Bladen's costume this year was HARD. Like, engineering hard. He wanted to be General Grievous, & I had a plan of how it should look in my head, but I had no idea how to actually execute it. Luckily, I have the best husband in the world who has a good eye for engineering. Together we put our brains to work & made a plan.
Trek built the legs out of plywood connected with hinges & springs to move & swivel when he walked.
It took some time to figure out the size we wanted them & how we wanted them to move. Then we had to figure out how to control them so they didn't just swing around non-stop. They needed a little bit of control.
I made a beautiful red & black cape, but was careful NOT to sew up the bottom seam. I left the fabric open between the cape & the lining on the bottom so that Bladen could fit in there. Then I cut a hole in the top so he head could poke out of the lining.
I cut two more holes in the lining where he could put his arms through. So Bladen's body is completely hidden in between the black & red. His head & arms are put through holes, & the we put on his wood exoskeleton over the top of the lining so it looks like his body (even though his body is actually hiding). We painted it black.
We connected the legs to the hips with bolts which allows the legs to swivel as Bladen walks. And then we attached the wooden feet to Bladen's black boots peeking out from under the cape. When Bladen takes a step, the wooden leg also takes a step.
Next I built armor out of EVA foam & hot glued it to the wooden pieces. I love building armor so this was a fun part of the project for me.
I also made armored bracers for his arms. Once he puts his arms through the holes in the lining of the cape, we strap these onto his forearms to help with the armored look.
Then I spent 2 days painting the armor to look old, worn, & scratched.
I added ribs & wires to the chestplate & legs to give it a mechanical feel.
Then we tried it on him to make sure all the pieces worked (as we glued it together . . . hence the blue tape)
This was going to be an AWESOME costume.
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