Gimli, son of Glóin
Worn first by his father during the Quest of Erebor, Gimli’s Helmet has weathered all manner of perilous adventures across Middle Earth. From the sparkling waterfalls of Rivendell to the looming dread of Mirkwood, on deeper into the Mines of Moria, and above the clouds on the back of a giant eagle—the helmet’s Dwarven craftsmanship never failed its wearer. The many adventures Glóin and Gimli spent wearing this iconic helmet have cemented it at the forefront of our memories. It is a true representation of all the Durin’s Folk we’ve come to know and love during our Tolkien journeys.
For this commission, Gimli’s Helmet is reborn in the modern age, a weathered legacy of adventures long past.
“Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!”
— Gimli
Making Gimli’s Helmet
To bring Gimli’s helmet to life, I began with an easily constructed EVA foam dome. I secured the dome to my sculpting armature with some soft, sulfer-free clay, creating a symmetrical base to work on top of. The full height of the helmet’s dome, cheek flaps, and each intricate detail is sculpted over this base by hand, using Monster Clay. I utilized my familiarity with Adobe Illustrator to create custom acrylic stencils to help get the initial Dwarven patterns set onto the clay, as seen here. Hand sculpting for Gimli’s Helmet took sixty-four hours to complete.
With the sculpt complete, I molded the clay using SmoothOn’s Rebound 25 brush-on silicone and encased the mold in Plasti-Paste II to form a slush-style mold. Gimli’s helmet was then cast using SmoothCast 300, and painted with both air- and dry-brush techniques. The iconic front “Arkenstone” symbol and top accent were created as separate sculpts and molds to make it easier to de-mold the main body of the helmet when cast. These are affixed securely to the base helmet with epoxy once painted.
The side wrapping of leather is also custom cut, hand-tooled, dyed, and burnished to fit this casting. Another mold was used to create the one hundred and five golden “plates” surrounding the leather. These have drilled holes that allow the plates to be secured by leather ties to the outer layer of leather. Hand-braided leather strips and a Dwarven-style, hand-tooled leather neck strap finish off this Middle Earth classic.
A second helmet is currently available in my shop.
