The imperial stormtrooper costume from the movie "Star Wars" can be made with materials that are easily acquired along with things you may already have around the house. It is not a hard costume to make, but it is time-consuming because it needs time to dry in between the different applications of plaster and paint. For this reason, plan to make the stormtrooper costume at least one week in advance of when you need to wear it.
Face Helmet
Get an old football helmet and spray-paint it white. Let it dry over night, then use gauze with plaster, the type used in making a plaster cast for a broken bone, to create the front of the storm trooper helmet. This material can be found online and in craft stores.
Place a picture of a storm trooper's helmet on the table next to you while you create the mask. Put the face guard of the football helmet down and wrap the dampened gauze plaster from the back of the helmet over the top and around the face mask. The gauze is flexible enough at this stage that you can pinch it around the face area to make an opening for the eyes, mouth and nose.
Continue to mold the helmet as you see it in the picture. On the front of the helmet, place two black bottle caps for the dials on the helmet. You can use any type of 2-liter soda bottle cap for this. Mold the caps into the plaster by pinching the damp gauze around it. Let the plaster dry for two days once it's fully assembled and then spray-paint this white. Let the spray paint dry for a day and then paint the areas around the eyes, nose and other parts of the helmet black as shown in the picture.
Torso
Next take a set of football shoulder pads and a thick hunting vest and wire them together with the shoulder pads put on the vest backwards. Slip wire through the shoulder of the vest and tie it onto the shoulder pads. This is the foundation of the storm troopers vest or shield. The opening to the vest will be in the back as you start to mold the vest with the same plaster gauze you used on the helmet. The gauze will cover the entire vest and shoulder pads to make it one smooth surface. Staple the first layer of gauze to the vest as you go along, this will keep it tight against the fabric. You will need to put the vest on backwards, so leave enough room to slip in and out of it. Bring the front of the plaster vest down to a point that will just cover the groin area. Cut the vest if it is too long.
Use the plaster gauze to paste in eight small prescription pill bottles around the vest in the belt area to look like the contoured belt worn by the stormtrooper. The plaster is very pliable when damp and you can form the ridges of the front of the vest by applying extra gauze and shape it as you would clay for the details needed. Let this dry for two days, then spray-paint it white. You can put a clear polyurethane spray over both the helmet and vest to make your costume shiny.
Arms and Legs
Put on a black leotard, the type used by ballet dancers, which is a one-piece, long-sleeve, Spandex top. You will also need the black leggings made from Spandex. Over this you will put the exact same leotard and leggings in white. Take the picture of the storm trooper and cut a small slit out of the outer white Spandex in the area of the knees, elbows and shoulders where it is shown as the joints on the picture. The black leotard and leggings will show through, giving the allusion of jointed arms, legs and shoulders.
Tags: shoulder pads, storm trooper, around face, black leotard, football helmet, leotard leggings
