Introduction: Jawa Costume
The Robe/Hood:
Yards of brown fleece plus hours reacquainting myself with the Singer resulted in this loose Jawa robe and separate hood. The hood material is scooped around in sort of a cylindrical shape and then sewn together, so it can be slipped over the head. Keep in mind that the head opening needs to be large enough to accommodate a mask underneath. The good thing about this part of the costume is that Jawas are not known for their fine tailoring -- so absolutely perfect measurements and stitching are not necessary.
The Blaster:
We began with a rubber band gun, then scoured a home improvement store for a few add-ons. We ended up gluing a fuse box type thing (technical, isn't it?) from the electrical aisle, and then used A LOT of glue to attach a heavy metal pipe connector thing from the plumbing aisle (I know...) on the end, with foam stuffed inside to make a (sort of) tight fit. We screwed in a small hook on top as a sight. Then we had fun spray painting the blaster brown, black, and silver to finish it off.
The Mask/Glowing Eyes:
The mask was challenging until we found the right parts -- but it seems to have worked out well. We started with an old-style black hockey goalie mask, then drilled a hole under each eye. To create the glowing Jawa eyes we found small-ish electric tealight candles at a local craft store. They turn on simply by twisting the bottom of them, and have replaceable watch batteries (these could be replaced without any mask disassembly!). The holes were drilled just large enough to get the plastic flames inserted through them snugly. On the inside of the mask, I glued the larger part of each tealight to the inside of the mask (I first had to cut away some of the foam that lines the inside of the mask). The tealight bases protrude a little onto the cheeks of the mask wearer, but the mask is still roomy enough, so it isn't a problem. You only need to twist each tealight base before putting on the mask to start glowing. The tealight "flames" have been colored yellowish orange with a combination of Sharpie markers. The outer part of the Jawa eyeballs are made from a bubble gum machine plastic toy "bubble" -- with each half of the bubble serving as an eyeball (these were hot glued onto the mask). The eyeballs have also been colored with yellow and orangish Sharpies to make them glow yellow. The outside of the mask is covered in wide horizontal strips of a lightweight black polyester material. The wearer can see out of the hockey mask eye holes through this black material (although not very well, we might add... if you want a Jawa with better eyesight, you might need to use a more sheer black material to cover the mask).
Accessories:
We found inexpensive black cotton gloves and two black canvas expandable utility belts to make the rest of this look work for our Jawa. If you make the robe long enough to drag on the ground a little (which seems about right), you can be flexible with your footwear.
My 11-year-old son (height 5'1") is modeling the full look.
Yards of brown fleece plus hours reacquainting myself with the Singer resulted in this loose Jawa robe and separate hood. The hood material is scooped around in sort of a cylindrical shape and then sewn together, so it can be slipped over the head. Keep in mind that the head opening needs to be large enough to accommodate a mask underneath. The good thing about this part of the costume is that Jawas are not known for their fine tailoring -- so absolutely perfect measurements and stitching are not necessary.
The Blaster:
We began with a rubber band gun, then scoured a home improvement store for a few add-ons. We ended up gluing a fuse box type thing (technical, isn't it?) from the electrical aisle, and then used A LOT of glue to attach a heavy metal pipe connector thing from the plumbing aisle (I know...) on the end, with foam stuffed inside to make a (sort of) tight fit. We screwed in a small hook on top as a sight. Then we had fun spray painting the blaster brown, black, and silver to finish it off.
The Mask/Glowing Eyes:
The mask was challenging until we found the right parts -- but it seems to have worked out well. We started with an old-style black hockey goalie mask, then drilled a hole under each eye. To create the glowing Jawa eyes we found small-ish electric tealight candles at a local craft store. They turn on simply by twisting the bottom of them, and have replaceable watch batteries (these could be replaced without any mask disassembly!). The holes were drilled just large enough to get the plastic flames inserted through them snugly. On the inside of the mask, I glued the larger part of each tealight to the inside of the mask (I first had to cut away some of the foam that lines the inside of the mask). The tealight bases protrude a little onto the cheeks of the mask wearer, but the mask is still roomy enough, so it isn't a problem. You only need to twist each tealight base before putting on the mask to start glowing. The tealight "flames" have been colored yellowish orange with a combination of Sharpie markers. The outer part of the Jawa eyeballs are made from a bubble gum machine plastic toy "bubble" -- with each half of the bubble serving as an eyeball (these were hot glued onto the mask). The eyeballs have also been colored with yellow and orangish Sharpies to make them glow yellow. The outside of the mask is covered in wide horizontal strips of a lightweight black polyester material. The wearer can see out of the hockey mask eye holes through this black material (although not very well, we might add... if you want a Jawa with better eyesight, you might need to use a more sheer black material to cover the mask).
Accessories:
We found inexpensive black cotton gloves and two black canvas expandable utility belts to make the rest of this look work for our Jawa. If you make the robe long enough to drag on the ground a little (which seems about right), you can be flexible with your footwear.
My 11-year-old son (height 5'1") is modeling the full look.