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Description
Here's a little rundown on how I made my shoulders.

1a. Tools: Electric meat carver, electric foam carver (melts the foam), and a small steak knife. NOTE: the electric meat carver will make any carving project go about 20 times faster. It was 20 dollars from Target and died RIGHT after I finished carving my last shoulder. I went to touch-up and it was dead. It was still worth the 20 bucks since it saved so much time.

1b. Tools: Paint Brushes, dishes, stir stick, Lumiere paints in Metallic Gold mixed with Metallic Bronze, Pearl Emerald Green mixed with Pearlescent Blue, Black & Decker Mouse sander, paperclay (circled in green below), 3MM Super 77 multipurpose spray adhesive (not pictured), and epoxy.

2. Styrofoam from Michael's didn't come in a large enough size, so I used the 3MM glue to adhere two 36"x18"x5" blocks together. I cut the block in half to make two cubes. I printed out a life-size picture of the front of the shoulder using WoW Model Viewer and traced that onto each cube with a marker. This picture shows after I carved off the sides.

3. Shows the MESS a little bit of carving can make XD. Make sure you ALWAYS use reference pics (again, printed from WoW Model Viewer), and a vacuum even when working outside. Don't want any wildlife getting any bits of foam.

4. More carving

5. The electric meat carver and hot styrofoam cutter allowed me to carve in more detail, which I marked with a pen first. Let your styrofoam do most of the work as it will save a lot of money on Paperclay, be lighter in weight, and allow the paperclay to dry evenly. I took the plastic domes off larger tap lights and epoxy'd them onto the foam. Don't use hot glue, it will melt the foam. Don't use any random household glue as it will most likely have solvents that melt the foam. Epoxy contains no solvents and will not melt the styrofoam at all.

6. Paperclay applied to one shoulder! It took me 7 packs to cover both shoulders. Keep a bowl of water next to you while you work. I had a spray bottle too and sprayed the foam before I smoothed on the paperclay. Spray it as you work so you can go back and smooth out sections. It dries out pretty fast but a little water and it's back to its old self. Make sure you smoosh the paperlcay into the foam as you work so it doesn't peel up. All in all my paperclay layer was about 1/8th - 1/4th of an inch thick. A little thicker is probably better to allow for more sanding and evening of the surface. NOTE: Paper clay WILL crack horribly (at least it looks pretty bad) after it dries. Once it is dry, simply dab water on the crack, wet a glob of extra paperclay, and smoosh it into the crack. Yay, no more cracks!

7. I carved holes before I put the plastic domes on - roughly the size of the LED tap lights circled in red. That way I can just shove the tap lights inside and they stay put. It's hard to tell in this pic but the shoulders have also been sanded. NOTE: If you want your paperclay project to look good, you MUST spend a long time sanding it. Be very careful when using an electric sander, it's easy to do too much and go all the way down to your foam layer (oopsies >.> Yeah I did that plenty of times). Just go back and add more paperclay, let dry, and sand again. Looking back I probably would have spent a few more hours sanding.

8. Painted with the Lumiere paints in the color combos listed above. Didn't bother sealing it, although I probably should have with acrylic or lacquer or something. Lined with brown velveteen fabric using hot glue.

9. Here you can see the holes where the lights go. I epoxy'd on a strip of leather (epoxy is super strong!) to keep the shoulders from sliding off me. I also added some industrial strength velcro which attaches to the straps of my chestplate.

That's all! Feel free to ask me any questions in case I missed something.

Description
Here's a little rundown on how I made my shoulders.

1a. Tools: Electric meat carver, electric foam carver (melts the foam), and a small steak knife. NOTE: the electric meat carver will make any carving project go about 20 times faster. It was 20 dollars from Target and died RIGHT after I finished carving my last shoulder. I went to touch-up and it was dead. It was still worth the 20 bucks since it saved so much time.

1b. Tools: Paint Brushes, dishes, stir stick, Lumiere paints in Metallic Gold mixed with Metallic Bronze, Pearl Emerald Green mixed with Pearlescent Blue, Black & Decker Mouse sander, paperclay (circled in green below), 3MM Super 77 multipurpose spray adhesive (not pictured), and epoxy.

2. Styrofoam from Michael's didn't come in a large enough size, so I used the 3MM glue to adhere two 36"x18"x5" blocks together. I cut the block in half to make two cubes. I printed out a life-size picture of the front of the shoulder using WoW Model Viewer and traced that onto each cube with a marker. This picture shows after I carved off the sides.

3. Shows the MESS a little bit of carving can make XD. Make sure you ALWAYS use reference pics (again, printed from WoW Model Viewer), and a vacuum even when working outside. Don't want any wildlife getting any bits of foam.

4. More carving

5. The electric meat carver and hot styrofoam cutter allowed me to carve in more detail, which I marked with a pen first. Let your styrofoam do most of the work as it will save a lot of money on Paperclay, be lighter in weight, and allow the paperclay to dry evenly. I took the plastic domes off larger tap lights and epoxy'd them onto the foam. Don't use hot glue, it will melt the foam. Don't use any random household glue as it will most likely have solvents that melt the foam. Epoxy contains no solvents and will not melt the styrofoam at all.

6. Paperclay applied to one shoulder! It took me 7 packs to cover both shoulders. Keep a bowl of water next to you while you work. I had a spray bottle too and sprayed the foam before I smoothed on the paperclay. Spray it as you work so you can go back and smooth out sections. It dries out pretty fast but a little water and it's back to its old self. Make sure you smoosh the paperlcay into the foam as you work so it doesn't peel up. All in all my paperclay layer was about 1/8th - 1/4th of an inch thick. A little thicker is probably better to allow for more sanding and evening of the surface. NOTE: Paper clay WILL crack horribly (at least it looks pretty bad) after it dries. Once it is dry, simply dab water on the crack, wet a glob of extra paperclay, and smoosh it into the crack. Yay, no more cracks!

7. I carved holes before I put the plastic domes on - roughly the size of the LED tap lights circled in red. That way I can just shove the tap lights inside and they stay put. It's hard to tell in this pic but the shoulders have also been sanded. NOTE: If you want your paperclay project to look good, you MUST spend a long time sanding it. Be very careful when using an electric sander, it's easy to do too much and go all the way down to your foam layer (oopsies >.> Yeah I did that plenty of times). Just go back and add more paperclay, let dry, and sand again. Looking back I probably would have spent a few more hours sanding.

8. Painted with the Lumiere paints in the color combos listed above. Didn't bother sealing it, although I probably should have with acrylic or lacquer or something. Lined with brown velveteen fabric using hot glue.

9. Here you can see the holes where the lights go. I epoxy'd on a strip of leather (epoxy is super strong!) to keep the shoulders from sliding off me. I also added some industrial strength velcro which attaches to the straps of my chestplate.

That's all! Feel free to ask me any questions in case I missed something.