Spidey's guide

Part 1: The Pattern

First part of the how-to will be the materials for the body.

There are 2 different paths you can go with making a Spiderman suit. The first is the cheap and easy way, the second the long, costly but high quality way.


The material that makes a spidey suit is none other than lycra/spandex. It is a stretchy, form fitting material that resembles what the comics/movies appear to be.

First things first is you want to have an idea. What suit are you making? Classic Spidey? Raimi? TASM? TASM2? Scarlet Spider? It all starts with an idea and what you want to cosplay as. No one will judge you for you choice, it's YOUR suit after all. Start with which Spiderman you want to go as and once you are finished deciding, your first step is to find a pattern.

You can either create a pattern yourself, Kenlandrum offers a free muscle suit base which can be found here: http://www.therpf.com/f78/amazing-spider-man-2-3d-print-files-pattern-free-208912/?highlight=kenlandrum

Or you can purchase or commission a pattern from someone.
My recommendations are:
gunheaddesign.com
https://sellfy.com/TaylorMcManus

Once this is purchased, you have the file, which you can free modify if you feel you need to. Remember that most files are fit for people who are 5'10" to 6'1" so if you are shorter or taller, make sure to resize the file accordingly.
Part 2: The Body/Fabric


Now here is the part where you decide if you want to make an expensive suit or a cheap suit.

The cheap part is asking a Zentai Suit site to print your pattern on their lycra and sew it up.
This can cost about 50$ or more depending on what you choose to add to it. Some Zentai sites give options such as: glued on lenses on the fabric, glued on shoes. This is a great option if you just want a suit that wont require much work but keep in mind that it might be done poorly, this is also the case with the zippers that you customize on it.
Either way send them an email, send the file and the rest will pretty much do itself, they will print it, sew it up and this can take about 4 weeks.

Now what are the pros and cons?

Pros:
>The suit is extremely cheap, youll have most of it ready for you to wear for less than 100$
>No need for a tailor to sew it up or for you to try sewing it yourself
>The cost/quality is actually not as bad as I make it out to be
>The sites (the ones I frequented) are actually quite responsive and try to make you feel good about your purchase.





Cons:
>The material is actually not really good. It's stretchy, but fuck me do I ever fear it would rip. Make sure you try to get it a bit wider/taller than what you actually are to be safe.
>The zippers are absolute shit, please try and replace them
>There is a chance for blemishes, I've noticed a few white spots on a suit I got from them, they are chinese fabric people who use very cheap materials, this is to be expected

All in all, it's a great way to get started. It's how I got started and I definitely do not regret buying/making a suit as it was very fun and knowledge for my other suits.


Now onto the expensive version

The expensive version is slightly more complicated and requires a lot more money. It requires you to get your pattern printed by a US based fabric merchant who use a large industrial dye-sublimation machine t-well who cares as long as you get the product right?
This company is called Fabric On Demand and are reknowned across the cosplaying scene for their excellent quality fabrics. The difference in price is actually quite staggering, the sheet of lycra required to make a suit will run you about 140$ without shipping, which can also be expensive.
Keep in mind this is the sheet, it does not come up sewed nor do they offer a sewing option.
Once you get the sheet it is up to you to find a tailor who knows how to make suits such as these as the process for sewing them up is expert-level only.
There are options you can take:
-Find someone on TheRPF who knows how to sew them up. Keep in mind you will need to ship the sheet to them.
-Try to search your town for people who work in entertainment, such as movie productions or anything and see if you can get someone to sew it up for you.

So what are the pros and cons?

Pros:
>The fabric is absolutely amazing, not only does it feel and smell good, it will stretch to your heart's content without you having fear of it ripping. It is totally airy and does not get you hot while wearing it. FOD uses a special version of spandex called 4-way spandex, which is what makes it so much better
>There will no blemishes, their dye sublimation machine is top-notch and I've only had one error with them but was quickly resolved. The pattern you printed comes out vibrant and beautiful.
>The customer service they have is probably the best I've ever encountered, they are nice, patient and understand all your questions and know exactly what to tell you to help you. Even when I've had a bad printing, they offered to give me a free pattern for the trouble. A++

Cons:
>Very expensive. Just for the sheet, which means you have to make all modifications yourself or someone who will do it for you.
>The fact that it's just a sheet requires you to employ a tailor to sew things up, which can generate an extra fee. My symbiote suit ran me a total of 380$ because of that. This person will need to know how to install zippers, properly make the fingers, though there are files and guides you can provide them so they can have a better time

That's it for the body.











Part 3: The Faceshell

So now that you've got the body of the suit all done, your sewing is complete, your zippers are there, the head is properly done, you need to move onto what is easily the hardest part of the suit: The Face Shell and lenses

Once again I will split this into the cheap and expensive part.

For gods sake
GET YOURSELF A FACESHELL
I am not kidding, you will look like complete shit if you do not, the Spiderman comics and the movies all respect the same thing: Spiderman wears some sort of head armor under the suit which makes his head perfectly round.

A faceshell is the shell that covers your face and the top of your head to give your mask a typical Spiderman look. It is usually made from some form of molded plastic or other materials. Once again, PLEASE GET YOURSELF ONE.

The cheap way:

The cheap way still requires a bit of funds, but requires some craftsmanship. Don't worry, you'll make it, and itll be fine. Practice makes perfect.
The ideal cheap way is to find one of the free faceshell patterns that are on the net, there are tons out there so go wild, but I recommend the kenlandrum one in the link in the first part. You are basically going to cut the pattern onto craft foam or cardboard (not paper, too flimsy) and mold it. There are tons of guides out there that you can use, including ones on youtube if you are a visual person.
(I personally have not done this, so my guide is a bit skewed here)
Once it is done, you will have the choice of either leaving it the way it is, or reinforcing it using bondo, fibreglass or any material that does the same.
Now you will require a drill to drill air holes to allow you to breathe and not fog up your lenses. My recommendation is to make a bunch of holes for the mouth, and a bunch of holes at the top of your head, to allow maximum airflow.

The expensive way:
This can also be called the lazy way. I say lazy because you arent crafting anything, you are purchasing a faceshell from an expert. However this still requires craftsmanship and certain tools to make the job. The faceshell you get will be made out of a durable molded plastic done that forms your face quite well.
You will need to drill holes just like the method above as well as eye holes, which can be done with a flat saw on a dremel tool. The plastic is quite sturdy so do not worry about it.
You can also do the super lazy, more expensive method. Some faceshell makers have full ready to go kits that they ship out with the lenses, but this incurs a pretty big fee.
My recommendation is to check with TJack from TheRPF, who makes faceshells and lenses. Simply make an account on that site, go to Project Runs and search for his name.
They usually cost a bit more than 100, a kit with faceshell, magnets, mesh and lenses are usually about 145$ without shipping.













Part 4: The Lenses

The next part is as crucial as the faceshell: The lenses.

Once again, cheap and expensive ways will be separated.

The lenses make or break your suit, you can have really awesome looking lenses that you made yourself, really sturdy, but if they are off the center, or are weirdly positioned, you fucked yourself. Have no fear this part is relatively easy, depending on what path you take.
Some Zentai places do offer their own lenses and if you really don't want to screw things up or are paranoid, go ahead and purchase it from them, they can cost 20+$

The cheap way.

The cheapest way to make lenses are to build them yourself. There are tons of guides out there that will teach you how to specifically make some. Mostly what you will need are the following:
-Craft foam
-Meshing
-Spray paint
-Hot glue

Basically the gist of it is to cut out the lenses out of the foam, you can free form it or draw the lense and cut it out onto the foam, spray paint it the color you want, glue the mesh and voila, it should basically be done. Afterwhich, you can either glue it directly onto the fabric, or install magnets, which I will touch on in the next part

Pros and cons:

Pros:
>Super cheap, you can make lenses for less than 10$
>Looks good, no lies, i've seen some really good looking foam lenses that were made by hand
>Super simple, a baby can do it

Cons:
>Super cheap also means cheap looking. Most of what can be done with these can look great, but the fact that foam doesnt really bend that well can make the lenses look flat and pop out weirdly
>Flimsy, bondo or strengthening is not recommended for these, so make sure you glue everything real tight.

The expensive way.

Once again this can be called the lazy way as you are purchasing high grade lenses from an expert. These lenses are usually exact replicas of whichever style you are going for but are 3d printed onto hard plastic to give it an authentic look. All in all these are awesome and I highly recommend you splurge and go this route. This does require a good level of craftsmanship however.
I will not go into much details as to how to make them because when you buy them from TJack (who by the way has 20 different lense styles to choose from) he provides an intricate guide that I can not do justice by just typing things out.

Pros and cons:
Pros:
>They look pretty much like the movie versions, comic versions, whatever versions. They are exact replicas
>They are sturdy as fuck, just dont try to drop them intentionally.

Cons:
>Expensive-ish, lense kits are usually about 30-40+ depending on who makes them
>Requires a certain level of crafstmanship, also you will need an airy place to spray paint them





Part 6: Accessories and ending.

Now once all the previous steps are finished, you can consider your suit pretty much done and the rest are just going to be accessories and perks you can add to it to make it a finished product.

First things first is that if you plan on walking around in your suit, you will need to make shoes for it.
There isnt really a cheap or expensive way of doing it, as the cheap way is litteraly putting shoes on and that is fucking terrible, we are talking walmart tier stupid.

Making shoes are quite simple.

The gist of it is:
-Make shoe soles, either by buying soles, or ripping shoes a part.
-Glueing them to the bottom of your costume

And voila, done. To make it more specific, you should find yourself a pair of shoes that will look good with your suit, this is entirely your call.
However, you are going to be walking around in this and possibly also outside, so try to find a pair of soles youd wear as your actual shoes.
Once this is done, you've ripped the shoes off (I usually just cut the outside of the shoe and keep the sole) it's time to glue it.

Here's how you do it:
>Purchase yourself some Shoe-Goo, it is a product specifically made to attack soles to fabric or shoes.
>Put some plasic bags around your feet, the glue is abrasive and can cause some serious damage to your skin.
>Wear the suit, you don't have to wear all of it but you get the point, just wear it so that you can walk around in it.
>Make sure your soles are your size+1. You don't want to walk around in your exact size as that can possibly cause your feet to hurt by being scrunched up. Also keep in mind, that you do not want the sole to be too big as you will just look goofy
>Make sure that when you wear the costume, there are no scrunches, folds or anything, make sure it is perfectly fit on your foot.
>Apply the shoe goo onto the sole and lather it on thinly, not too much or it will overflow and looks weird on the outsides of your foot.
>Step into them, making sure that they are exactly perfect, you have a few seconds to wiggle your foot around to make it good.
>Either stand for about 2 hours, or put something really heavy on your legs if you plan on sitting down.

And its done! You can now walk around in your spiderman outfit with no issues!

The final parts of the suit really depend on which suit you decided to make, for example if you made a Ben Reiley Scarlet Spider suit, you would have to make feet pouches, web-canister armlets, a belt and a hoodie.
This guide was made for people wanting a normal suit without extravagancies however you should do what you think is cool, right and will make you feel better.

Examples of customizing your suit even more are the following:
-Puff painting webbing
-Attaching webshooters


The most simple one is attaching webshooters. These can be done with cardboard, foam, 3d Printing, whatever, it all depends on what your suit requires, but can be attached using magnets or glued directly onto the fabric.

Puff Painting is a pretty stressful and extremely time consuming project that requires you to paint over weblines on your suit using Dimensional Fabric paint. The cool thing about PuffPaint is that it "puffs up" when it dries, giving it a cool 3d look. If you apply it directly from the bottle, it can give a really cool finished look to your suit.
This step ISNT required, but makes it extra cool looking.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:
>Makes your suit look extra cool, almost movie like. This can really turn a mediocre looking suit to really good.
>Relatively cheap depending on your suit and your scope.
>Dries in 4 hours, meaning you can do your thing for that time and continue later.

Cons:
>Extremely time consuming, if you are making a TASM1 style suit, prepare to spend weeks to get all the honeycombs perfect and get tons of puffpaint in multiple colours.
>Mistakes can and most likely will happen. When the bottle comes down to its last few inches, splatter can occur and this can really fuck your suit. Prepare with a sponge or extra paint to cover parts you splattered over.


All in all, this is my guide! Hope you enjoyed it!