EPirate Costume: a Modern Take on Piracy

This Instructable will detail the creation of a modern day pirate costume. We've all heard about torrents and pirates stealing data, but what do these guys actually look like? Here's my spin on it.

What you'll need:
For your head:

• A bandanna
• A flash drive
• A clip-on earring
• A Bluetooth headset/computer headset
• An eye-patch
• Headphones (Mp3 player optional)

For your body:

• A black t-shirt
• Spray paint
• Paint pens/more paint (you'll see what I mean)
• A computer mouse
• Velcro
• Sewing skillz! (and a needle and thread)
• An old CD/DVD (or new, whatever floats your boat)
• An Ethernet cable
• Buttons, the ones with the safety pins on the back

Step 1: Buttons

I decided I would wear some buttons to further the idea of the pirating. I got pictures of the uTorrent logo, the Pirate Bay, and Lifehacker and printed them out. Then, I simply cut and glued them onto existing buttons (because I don't exactly have a button maker...).

Step 2: T-Shirt Build

I wanted to make sure people got the joke, so I decided to spray paint "ePirate" on a black t-shirt. But you could wear an assortment of shirts referencing to modern day pirating.

I sketched the letters out on paper and cut them out, making the "e" bigger than "pirate". (See pics) You can either use the letters or the cut outs of the letters, AKA, if you want to have white or black letters. I chose to use white letters, so I taped the outlined pieces to the shirt. (See pic.)

I put cardboard in the shirt so the paint wouldn't soak through to the other side and there would be a more even surface for painting onto.

Paint the "e" before doing anything else. It turned out a cool ghostly white, not at all what I was expecting, but cool nonetheless and good enough to work with. Then, spray paint the pirate part. Next, we'll outline the letters....

Step 3: T-Shirt Build 2

Grab some sort of paint, any color you want. I happened to have some "Painter's Touch" paint pens at hand, so I used them.

I used blue for the "e" and red for "pirate", but one coat was a bit too faint. Two coats seemed to give the shirt a nice look, so stick with that.

Step 4: T-Shirt Build 3

Now, I wanted to get a mouse on my shoulder instead of a pirate's parrot. To do this, I first thought of using magnets, but they didn't work as well as I had hoped. So, I decided to use velcro instead so I can use either shoulder for the mouse and take it off whenever. The stickiness won't withstand the force of pulling off the mouse, so you need to sew the velcro onto the shoulder.

Also, make sure you use the soft side on the shirt and the coarse side on the mouse. It makes things... comfier for you.

Step 5: Eye Patch

I bought a little pirate costume kit from the dollar store because it had both an eye patch and a fake earring. The earring turned out to be useless, but the eye patch worked out perfectly.

I took all of the stickers off and found a burning CD pic online. It looked pretty sweet, and kind of like an eye. I made the background black, resized it, and printed it out. Then, I used a double sided sticky pad (because I was in a hurry and it was the first thing I found) to put the pic on the patch. Fin.

Step 6: Flash Drive Earring

I decided I wanted to make a deliciously geeky earring. A flash drive popped into my mind, and though it isn't exactly "piratey", I went ahead with it anyway.

My mom gave me a pair of clip on earrings to use. I took off the earring part, leaving only the clip behind. Then, I found a small ring that fit in a hole on my flash drive and went perfectly with the earring. Done and done.

Step 7: Ethernet Cable / DVD Belt

Kinda self explanatory. Get an Ethernet cable of adequate length to fit around your waist (mine looped twice and worked out great!). Grab an old CD or DVD and push one end of the cable through, followed the the second end. They should both get through there with a little effort.

Once that's done, tie the cables together, anyway you feel like it. Then you're done!

Step 8: Put It All Together

It's time. Grab your t-shirt (I put a long sleeve camo shirt underneath because it's cold out there! it also looked pretty pirate-ey) and bandanna. To make the bandanna fit around your head pirate wise:

• Fold it corner to corner.
• Tie around head.

Check out the pictures if you need a visual.

Put on your eye patch, earring, mouse, Bluetooth headset, and belt. You can then scatter your buttons where ever you want them, be it on your back, on the arms of your shirt, on your pants, etc.

String your earbud headphones up your shirt coming out of your pocket. Mp3 player optional.

I added gloves to my costume at the last minute, and they were pretty cool. Use them if you wish.