“Leather” Bandolier Tutorial

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Daenerys’ Mhysa leather bandolier (for lack of a better thing to call it)

This was a relatively simple build, but I got some questions about it, so here we go.

I decided to make my leather from craft foam (since I didn’t have enough leather left over from another project to make it out of the real stuff).

(If you’re new to craft foam armour, I recommend this tutorial: http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html )

I very much eyeballed the design from the few reference stills I could get my hands on and rewatching the scene over and over again, so the pattern I have may be slightly off (but it looks good enough for me).

The back piece very much follows some of the similar curves and shapes of the blue Astapor/Dragonscale dress she wears in season 3, it’s got the circular back hole and everything. On the front it crisscrosses over the bust following the wrap design on the dress and buckles in the back after getting looped through a loop to keep it from riding up.

It’s pretty simple.

My foam was actually supposed to be the pattern for my leather version, but I thought I might as well have a version on hand.

Joining the pieces: I used hot glue on the seams and underneath. You can sew it if you want (the foam might rip). In the front it’s held together with brads (like you use in scrapbooks) and sewn.

To finish the foam you can either iron it (on low heat!), or coat it in 4ish layers of watered down mod podge or watered down elmers glue + fabric glue. I do the later here because, I can go in while it’s drying with a hairdryer and heat areas until they bubble (which gives it some leathery texture). I pressed the edging details (thin outline) in with a pointy wooden thing I use for sculpture, and then I paint it by mixing a bunch of browns, coppers, and black together. I then go over it with lighter and darker coats applied by sea sponge to add the look of more texture. Then I do a coat of black on the details and wipe it off before it dries so some black is left in the indents.

Add buckles, and tadaa, you’re done!

Mhysa!

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