How to Make Vincent Valentine's Gauntlet

Just a basic guide and pattern for a leather version of Vincent's gauntlet (from Final Fantasy VII).

Your base glove (hopefully something reasonably easy to sew through)


Your medium (I used leather*, but you could probably make it out of metal or something similar)


Gold metallic paint


A needle and thread the color of your base glove


Scissors


A bowl 


Warm water (not boiling, hot tap water works well)


Glue (optional)


Your pattern (picture 2, rotated and sized to fit on a normal 8-1/2 by 11 sheet of paper)

*If you’re using leather, make sure it’s something that you can mold. If you google mask leather or something similar, you should be able to find something that’ll work.

The first thing you want to do is make sure it’s going to fit. The pattern I used is made for my hand, which is fairly small. Make sure there’s a good bit of overlap on each piece. I recommend cutting out a paper copy of all your pattern pieces and resizing any that don’t fit. I even made a test version out of some cheap leather scraps.


It’s also good to note that both the fifth finger (the pinky) and the fourth finger are made of three pieces, not four. This was a mistake on my part, I had assumed there were only three, but by the time I checked, I had already cut out two fingers. I adjusted the pattern for the fourth finger, but I didn’t correct the fifth. If you think it’s noticeable, you can make your own pattern for that last piece.

When you’re sure everything is going to fit, it’s time to cut out your leather (or whatever you’re using).Tracing the pattern pieces onto the leather is helpful, but if you’re going to do that, make sure you trace on the back, as the marks will probably show through the paint.

Now you mold the leather. This was my first time working with leather, so if any of my directions seem strange, I advise you look it up for yourself. 
Put some warm (if it hurts your hand, it’s too hot) water into the bowl and add the glue if you are using it. Submerge the first piece you want to mold in the water and soak it for a few minutes. If you have a model of a hand (or a friend’s hand) that’s about the same size as yours, you can mold it on there, but if not, you’ll probably have to mold it on your own hand. I don’t recommend wearing your glove while molding, especially if you used glue and/or your glove happens to be leather. 
For the whole time the leather is on your hand, it’s important to keep your hand in a relaxed position, because that’s the basic shape your glove will retain.

Place the wet leather on the knuckle it was meant for and press the edges down. Curl up the edge closest to your palm, as the diagram on the pattern suggests. For the second and third pieces of each finger, the edge you don’t curl up gets pressed down so that it covers the corner of the next knuckle. This will allow for better movement when the glove is assembled (picture 1). When the piece is suitably shaped, lightly hold it in place until it’s mostly dry and holds its shape. Repeat this (making sure the water is warm each time) until all of the pieces are molded. For the back of the hand, the ridges over the knuckles are made by lightly pinching the leather until it forms the correct shape. If the leather dries in a shape you didn’t want, you can resoak it and try again.


At this point I drew numbers on the inside of each piece so I could keep track of which one went to which finger.

Once the pieces are fully dry, you sew them onto the glove. The trick to making the stitches hard to see is a) sewing along the very edge and b) strategically picking places to sew that will be covered by other pieces. The diagram on the pattern includes a basic layout of where I sewed each piece. Make sure you don’t sew anywhere that will make it hard to move your hand in the glove. This is the part where it’s helpful to have either a model or a trusting friend you can sew the glove on. I ended up sewing it while I was wearing it, which was a bit difficult.

Congratulations, you’re all done! 
A few tips for storage and care:


Avoid water


Don’t leave anything heavy on top of it


Avoid storing it in direct sunlight for long periods of time


Clean with a slightly damp cloth


If you can’t get a stain off with the cloth, you can always repaint it

Feel free to share this pattern, I would just ask that you make sure I get credit for it. I don’t mind if you sell the glove made from this pattern, but don’t mass-produce and sell it.