Tusken Raider How To; Episode 3

Erik here.

Yesterday I showed a preview of a my homemade Tusken Raider costume.  For those who don't know a Tusken Raider is an outlaw who live in the desert on the planet Tatooine in the Star Wars universe.  Actually they were sand people who were involved in an attack on a certain camp but that definition will do.  Here is a picture from the original Star Wars films.  The Gaffi stick was to impossible to make so I settled for a Tusken Cycler 

The mouth was made leather and the nose thing was clay.  The tusks near the mouth were markers.  I didn't have leather so I had to improvise.  I decided to use a belt but it wasn't working out.  So to do this the way I did you would need to get.

- A big paper bag

- A cardboard tube

- A black plastic bag

- A piece of helmet foam.

- An old long sleeve shirt

- An old sheet

- A helmet with face guard

- A karate outfit (I have a few extra from moving and trying out threeish dojos)

- Tea (not used yet.)

- Gloves

- Boots

- Duct tape/ silver paint

- A toy rifle (bonus if it works!)

- A long piece of PVC pipe.  About half to one inch

- Hot glue

- Something sharp

Lets get started on this baddy!!!

First I wanted to make the helmet.  I think this is the focus of the entire costume so if the rest of the costume isn't perfect this will make up for it.  First I made the eyes.  They were originally going to be old bean cans but the ends were to sharp.

Then I decided to use an old duct tape Lightsaber I had made about a year ago.

The Saber was bad so I didn't mind cutting it up.  I covered the black in more duct tape.  Luckily they jammed quite well into the helmet face.  I didn't even need to use glue but I did anyway.  It is always smart to make something way better than it needs to be.  I would recommend using thicker tube as it is VERY hard to see.  Funny story to come.  I tried to make horns and tusks but the hot clue wasn't nearly enough.  I am not sure what one would do to attach a long stick to a flat slick surface.

Next it was time to cut up my shirt.

I started slicing this about a month ago for my Boba Fett cape so all I needed to do was rip it the rest of the way.  With how much I used I could probably make another three helmets.  All from one shirt.  Good bargain.  As you can see the strips are about one foot long and an inch wide.  Looking back I would have made them shorter and wider.  My helmet needs to hinge open so I couldn't put anything where the face and helmet met.  Start covering.  Make sure to leave any snaps covered with a flap of shirt.

I then took the paper bag and folded it into the right size triangle.  It took a few tries to get it right but it looked cool in the end.  The I folded the black plastic bag to fill the edges but not the center.  I glued this in.  Then I carved the helmet foam into the breather shape with an ex-acto.  I glued that in.  Then glue the whole thing onto the face area.

The helmet was done.

I took my Karate outfit and put it on.  I am going to darken it with tea soon.  If your outfit does not have any logo you do not need to make a cloak.  Mine has a logo.  Oh well.

I made bandoleers with belts and wore a belt around the cloak.

My cloak is a sheet with safety pinned arms.  Basically they are folded on the outer thirds and pinned.  I will explain in a diagram with a later post.

Put on boots.  You can rap them in the shirt strips if you desire a better look.  Ditto on the gloves.

Put on the karate outfit and bandoleers.

Put on the cloak.

Then the helmet.

Then gloves.

Cool eh?

Now for the rifle.  Take your toy shot gun.  If you don't have on there are some good tutorials on the internet.  I like IndyMogul's.  If you are going to make your shot gun to begin with jsut find a tutorial on how to make a Tusken Cycler.  If you have a toy one.  Take about four feet of PVC.  Attach it to the top of the barrel.  It should protrude about three feet.
And I was finished.

This is not a good costume to wear to a comic con or for trick of treating.  The visibility is poor and it is super hot.  So if you want to go to a movie and take off the helmet, or answer the door on Halloween great.  I am probably going to remake the eyes with thicker tubes.

Now for the funny story.  I was testing it out by walking around.  A family member asked "Can you see in that thing?".
"Of course" I said back.
And then walked into a wall.  So you can't really see with how I made it.

Final score.

-501st rating. 3 out of 10
-Ease of wear.  3 out of 10
-Cost.  Free!!

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