DIY Spartan Helmet Costume From Foam!

It's amazing what you can make from an ordinary foam floor mat and hot glue! In this tutorial I'll show you how to make your own Spartan helmet that would feel right at home on a movie set. It's a great pattern that easily adapts to other helmet styles as well. The pattern has multiple sizes to fit most heads from children to large headed adults, and it's a pretty quick build if you have a bit of experience or are good with your hands.

1. Pattern: You can find it on my website. When you print it, measure against the print guides to know the scale is correct. ** When printing, make sure scale is set to ACTUAL SIZE** Because I make my patterns to work on both A4 and U.S. letter paper, often Adobe Acrobat will try and shrink the pages a little bit.
2. Paint Pen or Gel Pen: Used for any markings on the foam. If you use a ballpoint pen or sharpie and then try to paint over it with a light colour, the pen ink will migrate through the paint and you will never be able to cover the lines!
3. Scissors 
4. Ruler
5. Very Sharp Knife: If it is not really sharp you will have a terrible time when you are cutting the foam.I use a utility knife with a brand new blade. I also use a scalpel blade for some of the tight curves. Have extra blades as they will get dull as you go.
6. Cutting Surface: Somewhere to cut where you won’t be destroying anything.
7. Hot Glue Gun: I highly suggest a glue gun that has adjustable temperature. If you use a temperature just a little bit higher than the melting point of the glue, you will have fewer burnt fingers, and not have to hold pieces together as long while they cool.
8. Super Glue: Not entirely necessary, but it can be helpful for gluing down bits and pieces. 
9. Contact Cement (optional): I used hot glue in the video, and I think this works great, however, if you are going to be wearing or storing your costume somewhere that will get quite hot, you might want to use contact cement instead.
10. 6-7 mm Thick Eva Foam Floor Mat: If you can find one that is smooth on both sides, great! I used a 4 x 8 foot roll that has texture on one side, but the price was right!
11. 2 mm Thick Eva Foam: You can often find rolls of this stuff at craft stores. A roll is handy because you can cut nice long strips from it. If you can find it in black, that’s the best- if a bit off paint gets rubbed off during use, there won’t be some random colour showing through.
12. Black Paint: Artists acrylics work reasonable well, though they can crack over time. If you want a really durable, long lasting finish, I would suggest using a flexible paint, such as Plaid FX paints. 
13. Metallic paint: I used DecoArt Americana Metallics “Silver” mixed with “Pewter” for the silver colour, and “Antique Brass” for the gold.
14. Rubber Gloves: To wear while applying the paint
15. Heat Gun or Blowdryer: Used for heating and forming the foam.
16. Gluing Surface: A surface that you don’t mind getting glue on. A silicone baking sheet is great because hot glue doesn’t stick to it.

1. The fumes from contact cement are toxic, so, if you choose to use it, do so in a well ventilated space and wear lung protection such as a respirator.
2. Whenever you heat foam (with a heatgun or blowdryer) there is potential for the foam to release harmful gases, so use a respirator and do it somewhere with good ventilation.
3. Some EVA foam contains a chemical called formamide. There are some people that say there isn't enough formamide in EVA mats to be harmful, and others that say there is. Do your research and come to your own conclusions. At the least, I would say it is a good idea to open your foam mat up and let it sit in the sun for a day or two, as most of the chemical will off-gas from the foam. Or buy foam that is labelled formamide free.
4. Sharp knives and hot glue can cause injury. Be sure to use in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.

Disclaimer: If you rely on the information portrayed in these instructions, you do so at your own risk and you assume the responsibility for the results. You hereby release Lost Wax Designs from any and all actions, claims, or demands that you, your heirs, distributees, guardians, next of kin, spouse or legal representatives now have, or may have in the future, for injury, death, property damage, or any other liability that may result related to the information provided in these instructions.

Before you start printing the PDF you are going to want to decide what size of helmet you want to make. Currently there are 5 Sizes, from extra small to extra large. Using a flexible measuring tape, measure around your head at the spot where the band of a hat would typically sit. Look at the chart included with the pattern to find the corresponding size.

Print the pattern pages for the size you want to make from the PDF. Make sure the scale is set to “actual size” or 100%. I make the patterns to work on both A4 and U.S. letter size paper, so that can confuse the computer and make it want to scale the pattern down. After printing, measure the print guides with a ruler to verify that they are the correct size. (If you need a program to print from, I find Adobe Acrobat Reader DC works well, and is free) 

*Make sure the scale is set to actual size in the settings when you print.**

Some parts of the the helmet pattern are larger than one sheet of printer paper. Line up the “+” marks on the printouts and tape the sheets together. I find it is easier to line up the marks if I hold the papers up against a window so that the light coming through the window allows me to see through to the lower registration marks. If you have a glass table, you can put a light under it or you can even use a white computer screen.

***When you are taping, make sure you put tape across the actual pattern pieces, otherwise when you cut it out, there will be nothing holding that pattern strip together!***

Use scissors to cut out the paper pattern, just barely leaving the black line visible.

Each pattern piece has instructions on it as to how many times it will need to be traced and whether you will need to flip the pattern piece over for the second tracing. Whenever you trace a flipped pattern piece, it is helpful if you label it with a “B” so that you know which are which. 

You will want to transfer the alignment marks to the back of each paper pattern piece that needs to be flipped, so take them to your window so you can see through and trace the alignment marks to the back side. 

Trace pattern pieces 1-3 (and a second time all flipped) onto your 6-7mm thick foam. These are the pieces needed for the main helmet construction. It’s smart to cut and assemble just these parts initially to make sure the helmet will fit. If you’d like to cut the parts for the plume at this time as well, those are pieces 6-9.

Carefully trace the pattern pieces onto the foam using either a light coloured gel pen or a paint pen. The reason for this is that standard sharpies or ball point pens seep through whatever paint goes over top of them, which isn’t bad if you are painting a dark colour, but if you are going to make your helmet silver, you can be sure it will show through. Trust me, it’s almost impossible to cover over!

When you remove the paper pattern, extend the alignment marks to the inside of the traced pattern, and write the letters beside them for reference.

You will also notice that about half of the nose on piece 3 gets undercut, as well as the bottom edge of the plume (piece 6) , the end of piece 9, and two edges of piece 5. Make sure to write “undercut” on those edges so that you don’t forget to undercut those edges when you are doing your cutting. 

Using your sharp knife, cut directly on the lines. If the cuts look rough, that means your knife is too dull. Either get a new blade or sharpen your knife, it’ll make a ton of difference. 

Cut all the pieces, keeping your knife at right angles to the foam for most of the cuts except for the following exceptions (as marked of the pattern pieces):

Piece 6 (plume): Undercut the bottom edge, holding your knife at an angle about halfway between vertical and 45 degrees. 

Piece 5: The short edge cuts cut at about the same angle as piece 6, and then cut at a slightly steeper angle for the longer edge. 

Piece 9: Cut at a bit steeper angle again compared to piece 6. 

Piece 3 (mask): The centre line of the nose piece starts as a vertical cut, but then transitions to an undercut. Make the transition right as you pass the alignment mark, as you are cutting towards the point of the nose.

I use hot glue for my projects now, as I am a bit leery of breathing the fumes that go along with contact cement. It takes a little more practice, but you can still get very good results. The choice really is up to you. If you use quality contact cement, you will end up with a slightly more durable costume, particularly if it will be worn or stored in hot places where hot glue could melt.

One thing that can really make life easier is to use a hot glue gun with adjustable temperature. That way you can turn the temperature down so it is just above the melting point of the glue. You don’t need to hold things as long, there are less fumes, and you don’t get burned as easily!

I like to glue a section about 5 cm long and hold it together until the glue cools. This time can vary depending on how hot your glue gun is, but for me it is about 30 seconds. The number one reason people have problems with hot glue is that they are just not holding the parts together long enough, so, if in doubt, hold the parts a little longer.

If there is a long piece to glue, it is best to glue both ends so they line up properly first, then glue the rest of the seam in the centre. This reduces any errors due to the stretchable nature of the foam. 

Hot glue sticks well to EVA foam, however foam that has a heat sealed texture is too smooth for the glue to grip, so, if you are using foam with a texture on one side, every time you want to glue to that textured surface, you will need to sand the foam with a coarse sandpaper- around 50 or 80 grit. 

** If you do use hot glue to make your helmet, be careful not to leave it in a hot car because the glue will melt, leaving you with a hot mess! **

If you have problems getting clean seams with hot glue, one thing you can do is wait until the seam is cool and them rub along the seam with a piece of scrap foam. This softens the glue and allows you to rub away the excess.

You will also see me sometimes wipe the hot glue off the foam seam before it completely cools. I am able to do this without burning my fingers because my glue gun is set to a low temperature and I have a fair bit of experience knowing how long to wait. I think it produces the best results, but do so at your own risk!

Here is a helpful video about how to use hot glue for foam.

Glue closed the 3 “V” cuts on pieces 1 and 1b.

Glue Pieces 1 and 1b together along the centreline, lining up alignment marks A to I. Start at the front and work your way to the back, gluing 5cm at a time. The last section can be a little tricky as you are trying to glue two concave curves together, so glue shorter sections at a time and test how you are going to hold each section together before applying the glue. 

Glue piece 2 to piece 1, starting at the front and working your way back, lining up alignment marks J to Q you go. Repeat for piece 2b and 1b.

** Sometimes you may need to stretch or compress the foam a little in order to get the alignment marks to line up. Just do the best you can, it doesn’t have to be perfect though!!**

I find that as I am gluing, it works best to build the helmet inside out up to this point. Once you have the previous 4 pieces glued together, you are almost ready to flip the foam right side out. Before you flip it, use a scrap piece of foam and rub along all the outside seams to clean up the glue. It’s a lot easier to do while you have good access. 

Turn the foam helmet right side out. Take your time and do it carefully, trying not to split any glue seams. Also, watch out for the right angle cut on the two side pieces, as it is fairly easy for the foam to rip at those points. If you hold them firmly while flipping that will help spread out the stress. If they do rip, use your glue to fix them.

Likely, once turned right-side-out, you will notice some little gaps that open up along the seam lines where your glue wasn’t perfect. These are pretty easy to fix: squeeze a little bit of glue into the gap, then press inward on either side of the seam. This will force the gap closed. Wait until the glue cools and then release the pressure.

Glue the two mask (piece3) pieces together down the centreline of the nose. 

Glue the short straight section of the mask into the right angle cutout on piece 2, starting in the corner and working out to the edge, lining up alignment point R as you go. Repeat for the other side.

Tack the centre of the mask to the centre of the helmet, with a short glue seam. 

Glue the mask to the helmet between the corner and alignment mark S, lining up the alignment mark.

Tack the helmet to the mask at each alignment mark.

Go back and glue the gaps between the tacks, squirting glue into the gap, and then pressing inward on the seam to close it while the glue cools.

Clean up any messy glue seams by vigorously rubbing them with a bit of scrap foam.

At this point, you have taken a few flat sheets of foam and made a pretty nice three dimensional helmet, however the cheek guards are not at all how we want them to look. 

Heat up one go the cheek guards with a heat gun, heating it from both the inside and outside, but being very careful of not heating up any of the hot glue seams, otherwise they will start to come apart!

While the foam is still warm, form it with your hands, by curving in the front edge as well as lifting the whole cheek guard up and inwards. It’s a bit hard to explain, but if you watch the video it should be easy to understand. Hold in in an exaggerated position until it cools to help it retain it’s new shape.

It is likely that the foam will relax a bit and you might have to do this a couple of times throughout the build. 

Before you go any farther, now is a good time to try on your helmet. Make sure it is comfortable on your head. If is sits a little low over your eyes, you can add a little bit of soft foam inside the top of the helmet to raise it up a little. 

Cut out the plume pieces (piece 6) from 6-7mm thick foam if you haven’t already. Don’t forget to undercut the bottom edge.

The plume pattern piece will also be used for cutting some 2mm thick pieces as well, but we’ll get to that later.  

Cut out pieces 7, 8 and 9 from 6-7mm foam

If your foam came in a roll, you will likely need to flatten the plume pieces before assembling so heat them up with a heat gun and then hold them down on a flat surface until they cool. 

If you are using foam that has a heat formed texture on one side, sand all around the outside edges except the bottom edge using coarse sandpaper (80 grit). This is so that the glue will stick properly to the heat sealed surface. 

WIth one of the plume pieces lying down on the table, wrong side up, glue piece 7 down on top of it, at a right angle, lining up the concave end of piece 7 with the undercut bottom edge of the plume. Glue it along the edge of the plume front, ending at the point. There will be extra extending beyond the point, which will get cut off later.

Repeat the same process for the shorter strip (piece 8), gluing it to the back edge of the plume.

Now glue the other plume piece on the other side of pieces 7 and 8, making kind of a hollow box. 

Trim the extra off strips 7 and 8, following the curve of the top of the plume.

Take the undercut end of piece 9 and glue it against the front of the plume box, then glue the strip into the top of the plume, keeping it flush with the top edge. When you reach the back of the plume you should have some extra strip left. Mark where it should coincide with the back of the plume, and then cut it off at an angle and glue it in. 

It is really important to keep everything square and equal on both sides while making the plume, so I use a square while I am gluing the parts together so that I can adjust and hold things as accurately as possible. 

This gives you the main structure of the plume. Later we can add some embellishments, but for now, try it out on top of the helmet to make sure it fits well.

If you want to add some more decorative elements for your helmet, you can add the visor section. 

Cut two versions of piece 4 from 2mm thick craft foam. One that is just the outside edge, and one that is cut out all around the swirl design. I suggest using a sharp scalpel blade for this as it is easier to cut the curves with a smaller blade.

Glue the swirly design version of piece 4 on top of the plain version, starting at the centre and then working your way out to the edges. Because the swirly piece is made up of a lot of thin sections, be aware not to stretch it as you glue it otherwise you will end up with it not matching when you get to the end. It is possible that there will be some sections that you don’t get glued down properly with the hot glue, but that’s okay, as you can use a little bit of super glue to squeeze under those sections. 

Cut 2 piece 11’s from 2mm foam. I made a design on them by pressing a pen cap down firmly in the centre of each circle, then I used the back of a pair of tweezers to press in radiating lines all the way around the circle. 

Glue the piece 11’s onto the visor at the round ends.

Glue the short ends of the two piece 5’s together. 

Glue that piece to the back side of the visor, lining it up with the top edge. The glue seam on the piece 5’s should be lined up with the centre point of the visor. 

Place the visor on the helmet, so the bottom edge rests about 15mm above the eye cutouts. Line up the point of the visor with the centre line of the helmet, and make sure that the round ends of the visor sit in the same place on both sides. Mark the position of the visor.

Glue the top edge of the visor to the helmet, starting at the centre and working your way out to the edges. Then squeeze glue along the bottom edge and glue that down as well. 

Grab your plume pattern piece (piece 6) and cut another pair of them, but this time from 2mm foam. Also cut out along the dotted lines that make up thin rectangular-ish cut outs.

Glue one of these to each side of the plume you made earlier. 

Measure the width of the plume at the front and the back and cut a strip of 2mm craft foam for each of those. The width here will depend on what thickness of foam you are using, so I can’t give you an exact size. 

Glue one of those strips to the front and one to the back of the plume. Trim off any excess that extends past the points of the plume, and trim the bottom to follow the concave curve of the bottom of the plume.

If there is any foam from piece 6 extending past the edge of the plume, you can trim that off as well.

In order to cover the seams that are visible on top of the plume, cut a piece of foam just slightly wider than piece 9 but that doesn’t quite stretch from front to back of the plume top. Glue it down. 

Set the plume on top of the helmet and find the position you like. I positioned it so that the front of the plume base was maybe about 10 mm in front of alignment mark “B” 

Mark the front as well as the sides 

For this next bit of gluing, I like to turn my glue gun up a bit, giving me more time to position the plume before the glue cools and locks everything in place!

Apply glue to the front half of the base of the plume and set it on the helmet, using the lines to position it. 

Hold it in place until the glue has completely cooled.

Squeeze glue all around the remainder of the plumes base and hold the plume down firmly again. 

Cut two piece 10 from 2mm foam. 

Glue one on each side of the plume at the base. You may need to cut a little off the front or back edge (or both) of the strip, depending how it fits on your plume. 

Cut two piece 12 and glue one to the front and one to the back, lining them up with the edges of piece 10. The top edge may need to be trimmed down a bit to match. (If you are following along with the video, I forget to do this step until later on) 

Cut a few 4mm wide strips of craft foam. 

These strips will get glued around the entire helmet along all the edges.

When you are gluing the strips, apply a line of glue to the edge of the helmet rather than the strip, then set the strip on the glue with the inside edge of the strip contacting the helmet surface first and then apply pressure towards the outside edge. This way, any excess glue will be forced out to the outside edge, making clean up of the strip much easier than if you ended up with a bunch of excess glue globs against the inside edge of the strip. 

The trickiest part is whenever you come to a sharp corner that you can’t bend the strip around. In this case, cut the end of the strip you have just glued down at an angle- basically dividing the angle of the corner in half. Then cut a similar angle on the next strip you are going to be placing on the other side of the corner so that they match up. Make sure when you are gluing that you get glue in between the cut angles of the strips to help hold them securely. Keep doing this until you have gone all the way around the helmet edge. 

You are pretty much ready to paint, but once painted, it’s not a great idea to hit your helmet with a heat gun because it can cause the paint to blister. So take one last look and if you need to re-bend the cheek guards at all, now is the time!!

Also, before starting to paint, I think it’s a good idea to stick a pint through the two points of the cheek guards, so that they are held together while painting. It helps them not flop around too much and also to keep their shape. 

All that’s left to do is paint your helmet!

There are many different ways to paint. The technique that follows is one I have found gives good results for an antiqued metallic finish. I will warn you, it can be quite time consuming, so if you don’t have a lot of time you might want to try something different. 

I normally would do 3 coats of black artists acrylic paints as a base, however, the only black paint I had was quite thin, so I started with two coats of white paint and then the last coat black.

I find artists acrylics to be more flexible than some other water based paints (like house paint), yet they are not so expensive as some high tech paints that are made to be flexible. Of course, if you want the longest lasting costume and have the budget, go for the better paints! Some brands to look for would be Hexflex, Flexbond and Plaid FX. 

I don’t use any primer on my foam, but I do encourage putting at least 3 good coats of paint to seal all the pores. Another important reason for the 3 coats is that it builds up a slight texture, which makes it easier when you apply the metallic paint- as your finger comes in to contact with the surface, metallic paint is rubbed onto the higher surfaces of the texture, but doesn’t completely go into the slightly lower parts. Without that, it is hard to apply the metallics without getting “finger marks” everywhere that your finger first comes in to contact with the surface after dipping your finger in the metallic paint.

For this helmet I tried something a little different than I usually do: after painting a section of the helmet and before the paint dried, I used the tip of my brush to stipple the paint. I really like how this worked as it gave enough texture to the surface but without leaving any brush strokes.

Once you have a good base coat of black paint, it is time to make it look metallic. 

My favourite metallic paints tend to change over time, but right now I am liking DecoArt Americana Decor Metallics Vintage Brass for the bronze colour, and a 50/50 mixture of DecoArt Americana Decor Metallics Pewter and Silver for the silver colour.

My technique for creating an antique metal look is as follows:

Put on a tight fitting rubber glove. This keeps your hands clean as well as preventing fingerprint smears in your metallic coating. 

Put a small blob of metallic paint onto a piece of scrap cardboard.

Dip your fingertip lightly into the paint and then rub it onto a clean section of cardboard. Rub in a circular motion until almost all the paint is off your finger. It is especially important to watch the tip of your finger because paint can build up there, so you want to rub off any accumulation that occurs.

Rub your finger on the foam that you want to paint. Slowly build up the metallic colour, repeatedly going back and getting more paint on your finger. 

If there are places your finger can’t reach, you can use a small, dry paintbrush. Dip the brush in the paint and then dab most of it off on the cardboard. Then use a vertical dabbing motion to apply the paint, again building it up slowly. It is good to stay away from inside edges as the antique look requires sections that would get less wear to look darker. 

You will end up getting metallic paint on places that you want to have a different colour. That’s fine, just go back over them with some black paint before using the next colour. 

I painted all the bronze color first because it is the majority of the helmet, then I repainted black over anywhere that I accidentally got bronze on. Then I used my silver mix to paint the plume silver. 

Good job! You can congratulate yourself on an impressive costume piece that you can be super proud of!! Because…..you are amazing. 

You can also see here another helmet I made using the same pattern as a base, but altering the cheek guards and plume. It is a very adaptable pattern!

Thanks for hanging out with me!

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