DIY Roman Centurion Helmet Made From Foam!
Do you want to make a Roman helmet… that looks like it just came off a movie set? Well, you are in the right place! Finish off your Roman armor costume with the perfect helmet. It’s a pretty quick and easy build and the results are impressive! The pattern includes 5 sizes to fit heads from 48cm to 65cm circumference (18”- 25.5”)
In this blog post I am going to give you a quick overview of the helmet building process. You can find more in depth information by watching my videos at the end of this tutorial, as well as in the downloadable Roman helmet pattern that you can find in my shop.
The main ingredients of this build are a 6-7mm thick EVA foam floor mat, some 2mm craft foam, and a hot glue gun. Alright, let’s go!
How Big is Your Head?
The first step is to figure out which pattern size to cut out so that you will have a perfectly fitting helmet. Measure your head by wrapping a measuring tape around your head where a hat would sit. Match the measurement up to the handy size chart in the pattern, and you are good to go!
Print the Pattern
Taping the helmet pattern together on a glass table.
I have made the template so that it can be printed on a home printer in either U.S. Letter (the U.S. and Canada) or A4 sized paper (the rest of the world) Because of that, it is super important that you have selected the option to print at actual size when printing. You can double check by measuring the print guides after it is printed.
Once printed, you will need to assemble the pages together by overlapping the crosses in the corners of the pages and taping the paper sheets together. I often do this on a large window, over a glass table with a light underneath or even up against a bright white computer screen.
With the pattern all taped together, it’s time to get out the scissors and cut out the pattern pieces.
Trace and Cut
Tracing helmet template onto the foam floor mat.
Trace the pattern pieces for the main helmet body onto the foam, making sure to mark all the alignment marks- these will be important in making sure your helmet goes together correctly. Some pattern pieces will be flipped and traced a second time.
Grab your super sharp knife and cut out all the pattern pieces. Almost all of them get cut vertically, though there are a few parts that get one of their edges cut at an angle, so make sure to watch for those.
Did I mention that your knife should be sharp? I’m not kidding, the most common cause for frustration in foam builds is just not realizing that your knife is too dull. So, yeah. Sharp is good.
Get Gluing
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 in hot places where hot glue could melt. Just make sure to have adequate ventilation and wear a respirator.
Make sure to hold the glued pieces together until the glue cools!
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.
The helmet pieces get glued together edge to edge, and inside out at the beginning. It just seems to be easier to get complete seams that way. Just before you glue the forehead strip, you will want to turn it right side out.
Gluing on the forehead strip.
Visor and neck guard glued to the helmet.
The Rest is Details
Gluing the front strip
Once you have the base helmet made, try it on and make sure you are happy with the fit and feel. If so, it’s time to add all the details that will get you your costume party competition win!
Gluing the eyebrows to the helmet
Adding a strip around the cheek guards
The details are all cut from 2mm thick craft foam. Add the front strip, the ear protectors, and the eyebrows on top of the helmet. Also add a strip of craft foam around the outside edges of the cheek guards.
Plume
Plumes likely were a visible way of denoting rank in the Roman army. It is thought that Centurions wore their plume from side to side across their helmets and Legionnaires wore them from front to back. Likely however most soldiers had no plume at all, just the standard helmet. The plume pattern I have made can be attached to the helmet either way, so it is up to you what you want your helmet to look like.
I also tried a few different materials for the plume, but I found the easiest and perhaps even the best was just to use the same foam I used for the helmet, but just add a texture using a heat texturing tool. Check out the video: How I made my texture tool from an old hair straightener to see how to make one for yourself. If you don’t have a hair straightener texturing tool, you can also use the back of a pair of scissors to create a similar texture.
Using homemade texturing tool to create texture lines on the plume
You can also use scissors to create the texture on the plume
The plume starts as a large curved sheet of foam, but then gets folded so that it fits into the plume base.
Decorative Rivets
If you like cutting circles out of foam, you are going to love this next step. For all the rest of you....I really am sorry...
I am one who doesn’t like cutting circles from foam with my scalpel, so I used a Cricut Maker to do all my circle cutting.
Cut 13 rivet circles from 2mm craft foam.
Using the back of a butter knife to make indentations in the circles
Add a center disk to complete the decorative rivets
Use the back of a butter knife or other straight edge to create indentations in the foam disc, dividing it into 8 equal sections- like a pizza. Put lots of pressure on the knife while rubbing back and forth on the lines so that you get the impressions nice and deep.
These cute little pizzas get glued onto the helmet and then a 6mm foam disc gets glued into the centre to complete the decorative rivets.
Neck Wrinkles
Adding the neck wrinkles to the base at the back of the helmet
Many roman helmets had scallops embossed in the back of the helmet above the neck protector to strengthen the helmet. It’s an extra step that you may (or may not) want to do.
It involves cutting a couple of strips from 2mm foam, folding them in half and gluing them together. Glue them around the back of the helmet.
Painting
If I am going to be applying a metallic finish, I always give a dark base coat first. In this case I will use black artists acrylic paints. 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.
Give the helmet at least 3 coats of black paint for best results with the metallic paint
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.
Adding the gold metallic paint to all the details
I painted all the silver color first because it is the majority of the helmet, then I repainted black over anywhere that I accidentally got silver on. Next was the gold color on all the rivets, the ear guards, the front decorative strip, the eyebrows, and the strip that covers the seam on the plume base.
For the plume I used the exact same technique, only instead of using the metallic paint, I used red paint to slowly build up the color. Because the red paint is not as thick, I needed multiple coats before it really started to look good and red.
Done!
You did it!! Good job. Now you can go out and impress everyone with your mind blowing Roman Centurion costume!
If you are looking for the pattern, you can find it on my shop webpage.
Thanks for hanging out with me, and I’d love to see how your helmet turns out!
Finished Roman Centurion helmet.
If you'd like to see more of my projects you can find me here:
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Supplies
Scissors
Ruler
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. Have extra blades as they will get dull as you go.
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. 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.
Super Glue: Not entirely necessary, but I find it easier for gluing on the rivets.
6-7 mm Thick Eva Foam Floor Mat: I used a mat that was actually 6.5 mm thick.
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.
Leather Punch: 6 mm diameter.
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.
Metallic paint: I used DecoArt Americana Metallics “Silver” mixed with “Pewter” for the silver colour, and “Antique Brass” for the gold.
Rubber Gloves: To wear while applying the paint
Heat Gun or Blowdryer: Used for heating and forming the foam.