Ok so for the this and the next step I grouped a lot of the armor pieces together because even though they are all wildly different in design they all follow roughly the same prep and paint steps which are as follows That would probably be easier to gather than building this thing. The Hollow Knight's helmet is one of the most iconic pieces of the character which is why the most effort has to go into it. So here we go...

As for gluing I used hot glue on the bottom of the inside of each chunk so that it was touching only the expanding foam to keep the sword together and then used super glue around the seams to reinforce the bond and make sure that the sword wouldn't break if the expanding foam ripped. Also since I printed the tip at 0% infill and expanding foam struggled to fit inside I applied a liberal amount of superglue on the tip to prevent it from breaking.

Step 8:

Assembly is rather simple as you just need to hot glue each part to the others. There's no tabs or really any room to do this so you need to put hot glue on the thin lines in between each part and then hold the two pieces together until the hot glue dries. Once the glue is dry you can apply a liberal amount of hot glue on the inner seam to ensure the parts stay together. Do this for all parts of the helmet. You may have more or less parts depending on how big/small you made your parts to fit on your printer. Fold the bottom and inner edges of your cape inward and sew them down. This will keep them from fraying and give your cape a “finished” look, however, if you would like a more raw look to your cape, you can leave your edges as they are. I chose to sew down my inner edges, but since I cut a leaf-like pattern out of the bottom, I left the bottom raw. Glue your diamond-shaped cardboard piece on top, then attach the corresponding foam piece. Remember to have the hole for your dowel rod already cut. Fill in the edges with hot glue and cover edges with duct tape if desired.

This is probably the most important step of the whole thing. I wore the cosplay to a convention without adding Velcro, just having everything secured with the "Web Rope" and everything fell apart. So Velcro everything! Place your dowel rod into the hole and glue it in place. Wrap your dowel rod with duct tape and spray your finished structure with Plasti-Dip. For the horns they are a little thin and are one of the areas people like to grab the most. So to ensure they don't snap off when you walk into a door frame because you forget you are wearing them (*Cough* *Cough*) you can fill them with expanding foam. Once the expanding foam fully expands you can duct tape the holes shut and move onto the next step. With the whole helmet assembled we need to make sure to cut out the eyes. I couldn't figure out how to cut the eye holes when I modelled the helmet so you'll have to do it post print. This can be done with a Dremel or like I did, being VERY CAREFUL with a razor blade. It's okay to leave a bit of material around the edge you only need enough cut to see through. And we will cover all this up with fabric in the next step The wax seal is a bit deceptive because it's not actually made of wax. I tried making the seal using real wax but every time I'd pull the wax off of the stamp it would crumble, so I found an alternative method. The way we are going to make a durable wax stamp is take a sheet of baking paper (I used a smooth metal surface in the photos it has the same effect just needs a little prying) and put a ton of hot glue onto the sheet. Next stamp the 3D printed stamp into the hot glue, holding it there until it dries. Once dried you can peel the hot glue off of the stamp and you'll be left with a faux wax stamp.Printing isn't overly difficult once you have the whole digital aspect of the print finished. I had my nail printed into 5 smaller pieces that printed over the course of a week. Just make sure to monitor the prints and keep a steady flow of filament in the printers to make sure you don't need to restart a print. When I printed the nail I used 0% infill which saved on filament costs but caused more print errors so be careful! I will also mention in this step that you should 3D print out the stamp for the "wax seal" It's a very simple file with no supports and minimal detail needed. Once everything is painted the stamp has to be glued onto the map. First roll up the map and glue the underside so that it stays rolled up. Then we need to attach the stamp, I found if you heat up the stamp with a hair dryer it bends to the shape of the paper better. I just used some hot glue to keep it attached, and with that you have your map. I added a bit of "Web Rope" as a flourish using a simple knot and some hot glue. This will help to secure the map to the belt later.

No cost too great. No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering. Born of God and Void. You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams. You are the Vessel. You are the Hollow Knight."

Recommendations

Once your helmet has dried, spray it with 1-2 coats of Plasti-Dip. If you would like a smoother finish, sand down some of the rough edges between coats. Allow the Plasti-Dip to dry completely, then cover your helmet in a coating of Mod Podge. Once the Mod Podge has dried, complete your helmet by spraying it with white spray paint. All my models can be found from the thingiverse link below. They contain all the Armor, The Helmet, Monomon the Teacher's mask, + some accessories. (I also have the files for the Lumifly lantern in there it's not necessary and I don't go over how I made it because I scrapped the idea but uploaded the model anyways)