This year my family dressed up as the Teen Titans for Halloween. We went with the style from Teen Titans Go rather than the original since it was a little more light and simple. I was in charge of the vast majority of all the costumes. It was a lot of work and a race against time to get it all together but it got done in time.

My best friend, Fefe was Star Fire. She got together most of her costume. I only made the foam arm and neck pieces and the belt and upper arm strap.

She bought plain white clothes and dyed them purple.

The boot covers she made following this tutorial

She went with a pink wig for the first time out but she didn't like that much so she used the temporary hair color spray after that. I like the hair color spray look better.

Step 1: Packaging Tape Sculpture

I made a sculpture of her arm and her neck.

To do this, cover the body part you are casting in Seran wrap. Then carefully and neatly cover that with packaging tape.

Do several layers if you can. The thicker it is, the less floppy it will be.

When you have finished, very very carefully cut it up the middle with scissors and remove it from your person.

Align the seam and tape it back together.

Then stuff it. We used newspaper, tissue paper, regular paper, and even ripped all the pages out of several old school work books.

Tape the ends closed over the stuffing. Now you have a cheap cast of the person to work with so your person can go about their business and you can get work done too.

Step 2: Making Patterns: Arm

I built up the arm cast with tin foil and tape to make it bigger to the get the shape I needed for the arm piece. This turned out to be very beneficial because my foam piece in the end was too small for her. I had to cut out chunks from the inside to make it large enough for her to get it on.

To make your patterns, you first need to prepare the cast.

Once again cover the cast in Seran wrap. Then cover that in duck tape.This is what you can draw your pattern on.

Sketch out the design. Remember we really only need one half of the design because it's symmetrical. It's easier for me to get the drawing right if I draw the whole thing, but then I could pick the best side for my pattern.

Step 3: Pattern: Arm

Draw a seam line down the center of the back of the arm pattern. Cut on the line and remove the pattern from the form. (photo 1)

Fold the pattern in half and cut it out. (photo 2 and 3)

Trace the duck tape pattern on to poster board and cut it out.

Trace the pattern on to foam. I used anti fatigue floor mats from harbor freight. They in a 4 pack of 2 ft square pieces.

You need 2 of these.

Step 4: The Neck

I recommend to read the instructions for the neck piece solely to know what not to do with this part. It was a disaster of trial and error.

I made the pattern the same way as for the arms. Placing a seam line down the center front and back.

Step 5: Foam Arm

Use a heat gun to heat form the arm piece. Give it a curved shape and glue the seam together. I used super glue but the experts recommend barge contact cement.

I used a rotary tool to clean up the edges and shape it more.

As I said earlier, it was too small and I spent a lot of time carving out tons of material from in the inside to open it up enough to fit.

Step 6: Foam Neck

Again, solely to know what not to do here. It is a hot mess. I cut various wedges and glued them shut, and opened up cuts with the heat gun as seen in the 1st and 2nd photos to try to get the curve and shape right.

Many times of trying it on her and cutting more and trying again. It was too wide so I cut the shape down (last photo)

If I did it over again, I would try a completely different approach cause this didn't work well

To learn about foam techniques from people who know what they are doing, watch videos here:

Step 7: Gems

I made my own molds for the gems. You can probably buy some gem molds that would work though.

I used air dry clay to shape my gems.

The picture here shows the gems for Raven and Starfire.

I used Easy Mold putty to make the molds. Just follow the instructions in the box. One to one ratio of the white to the purple putty and press the gem into it. Make sure it is thicker on the bottom so you can press it down to make it flat so it will sit without falling over.

When the molds are done, cast them in resin.

I used clear Easy Cast Resin. Its one to one ratio of resin to hardener.

For the coloring, I used transparent green resin tint. It's a bit expensive at about $8 a bottle but it gets a nice color.

You need two ovals and a diamond

Step 8: Make Way for the Jewels

Position the jewel on the arm piece and trace it. Use a rotary tool to cut out an indent where the jewel will set. Do this for the neck too.

Paint the arm and neck pieces metallic silver and let dry

Step 9: Set the Jems

First paint the inset area black. Then paint the detail lines.

Glue the jewels in place.

Then clear coat it to make the jewels shiny.

Step 10: Finishing the Neck

Alright, so this is a quick, that's what I had laying around solution to making a clasp for the neck.

I used one of those plastic badge clip things and a safety pin.

Pin the end of the clip strap to one end of the neck piece and then use the alligator clip to clip to the other side of the neck piece.

Step 11: Belt and Upper Arm Strap

You can get a large sheet of foam at the craft store for less than a dollar.

Draw an Oval toward the center of the foam sheet and use a ruler to draw the straps of the belt to the edge of the foam. Cut it out.

Use the belt to measure out another strip of the same width. Cut it out.

Use super glue to glue the one end of each strip together to make one long strip.

Wrap it around the wearer and mark it, leaving about an inch or so overlap.

Cut off excess

Use sticky back velcro to attach.

**The velcro doesn't stay very well on the foam. You can sew it to a strip of nylon webbing and then glue that on the foam to help I recommend out lining the belt with sharpie. It makes it pop and looks much better. Also be gentle with the belt, its pretty easy to rip

Cut a strip and add velcro in the same manner to make the upper arm strap.