For the suit I got a red, full-face suit from superfansuits.com (totally awesome suits for anything like this sort of thing!)

Then I bought a Captain America mask, had AMDarkness sand down and fill in the “A” so it was smooth, trimmed it off some then used 3M spray glue to adhere it to the inside of the hood. I cut out the eyes and chin area and used brush on Krazy Glue to glue the edges of the eyes down. AMDarkness made the ears and chest emblem for me and the belt is made out of plastic sheeting from Lowe’s, then airbrushed yellow.

I found the boots from Target online. They are “women’s” rain boots and only come in a women’s size 10 at the biggest. But, I thought maybe they’re made for women to wear their shoe inside of, so I might be in luck. I went to Target in town and even though they don’t sell these in stores they do have different colors of the same brand and sizes… and guess what… size 10 fit me great! So I ordered them and they work perfectly!

(I really DO have the face for this costume… don’t I?)

Here is my completed ESB Troopermaster armor. I am very happy.

I do more costumes than just Star Wars; one of the ones I’m currently working on is “Severus Snape” from the “Harry Potter” books and movies.

This is a much easier costume than many others I’ve done because I can simply buy the jacket, pants and wand. The harder parts are the wig and learning if can “be” Snape or not. Since he’s a face character I have to — at least somewhat — look the part.  So the first thing I did was Photoshop my face onto Alan Rickman’s body (the actor who plays Snape in the films) and cut and paste a wig I found online on top of that — see Gallery Photo #1 below. I was satisfied enough that I then ordered the wand and wig; who were we kidding… I was buying the wand regardless. The wig arrived and I am very satisfied. With a little eye make-up, some appropriate pallor, and I’m ready to teach potions.

For those that want to know, this is the “Medium Black New Style Cosplay Wig 1BC” wig from this eBay store.

The next part for me was to be able to sound like the good professor when I speak. Of course I have no doubt that before the movies everyone had their own “inner voice” of what professor Snape sounded like, but Alan Rickman’s superior performance and distinctive speech put an end to all of that. Even Harry Potter fans who don’t like the movies more than likely hear “that voice” when they read the books now. So, I started practicing. I’ve always been good at voices so didn’t have much worry that I’d at least be able to do a “good enough” impersonation.

Below is an example of one of my Snape voice test recordings. Of course seeing me “in character” helps make the voice work even more than simply hearing it, but I’m very happy with how well I sound so far. The slower, and more annoyed I can speak and sound the better.

I’d love to hear input on this, especially as I’m “in process” and certainly from other Snape costumers.
It’s going to be a fun one to do for sure!

Here’s what my strapping looks like — which is how I would do any stormtrooper builds from now on. It’s the clam shell method using snaps, and I… LOVE… IT!!

The shoulder bells will be strapped to the biceps, and the biceps strapped to the forearms when I’m done.

Here are pictures of my finished Troopermaster ESB bucket. It was assembled by TM himself and the decals are from TK-4510. I could not be happier with this!