Female Predator

I chose to wear the costume myself as I really get into the Halloween spirit by
being creative and creating my own costumes.

I loved the movie "Predator" and wanted to be something unique this
year and not like a lot of other costumes. I definitely was the ONLY one who
had a Predator costume and being female made it all the rave. Below you will
read how I created the costume, what materials I used and pics.

The most time consuming part was figuring out how to create and where to even
start. Thanks to YouTube and watching many, many videos I began the process.

#1:
Helmet Outline: For the helmet I started with a simple skateboard helmet I
found at goodwill, I traced an outline of the facial mask onto scrap cardboard
then cut out and shaped. It did take several small pieces of cardboard to get
the shape I desired, I taped them all together with masking tape and hot glued
the cardboard mask to my helmet. Doesn't have to be pretty at this point
because in step 2 you will find out what I did.

#2:
After completing step #1, I bought white molding clay from the craft store and
molded clay around the whole helmet and mask. With clay you can build up
certain designs and carve out crevasses to make the mask look real. You let it
dry for 24-48 hours then lightly sand the rough areas. Once dry, I spray
painted primer all over and let dry, then sprayed black gloss paint all over
and let dry. I then took a small sponge and dipped in gold paint and dabbed it
all over the helmet to give it a worn/brushed metal look.

#3
Dreads: I used backer rod foam I bought online ($8 for 200 ft), heated the ends
slightly over the stove and rolled to get a point at the bottom of dread. I
then brushed on black plasti-dip to each dread to give it a little weight; if
you do not give weight to them they will stick out and look funny. After the
dip dried (30 min), I took copper fittings I found at hardware store and
crimped them on the pointed end of dreads to give additional weight. I then
super glued them to the helmet.

#4
Body Armor: I created the armor out of craft foam, shaping and molding by
heating and jewelry wire to get the look desired. I then hot glued the small
pieces together to create a larger piece. I then spray painted them all gold
metallic (1 coat), then dabbed black paint with foam sponge to get a metal
look.

#5:
Body Suit: You can create a suite on your bare body by airbrushing muscle
design on it, but I opted to purchase a full suit to wear as it was a little
chilly. I airbrushed designs on it but most of the design was covered up by my
armor. :(

#6 Skirt: I created the skirt out of brown
velvety curtains I found on clearance, cut and hot glued to the shape I wanted
and attached it to an old leather belt I had.