Papier Macheniacs: The Byted Beak

Whoa! Working with paper and metal is insane!
But... we did it anyway.

Presenting Team Fortress 2 Medic's Byted Beak Robot Mask ala Paper Mache!

We started out the project with pretty much our comfort zone materials: paper, cardboard, rolls and rolls of tape.

Mummifying it with tissue and glue was, as always, relaxing. So was marking it with paint guides.

Painting it was fun, as usual. From the get go, we decided that we'd customise our Byted Beak's colour palette and we get a kick out of mixing hues to come up with our own.

Fitting in the lens was another easy stage. Ho-hum.

Then... came the tricky part.
The Byted Beak, being a robot mask, cannot be made out of paper alone. We have to somehow throw in some hardware. Okay, we really didn't need to. But we do like killing ourselves. So… we went for it anyway.

We got bolt fasteners and little plastic lid protectors that we hoped would give the paper mask an illusion of 'robot-ness'.

Getting the materials was a walk in the park. Mixing the 2 media together was the challenge. It was our first time to work with a puncher, a cutter, and an ice pick. Yes! An ice pick!

After that little learning curve and several blisters later…

It was cosplay time --which happens to be another Papier Macheniac comfort zone. Yay!

Did this project inspire you to make your own Byted Beak Robot Mask? Hope it did. Can't wait to see how you made yours.

Papier Macheniacs: The Gunslinger

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Engineer's melee weapon… The Gunslinger!

Goshdarnit! Let's start this DIY walkthrough with a videoooooo!

Now, let's get our hands dirty.
Our Team Fortress 2 Gunslinger has 2 parts: the wearable hand structure, and the wrist attachments. Both of which are made out of stuff you have lying around the house.

The hand part needs to fit you like a glove. So that's exactly what you'll need! A gardener's glove, a washing machine hose, and fishing floaters. Yes, fishing floaters! You'll have to cut the hose to a variation of ring lengths. The floaters, you'll have to carve at the bottom for finger space. Whip out your handy glue gun --and TA-DAH! You got yourself the basic foundation of power!

Now paint the floaters silver grey. This melee weapon is basically a robot arm. The floaters original ice cream colours just won't cut it.

Moving on to the wrist attachments --Oh, we got a lot going on here. You'll need a Pringles canister chopped into 2 parts.A Lays canister sliced for your top hand piece. Empty matchboxes for the bigger wrist band. Coins for buttons. And more washing machine hose rings for the details.

Paper mache like the devil!

Paint and distress.

And you're set!

Now get out there, kick some intense butt, and be the Engineer of your own Team Fortress destiny!

Papier Macheniacs: TF2 Metal Jaw

The Team Fortress 2 Metal Jaw (also seen on Heavy and Engineer) is one of our easier mask-making projects. First of all, it doesn't require the whole face. The details were simple enough. And the paint job was pretty much a free-for-all.

Our version, naturally, started with a paper plate --folded and taped with a bunch of newspapers and coins. The coins were for the rivets. Genius, huh? :P

The dents and breaks on the surface were fun to make during paper mach stage. The imperfection of this piece brings out a lot of your creativity.

And then, you just let loose on painting it. Miro decided on a post-battle Metal Jaw, hence, the rust and blood stains. The boy really went to town with realism here. Proud mom moment. *sniff*

Make your own paper mache TF2 Metal Jaw. Because… Just because.