Building a Costume

Step 3: Faking It
Lots of movie costumes require armor, jewelry and weapons that can be expensive to buy or difficult to make authentically. Luckily, costumers have come up with lots of inventive ways to make building a costume cheaper and easier.

This Jango Fett costume doesn't include any actual metal. The metallic sheen comes from silver Rub 'n Buff. Check out Armormaking for the Fiberglass Phobic or this Lord of the Rings Elven armor page for tips on making armor without learning to be a blacksmith.

Space marines from Warhammer 40K.

These costumes are made from foam cut on a CNC machine and coated with plastic. They're still hot and heavy, and the people inside can't sit down in them.

This Aragorn costume, researched at "Lord of the Rings" costume research site Alley Cat Scratch, includes an Elven brooch made from Sculpey and wire instead of silver and enamel.

Some people would rather have a completely accurate costume than resort to any cosmetic tricks. Next, we'll look at a few people who went to great lengths to build their costumes as authentic as possible.

Don't Forget the Stormtroopers A Stormtrooper collects donations for Hurricane Katrina relief, with assistance from C-3PO. Most Stormtrooper costumes look impressively real -- and impressively identical. Comprehensive tutorials available online cover everything about making them, starting with the basics of vacuum forming (the method used to make each piece of a Stormtrooper's armor). Professional-quality costumes are a requirement for membership in the 501st Legion -- a Star Wars "bad guys" costuming organization. (Good guys can join the Rebel Legion.)