner are having a game of thrones wedding as khal drogo and danaerys. genuine leather was out of the questions because of price but even fake leather cost a bit in nz. So thanks so much for this tutorial I LOVE that belt :3 xxxx

"cruelty free" ... it doesn't matter if you use leather or craft foam... the damage have already been done to the animal, I would rather use real leather for the authenticity and if you're animal friendly I would carve the animal into the piece to honour it, all leathercraft for either cosplay or everyday clothing use should have alot of details, atleast in my opinion as a style I love is 1600th century musketeer style clothing