I made Aloy’s Banuk Ice Hunter armor (fully upgraded version) back in 2017/2018. My goal was to use natural materials – since that’s what the real outfit would have been made of in a thousands of years in the future post apocalypse society that’s starting humanity over. 😅
I started off by having a shopping spree at Tandy Leather. I got various suedes and skins (I don’t remember exactly which ones anymore). I used alcohol based leather dyes to get the turquoise and blue tones. I did use a faux fur I harvested from a Target scarf. It was too perfect not to use. All of the fabrics are linen.
Now for the armor, aka “machine parts”. The various repetitive smaller bits (the long vertical and triangle bits) around the boots and whatnot are cast from resin. I made the forms from craft foam and made 1-part molds. The bigger armor is just the foam, not casted. In the end it was all primed and painted white to look the same. It’s hard to tell in the photos, but I did do shadows and highlights. Looking at it now, I really should have done much more contrast and added weathering, because it all just looks super white and boring.
The staff base was made with mystery tubing and small 3d printed bits, all covered with Thibra. Then I built upon it with craft foam, fabric, cording, etc. The end piece was 3D printed with a removable lid to insert a light and battery. For the focus I found a premade 3D print file. I put a teeny tiny led light and battery inside with an itty bitty switch.
Overall I’m happy with the way it came out. The fit was a little awkward and it could have moved better and been more comfy. And overall it needs some serious weathering. Not just the armor, but the fabrics/leather too.
