Edward Scissorhands Costume ...On the Cheap.

    On this instructable I'll show you how to make an awesome Edward Scissorhands costume for very few dollars, none if you have all that is needed. This is my first instructable so please bare with me and forgive me for making grammar or vocabulary mistakes, english is my second language.

    Just so we're clear, this is the costume Edward uses at the beginning of the film, NOT the one with white shirt and gray pants. The one I'm talking about is the black leathery-metallic one.

    It's actually very simple to make and you'll need regular things that are laying around the house, I made mine in about 2 hours. You may think that for that little time and that little things used, you might get a "not-so-cool" costume, but trust me, this costume got me the first place in a contest on a major club/discotheque where I live, the prize was a Nintendo Wii. Everyone at the club was amazed at the costume, everyone wanted a picture with me, so if you do everything right (and you will), this costume may be one of the best ones anywhere you go.

    Let's get started.


//This is my entry to the Halloween Contest, not sure how it works, but if you can vote for me or something, please do it! I'd appreciate it. Thank you!//

Step 1: Things You Will Need

    Ok, so let's see what things you'll need to make this happen.

          1. Long black wig.
          2. Some chains.
          3. Black leather gloves.
          4. Scrap Acrylic sheets.*
          5. 1 meter of PVC Pipe.**
          6. White and purple make-up.
          7. Big black plastic bags. (The ones used for trash)***
          8. Chrome/Silver paint in spray.
          9. Black belts, may be plastic or leather ones, the more the better, but they MUST have metallic things. Refer to the pictures for further understanding.


*Any color, they will be painted. They need to be a little thick though, you don't want them to break if you accidentally drop them.

**Any color, you're going to paint it as well. As for the diameter, I used 2.5cm, but this varies. You need to be able to put your finger inside it (with the glove on) but it doesn't have to be loose, it needs to be a little tight.

***This is where you might change it. I used plastic bags because I didn't have money to buy black metallic fabric, thus the "On the cheap" version, but if you can buy the black metallic fabric or have some laying around, USE IT.

    There's one more thing you can use if you have it. Big Black Boots. I didn't use them because I couldn't get my hands on some, but if you can then by all means use them, they would give the costume a nice mood. Otherwise, use regular black shoes like me.


     Now let's look at the tools you'll be using.

        1. Transparent tape.
        2. Contact glue. (Or some other very strong glue)
        3. Scissors.
        4. Hair spray.
        5. Crazy glue.

    If you chose the fabric method instead of the plastic one, then sewing accesories are required.

Step 2: Preparing the Wig.

    The hair. This is one of the things that make Edward... well, Edward. It's no big deal, you just need to cut it so it's not too long, then tease the hair and apply hair spray when needed. You'll end up with a very "halloween-ish"  type of hair, very tall and fuzzy.

    If you don't know how to tease hair, here's a youtube tutorial to get you started.


NOTE: Go crazy on the teasing and go extra crazy on the hair spray. Remember, you need to get a large volume hair, and still looking freaky. Take a look at a picture of Edward to get the idea.

Step 3: Making the Scissorhands.

    This is the trickiest part, but have no fear, it's relatively easy.

        1. Cut the PVC pipe in 7cm pieces.

        2. Cut a 2cm long (aprox)  "line" through the middle of one end of the pipe. You're doing this so you can place the blade there in horizontal position. Both sides of the circunference need to be cut, imagine you're measuring the diameter but instead you're cuting it. Then you need to bend the cut end so it makes some sort of "clamp", refer to the images for further understanding.

       3. Cut the acrylic scraps in 8 25cm x 2.5cm blades, vary the height from 2.5cm to 2cm and the width from 25cm to 30cm or less to make them irregular and not all the same. Cut another 2 15cm x 2.5cm blades for the thumbs, again, vary them to make them irregular. Remember to cut one end of the blades in "knife" shape or something similar, to resemble scissor and blades.

      4. Put the blades in each of the pieces of PVC pipe and fix them in place with some crazy glue.

      5. Paint all the PVC pieces with the blades attached with chrome spray paint and wait for them to dry completely.

      6. Put on one glove, then cover half of each finger with contact glue, from the end of the finger to the middle (aprox).

      7. Do the same with the inside of 5 PVC pieces, and wait about 5 minutes for the glue to get dry on both the pvc and the glove.*

      8. After the 5 minutes, place each finger into each PVC pipe, tighten them up and wait for about 15 minutes for the glue to dry.*

      9. Do the same with the other glove and the remaining blades.

      10. You're done!

*Refer to the instructions of your contact glue to wait the appropiate amount of time. It varies depending the manufacturer.


    You can put metal things on the gloves to make them appear more "metallic-like", I used a piece of metal sheet. I bended the sheet and glued it to the glove using contact glue.

Step 4: Making the "clothes".

    It's basically divided in parts. You need to make pants and a shirt out of the plastic bags. How? Easy. Just put a plastic bag around one leg and tape the ends, making sure the plastic bag is tightly attached to your leg, but still a little loose so you can take it out.

    Make the same thing to the other leg and then make a couple of plastic "underwear" so you cover all of the legs. The arms and the abdomen use the same method, but for the upper part of the body, meaning lower neck and shoulders, you need to cut a hole out of a bag so you can fit your head and cover the remaining part of your body.

    Every separate part is taped BUT you don't want to tape together the abdomen, arms and shoulders parts because it will be impossible to take off. Unless you're making this "on-the-fly", ready to go to your party, then don't tape everything together.

    As for the pants, it's OK to tape the underwear and leg parts together since it's very easy to take off and put on again. Remember to tape every end of the bags of each part at least twice to avoid ruptures, triple tape if you must.


NOTE: If you chose the Black Metallic Fabric method, then you can sew some pants and a shirt out of the fabric, it's easier that way.

Step 5: The Make-Up.

    Very easy, you just need to make your face white, paint some rings under the eyes, make the lips a little dark and paint some scars. Remember to powder your face otherwise the make-up will look very "glossy". Although it depends of your make-up of course, it may already be opaque.

    Look at a picture of Edward for better accuracy.

Step 6: Time for the Accessories.

    Okay, almost done. After you have the costume put on, meaning the plastic bags (or fabric), you need to put some belts and chains around your abdomen, chest, arms and legs.

    The layout is really up to you, but there are some guidelines you need to follow. For example, most of the belts need to be in the abdomen area with the clasps all together in one side. Again, look at a picture of Edward to really understand it.

    Feel free to add other metallic thingys you want, but not exagerating. This is where your creativity must flourish. You can fix everything in place with tape, needles, whatever you like.

Step 7: Go Edward, Go!

    All done! You did it! Wasn't that hard now was it? Put everything together and you're done. If you're wearing plastic bags, try not to make sudden movements or wide movements, otherwise you'll break the costume. If you chose for the fabric version, you'll have more movility plus it will look a lot cooler.

    You can put some normal clothes beneath the costume like me, just make sure they're dark colors.

    Now you can go and make some cool ice sculptures or just go to your local hairdressing salon and ask for a job. Either way you win.

    Have fun! Hope you had a great time just like I did. Take care!