Halloween 2011

Ah... All Hallow's Eve. The day in which we send our children out into the night in disguise to take candy from strangers.  We carve pumpkins into scary faces and make our houses look like they've been infested by spiders.  Women use this opportunity to show some skin, and men make themselves look more epic than they really are with fake muscle suits.

Wait a second... Why do we do all this?  Because the ancient Celts believed that dead souls wandered the earth on this night?  Seems a little messed up to me.  I was actually surprised to learn that in Scotland, they used to practice divination rituals on Halloween, most of which were centered around finding your future spouse.  This might explain our customs for slutty nurse costumes and muscle suits.

Anyway... in keeping with tradition, I joined the throngs of adults who will go to a party in costume, while enjoying some sweets that can't be healthy.  As a kid, it was mostly fun because I ended up with a pile of candy at the end of the night.  Now, however, the part I enjoy most is using my creativity to find a new costume.  I've decided to go a step further this year, and make the costume myself.  Here are the results of said adventure:

My current profile pic

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Someone told me recently that I look like Obi-Wan Kenobi, so I've decided to run with that. To pull this off, I'll need to make two things. The Jedi cloak and the lightsaber. Obviously it won't really be a laser that can cut someone's arm (Just in case you run into someone with the death sentence on 12 systems), but I'll settle for a flashlight that has a handle that looks like a lightsaber.


Instead of just modeling a lightsaber off of what Obi-Wan's looks like in the movie, I decided to make one that actually represents me.  In case you weren't aware, I own a motorcycle.  Unfortunately, there was a point when riding my motorcycle where I dropped the bike hard enough to scrape off one of the foot pegs (no injuries thanks to my gear, thank God).  I recovered the foot peg, but was unable to re-attach it. There are also some other pieces that I've replaced, but kept the old parts.  As representation of myself, I've decided to use these pieces from my motorcycle in order to make my lightsaber.

To make it functional requires a small LED light bulb and a focusing surface.  Even though Obi-Wan's blade is blue, I decided to go with green.  I am making it to represent me, and green is my favorite color.  So for those hardcore fan's of accuracy when depicting characters from movies (especially Star Wars), I apologize.

My Lightsaber

To prevent my lightsaber from becoming too much of a flashlight, I wanted to focus the beam.  To accomplish this, I simply inset my bulb into a small section of metal, and now the light is directed only forward.  At least if I'm surrounded by smoke or fog, it will look like a blade.  Unfortunately, while I was assembling it, I broke the bulb, and didn't have time to buy a new one.  This means that I ended up with a dud lightsaber :-(

Completed Jedi Costume

For the cloak, I simply purchased some fabric, and started cutting and sewing until I ended up with something wearable.

With my completed costume, I can now convince any storm trooper that "these aren't the droids you're looking for."  Now I just needs some droids... and a landspeeder...

Total Cost: $40

Tools required:

• Soldering Iron
• Sewing Machine

Related Quote: "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." - Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope