Costume Help Thread

[AWESOME LAD]

Rules: if you have a question about a costume, ask it here. If you have an answer, post it here. If you have anything to say about the costumes, post it here. I will put everything in this post.
Disclaimer:This thread is specifically for Aquabats costumes, for villain/allie costumes, post elsewhere. Maybe I'll create a help thread for villain/allie costumes.

Anti-Negativity Helmet:

What The Band Uses:
The helmets used by the band are made by Aleeda Wetsuits. They use a 2-3mm thick neoprene rubber that is one side nylon, one side rubber. Recently the rubber has been colored gray.
The three pieces are sewn and cemented together.
MCBC's helmet has a elastic chin strap that is sewn onto the helmet.
Jimmy's current helmet has a chin guard made of a fourth piece of neoprene attached to the helmet.

Materials:
Bandit: If you live near a surf/dive shop, usually they'll sell you scraps of neoprene for MAAD cheap. I got a sheet that was probably bigger than 50x80 for LESS than $10, so only go to aleeda if you're not near scrap neoprene, and if you really can't afford the $10 of scrap neoprene it'll cost you, then yeah, go for the duct tape or volley ball.

Jordy: I used the souls of 1000 virgins, and some duct tape.

Baron Von Ottobat: Go to Aleeda.com, there you can purchase sheets of neoprene. (which is what the helmets and masks are made of) The right stuff is 1 sided 2mm thick and $45.00 for a sheet that measures 50"x80".

Methods:
mikeyskas: what i did is i took a foam volley-ball and i cut it open and took just the foam part, i then formed it into a helmet shape, then just spray paint it wat ever color you wish

penguinbat: I know this isn't a high-quality deal, but I actually made mine of out duct tape. I had short hair so i just put a ring around the top of my head (sticky out...) and then covered the sticky side with the sticky side of another ring, so that no glue was exposed. from there i made arcs from one side to the other... and when i had a little "cap" i made it longer in the back and put the little "widow's peak" in the front. it's not immaculate... but if money's an issue it isn't bad.

Jordy: Ryan Booth made a pretty sweet one out of the hood of a hoodie. I'd find an old one without a pointy top and do it like that.

Bandit: Then your best bet is to trace a friend's helmet, or get one of the kind boardies with an official helmet (not me; i'm without a legit helmet) to trace the panels individually and scan them (scale) for you, and then cut those out of the neoprene, and just sew them. I sewed mine by hand because i had too thick neoprene for a machine, but i'm not even sure i would trust a sewing machine to NOT destroy the neoprene, but if you're ballsy, use a zig-zag stitch across the seams.

My biggest regret is getting neoprene that was too thick, and being terrible at sewing.

Nick Sucks: its just neoprene. I bought one but when I got it I realized that it would be so easy to make. All you need is a sheet of neoprene and a sewing machine or needle and thread I guess and some scissors. basically just try and find a close-up pic of one of the helmets. Its only 3 cut pieces of neoprene sewn together. I think it'd be pretty easy

AWESOME LAD: this is an amazing tutorial I found on instructables. Anti Negativity Helmet Tutorial

Dave-Edge: Update instructables thought it would be a good idea to chardge people for there service to view pdfs. If anyone has them saved please help and link or upload them here.

Resources:
-OFFICIAL Aquabats Anti-Negativity Helmet

Rashguard

What The Band Uses:
The Rashguards worn by the band are made by Aleeda Wetsuits. They are made of Lycra with vinyl transferred logos.

Materials:

Methods:

Resources:
-OFFICIAL Aquabats Rashguards: Blue Purple
-Blank Rashguard

Power Belt

What The Band Uses: The first belt that the band wore was designed and manufactured by Paul Frank. They were vinyl with the designs either printed or sewn on. Construction varied.
The design worn in the 00's was printed onto the vinyl. I'm not sure who made these.
The Super Show belts are made of vinyl, cut out and layered and sewn together. Each belt was made to custom fit the girth of each member. I believe these were made by Toddland

Materials:
Bandit: As for me, i've made two belts out of vinyl and velcro (go figure). Seriously, just go to a fabric store and get some thin-ish yet sturdy white vinyl and it shouldn't be a problem to sew the velcro on with a regular sewing machine.

Sheriff Dr. Aquabrad: ok so i just found out the belts are made of naugahyde vinyl!

Methods:
Bandit: For coloring (like the little bat dude, etc.) i tried sharpie, but that faded pretty fast and then turned purple. What DID work was acrylic paint, and i just cut out a stencil using a picture i had printed off the computer. For good measure, you can also spray over it with some gloss or something so it lasts longer.

asteroid: I just bought some vinyl at Wal-mart, and printed the =Astrobats= logo measured my waist and cut the fabric according to size, and sewed some velcro on the ends!

Nate McNeato:
What I used to make it: -Cardboard from a box -The Gray cloth (I got it from a local material store) -A printed logo that I made myself -Black and White Paper -A black Shoelace -Glue -Gluegun -A sewing machine and Black thread

So basically, measured my waist and I cut out the cardboard box accordingly. (I'd cut it out bigger then your waist, but not a ton bigger), bent it around a lot, folded over the cloth and glue gunned it to the cardboard. Then I cut out the logo and black and white paper to how I wanted it, glued the logo to the other paper and got them lamitated. (Except for the white stripes on the side. The bats were supposed to sign there. I never got the chance to meet any of them, so...maybe next time) Anyway, after the paper was laminated, I cut it out, then sowed it into the cardboard. Finally, I poked 2 holes on each end of the belt, and put the shoelace through like in the rear picture.

[/B]Asteroid[/b]: When I made mine, I printed a high-res image, laminated it and used crazy glue... it held up for a little while but was toast after my last show. My suggestion would to be to just paint it.

[/B]Sheriff Benson[/b]: You could try screening the bat onto the vinyl -- just get a screen printing kit at your local art store and give it a shot.

Batvans46: Step 1: Google-maps screenprinting shops near you. 2. Ask for scraps of vinyl or, depending on local laws, dumpster dive for vinyl scraps. As for screen printing, you would need to use a vinyl ink, which is expensive. So i would reccomend spray paint and a good stencil.

Resources:

Goggles/Mask

What The Band Uses:
The masks worn by the band are made by Aleeda Wetsuits. They use 5 mm thick neoprene rubber that is one side blue nylon, one side rubber. It is held on with 1/2 inch elastic (wider than elastic used on masks sold in the store).

Materials:

Methods:

Resources: