Now that I've shared Ryder's Tree Rex costume, I have to share Cooper's Skylanders Slam Bam DIY too! I LOVE how this one turned out and he loves it even more :) He said earlier he wanted to be a yeti. Then that he wanted to pick a Skylander. Naturally, he landed on Slam Bam- probably his very favorite Skylanders character. This guy is a four-armed armor-clad yeti- sweet! ;) We own the series one figurine, but liked the look of this series two version better for the sake of a costume, so this picture below is what I've been working from to create Cooper's costume...
I'll just walk through the various parts and pieces and try to share how I put them together. I confess, I think I did better at taking pictures of the process with the Tree Rex costume, so this one is a bit more sparse, but I'll at least share in text what I may have missed getting photos for :)
My first concern when it came to creating Slam Bam was, of course, the arms! How was I going to create two extra arms for Cooper?! I found a turquoise colored shirt that he has recently outgrown. My wheels started turning and I decided I could use that very shirt to create extra arms. I safety pinned the wrist hem of each arm and stuffed the sleeves with crumpled newspaper, making sure each side was pretty tightly stuffed so the arms wouldn't be too limp.
I sewed a stitch from the armpit up the shoulder seam to keep the newspaper contained- this may not have been totally necessary. I bought Cooper a turquoise long sleeved shirt at Walmart- was hoping to find a size bigger of the exact same shirt, but alas, I had to settle for close enough :) With him wearing the new turquoise shirt, I safety pinned the stuffed one to it just underneath his armpits on both sides. Last thing, the stuffed shirt (ha ha) was tucked into the back of Coop's pants.
I wasn't really wanting to dig for white pants for this costume, so we used a light pair of church pants (khakis) and I think it worked great- the color difference isn't too stark at all :)
For each arm, I made simple cuffs out of this furry white fabric I got at JoAnn. Hands down (ha ha- I'm full of witty descriptions here!) this is the most difficult fabric I've ever sewn with. It is such a mess! It wanted to just fray and shed all over the place! Even when hemmed, I had to wonder if it mattered. Anyhow, for the cuffs, I just cut a basic rectangle after measuring the length of the arm from wrist to elbow. I hemmed both the longer sides, then folded in half right sides together and sewed up both layers to create a tube.
For the cuff that would actually need to fit on Cooper's actual arm, I cut a length of elastic just slightly bigger than his wrist measurement and stretched it along one hemmed end, to help it stay snug in place when being worn. I totally kicked myself when we got inside after taking pictures of Cooper all decked out and realized we had totally forgotten the white cuffs for his own arms! Of course I'd forget something in all the excitement! So he'll look even better on Halloween night :)
Next piece: these cool armor segments. These really take the costume from drab to fab I think :) I started by making a bunch of the spiky cones:
First I cut a three inch square on cardstock, then cut it into triangles like above. If you pick up the triangle, you'll quickly be able to figure out how to shape it into a cone. Yet again, duct tape rocked this project- I'd have had a lot more time involved in both Skylanders costumes without using tape for them :) Hold your cone together and wrap it with silver duct tape, then trim along the bottom so the spike will sit level.
For the cuff , I used three empty toilet paper rolls each. I cut the first up the middle and bent it out, then added a second to create more width. The third roll, I cut down just to create a bit of extra length. I used the silver duct tape to piece it together and then covered it with the duct tape too. Hopefully this pic above makes any part of that that is confusing a little clearer. I love using upcycled materials for costumes and these worked really simply!
To add the spike to the cuff apart, I tore small segments of duct tape and sealed them to the top of the cuff.
Next I created the chest and back armor sections. I really failed at taking pics of the process of this part for some reason... just focused on making the costume I guess! I hand drew the shape below on the large side of a wipes box. (Anyone know what this shape is called? Pointy squarish rectangle?!) Then I used the first cut as a pattern for the second and covered both in silver duct tape. With this costume done, yes, I have used almost the entire roll of duct tape :) I added spikes just the same as above...
The front chest armor is a bit more detailed than the few spikes on the back piece. I printed this Water element symbol below and pasted it to the bottom of a Powerade bottle that I had chopped off just above the base. This created a raised effect without any headache at all. I added the symbol using tape tabs just like for the spikes.
I wanted a little bit of fur off the top to accent the chest piece. For this, I cut a wide strip of my white fur fabric, folded in half and used a segment of duct tape to adhere it to the back like above. I think for Halloween night, I'll try to perfect this just a bit- add some more pleats or something to give it a bit of depth. Not necessary- having it there at all is a nice touch that breaks up the turquoise.
To keep the chest and back armor plates in place, I used straps made of duct tape going over his shoulders and connecting to both sides of both pieces. This is an easy solution- there may very well be a better way, but it works :) I didn't want to use anymore of my duct tape before Halloween night, so I didn't run tape from side to side to keep it in place even better. For trick or treating, it'll be more secure for sure though :)
For the leg cuffs, I cut a trapezoid shape, with the top measurement being a few inches more than the width around Cooper's knee cap. From top to bottom should be just a bit more than the measurement from knee to shoe. Then sew just like the arm cuffs above. The trapezoid just gives you more of a bell shape that's nice for legs and covers the shoe good. :)
For the very finishing touches like the turquoise face and white hair, I got this spray and makeup at Walmart. I was worried about the blue for his face because it looked dry like eyeshadow. But the instructions said to wet the sponge and then the makeup was perfect :) For his white hair on Halloween night, we'll definitely be adding another coat to make it more white.
Cooper absolutely loves this costume- he didn't want to take it off! If you have a Skylander fan, hopefully these costumes will be enjoyable for you too! Happy costume making!
