How I Made My Climbing Gear Link Cosplay

Tutorial January 14, 2019

A few people have reached out to me about how I made my Breath of the Wild Climbing Gear Link. With some time to sit down and write, I thought it would be a good opportunity to create this Climbing Gear Link cosplay tutorial.

A heads up, I actually only started documenting more of my cosplay making activities. Consequently, this guide is going to be more text heavy—future cosplays will be more well documented ?

When I make things, I try not to spend too much. Everything you see in my outfit didn’t cost much to make or acquire. Probably the most expensive aspect of this cosplay is the carabiner on my waist. You can scale up or down the quality of your cosplay as you like, but hopefully this provides a good picture of what can be made and at what cost. Anyway, ready to learn? Let’s go!

Shirt

I patterned the shirt of my Climbing Gear Link cosplay by using a basic t-shirt. Using my pattern, I cut and sewed the basic garment together. I then created the graphic you see on Link’s shirt. I used heat transfer vinyl to cut and transfer the design to my shirt. Using an iron, I pressed and carefully applied the lighter blue emblem to the sleeveless shirt.

Pants

These pants were patterned off a loosely fitting pair of pants I have. After patterning the shorts, I cut and sewed the shorts together. Using a similar process to my shirt, I created the zig zag pattern you see on Link’s shorts and cut it out on heat transfer vinyl. After carefully lining up the design, I carefully applied one side of the design. After allowing the shorts to cool, and putting a towel in the leg area (to prevent heat from transferring to the work I had already completed), I lined up the design on the opposite side and pressed down with my iron—finishing the shorts.

Chest Strap

This part of my outfit was created with webbing, foam, and fabric. I first created the belt portion which included loops that I sewed on. The loops were created with the same webbing but I had to secure the ends of the loops as the webbing had a tendency to fray on the ends.

I created a buckle from foam. This foam was first cut then coated with Mod Podge, so that I could paint it. After I painted it, I again coated it with the white glue to prevent the paint from easily scratching off. The buckle was glued onto the webbing with fabric glue.

I created the shoulder rest using fabric and foam. Because the belt was detachable, I had it run through this shoulder rest and attach underneath.

Chest Rope

The rope around my chest consists of magenta paracord that was simply wound. When I got it to a nice thickness, I added a decorative knot in the center.

Waist Gear

The actual climbing gear portion of the outfit was created with webbing and foam. I cut, primed, and painted different foam pieces to look like buckles. These buckles were attached with fabric glue to webbing that I sewed together. The sewing portion of this also consisted of adding belt loops for the carabineer and Sheikah Slate. The little gray buttons you see in the middle of the webbing are actually googly eyes that I sealed and painted.

The hardest part of the waist gear was the buckle in the center. I created this using a combination of foam glued together and thermoplastic (TerraFlex). After the buckle was primed, painted, and sealed, I attached it to the rest of the belt through a belt loop in the back of the buckle.

Sheikah Slate

I altered an existing 3D model and printed it up on my 3D printer using PLA. I used Smooth-On XTC to remove some of the imperfections created during printing. I then coated the entire model in Mod Podge before carefully painting it. I used puff paint to achieve the neon details seen on the slate. I then coated the entire slate in Mod Podge to seal the paint job. I used a faux leather material, that I cut into straps, to wrap around the handle part of the Sheikah Slate.

Arm Straps

I used webbing as the basis of my arm straps. I attached elastic to the inside of the webbing so that I could make the fit tighter—I didn’t want to have the arm straps slipping on me after all. The buckle was created with foam that was cut, sealed, and painted to look like the real thing. The buckle was glued onto the webbing. Lastly, I added velcro behind the buckle to secure both ends of the straps together.

Fingerless Gloves

I’ve made numerous gloves at this point, so making Link’s gloves were as simple as me putting my hand on pattern paper, tracing around my hand with a pencil, cutting out the pattern, then using the pattern to cut and sew basic gloves. When sewing, I secured the parts where the gloves would open up. With my finished gloves with fingers, I then cut perpendicularly where the openings should be to produce the fingerless gloves I wore with my rings.

Shoes

One day I’ll actually make a pair of shoes but for now, I took a pair of shoes that fit the bill and modified them. I made a tongue that I sewed in a similar style to the shoe. I affixed this to the shoe with fabric glue and added buttons that were spray painted yellow.

Rings

Climbing Gear Link has a ring on each of his fingers. The rings were created from heated and sculpted TerraFlex. Once the rings were formed, I coated them in Mod Podge so that I could spray paint them gray. Once this sealant dried, I sprayed the various sides of the rings, allowed them to dry, and finished them with a final coat of Mod Podge.

Ankle Bracelet

Last but not least, this part was created with a single piece of paracord. It was tied so that the bracelet could expand to fit my foot and tightened so as to not fall out of place.

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After creating a cosplay, I’m always a bit unsure how people are going to respond.

With my Breath of the Wild Climbing Gear Link cosplay, would they get it? Would people laugh? Would they think it looks like the outfit from the game?

The clear answer was yes as with people going out of their way to let me know how my Climbing Gear Link cosplay made them smile. I hope this helps you to create your own and bring smiles to others wherever you cosplay.

Supply List

Full Disclosure: Some of these links are affiliate links. Purchasing items through these links will help support the site at no extra cost to you. If you have any questions about this, let me know.

Bokoblin Eye Buttons (3D Print Files)
Montana White: Caipirinha (Bokoblin Mask Eye)
Ceramcoat: Mermaid Blue (Bokoblin Mask Eye)
Montana Gold: Roof (Buckles)
Montana Black: Kicking Yellow (Buckles)
Paracord (Ropes)
Heat Transfer Vinyl (Decals)
Carabineers
Climbing Gear Link Tee (you can take off the sleeves for an easy shirt solution)