# King Hamlet's ghost: aka Unorthodox's ghost knight.



## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

This is REALLY not how I had envisioned spending my year. I have a started project sitting in the garage on hold for nearly a month now, and it's going to be probably another month before I can get back to it. 

No sooner did I finish up Alexander the Great, than I was hit with ANOTHER request for a suit of armor. 

My older son needs a costume for King Hamlet's Ghost. 



> The Ghost appears first to a trio of soldiers—Barnardo, Francisco, and Marcellus—and a visitor to Denmark, Horatio. The men draw their swords and stand in fear, requesting that Horatio, as a scholar, address the ghost. Horatio asks the ghost to speak, and reveal its secret. It is about to do so when the **** crows, signaling morning, and the ghost instead disappears. In this scene, the Ghost is clearly recognised by all present as the King, *dressed in his full armour.* It is also said that he had appeared to the castle guards at least twice before at exactly the same time.
> 
> 
> King Hamlet is described by other characters in the play as a warrior, as he led Denmark's forces to victory against Norway, and personally defeated its King in hand-to-hand combat. Hamlet respects him, saying Claudius pales in comparison to him, and frequently reflecting on him in an endearing manner.



So, what do you know, I gotta make ANOTHER suit of armor. And, where Greek armor was a simple cuirass and laminate armor, Danish armor is more like a full suit of mail. 

Will get some pics up soon.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

So...

the first step in making KYLE into King Hamlet's Ghost was to get a body form...So, we wrapped him in rigid wrap, cut it off, and attached the halves back together with more wrap. It's quick and dirty, and not a real life cast, but infinitely cheaper and quicker.










Instead of the long, boring, paper mache, cheese cloth and glue method, 2 quick layers of burlap and monster mud get us to this point in 3 days, what took me nearly 2 weeks on Alec. I really can't believe I didn't think of this on Alec's armor. 










In another 'you idiot why didn't you think of this THEN' moment, the back of Kyle's armor is going to have a seam we'll just velcro shut for easy on/off action. Alec is something of a contortionist, so slipping his over his head wasn't a huge deal, but should have thought of this then...

That's just mod podge which remains flexible, prevents the itching and fraying of the burlap as well as a super simple means of attaching the pieces together. 









Some quick paper mache to smooth the front out, and the chest piece is all done save for some paint and drying. Shoulders are up next, but I need the chest dry for that as well. 










And, no, Talia is not being left out. (and yes, that's a heart on there if you look close...)


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

*You Are Making Wonderfull Memories!*

Your little kids will cherish.
Scary picture for me, I had four boys, how does one go about raising a girl?! Just a lame joke of course.
Is she going to be a knight too?
Armored Princess? Why not?
Special times for those very special little ones, and you.

The chest-piece , a warm-up practise before you get to the helmet?
I made a pretty good helmet from poster board. I made another such item stating with an old plastic safety helmet....."cheat" get those round parts from something else.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Talia is equally at home playing house with her dolls, or whacking the boys with swords. Coming from a family of all boys, I'm pretty scared of raising a girl, too...But, she really gets into halloween, and boy stuff, so it's been ok so far. Her dance class last halloween they all went in costume, you had the full lineup of Disney princesses, a Strawberry shortcake, and a "Pirate sword princess, ARRR!". 

Her armor will be closer to Alec's Alexander, getting a kilt once the cuirass is finished, I don't know about a helmet, if she wants one. 

As for Kyle, 

Since he is acting in it, I don't know exactly HOW or IF I'm doing a helmet yet. You want to cover as little face/head as possible. Since it's a King, we might do a crown instead of a helmet. 

The cuirass (chest piece) is a warm up for the pauldrons (shoulders) and fauld (waist). Then we will move down the arms and legs. 

I'm not doing gauntlets or Sabatons (hands and feet) for technical reasons (pain in the butt), but haven't decided on cowters and poleyns (elbow and knees) since I'm not entirely positive how I would go about actually attaching those easily.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Speaking of, the pauldrons in monster mud (will mache a better shape over this base)










And, various forms are drying for the other pieces. 










Yes, the mache is lumpy, we'll have to go back over it with Das clay.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

The armor update...










All plates getting sealed for painting.










Our present dilemma is how to do the chain portion...


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## ScreaminScott (Nov 19, 2009)

*chain mail*

I have seen people make fake chain mail by painting a sweater with silver spraypaint. Use a sweater with a wide open weave. Multiple light coats should do the trick.

heres a couple of links:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5923882_make-fake-chainmail.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_6858427_do-make-fake-theatrical-chainmail_.html


Not sure if that helps.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Thanks, I'm going to have to look into that.


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## MHooch (Jun 15, 2007)

You _are_ a great Daddy!! I looked at the link to "Alex the Great", also. Excellent job, as always.  I'm impressed that your son's class is doing Hamlet!


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## Biggie (Jul 29, 2009)

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Lazy-Mans-Chainmail-Shirt/

Yup, neat effect and really easy

Some people say long underwear works to an extent, also. If you want to you can make slices of plastic pipe, then just get the kids to assemble the mail using plastic instead of metal. Thats how LotR did the extras armor


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Biggie said:


> Some people say long underwear works to an extent, also.


THERMALS!!!


That's EXACTLY what we need!!! 


Oh, I gots to go shopping tonight.


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## Atelier*Motives (Sep 28, 2009)

This is looking awesome so far!


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

The thermals look perfect. I expect to be making major strides on this by the weekend.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

The top half is coming together in a hurry. 










The awesome thermals idea, THANKS Biggie!










Velcro, the secret to all the plate attachments. 










I've got to find/make some suspenders to get the pants done. The left arm is falling behind because I had to remake those plates. We'll have a full suit of armor soon...then I have to 'ghostify' it.

I've attached the bottom piece of the hauberk 'underneath' the breastplate since the pics, goes down to about mid/thigh.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Yay! the top is done!


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

King Hamlet's Ghost is finally finished.










Getting out the webber...





































I'm considering pulling out my OTHER webber (the drill attachment) just before showtime as well. It's webs are finer, and more sheet-like, but less likely to take the abuse these ones are going to get in the next few days.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

I only had my crappy point and shoot, will get better pics at the show on Thursday. Turns out the ones doing the play run a massive haunted house ("The Harry Potter house", one of the triangle of major stops, along with "The Mafia House" and "The Tiki House" (me). They literally have ALL the teachers/rooms/etc at whatever the school was called, sorry.) up in the rich neighborhood, and had to supply all costumes but mine...


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Hamlet final showing. 

8 showings, and the costume has been hammered. 

A little compare/contrast for you, here is what happens when you use a web SPINNER as opposed to a web SHOOTER (above). 











I wanted to spray a TON more, but Kyle was not liking the feel of these. 
"they feel like webs." "that's kind of the point." 









Notice all the terra cotta spotches...that's areas that have chipped thanks to various things like RUNNING IT OVER WITH A WHEELBARROW.



















I have a lot more pics, but was shooting in RAW and haven't had time to edit them into a usable format.


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## beautifulnightmare (Oct 31, 2010)

very cool!


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## JustJimAZ (Jul 26, 2010)

Cool end result!


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