This costume was designed as my homage to the Halo 3  video game character Hayabusa. Made completely by hand, the armor parts you see are cut using EVA foam. I choose the material because of how easy you can manipulate it and shape it and how it’s light enough to remain comfortable. When creating patterns to trace out, I found that in addition to measuring, wrapping certain areas with saran wrap and placing a layer of duct tape allows you to get a more accurate reading of body parts. For the white embellishments on top for the helmet, I used cheesecloth dipped in plaster. I used cinnamon with acrylic paint to build up a rust-like effect along the corners of the armor and to resemble dirt on the shoes. Which, by the way, smells amazing whenever a breeze hits and wafts some of the cinnamon my way! Wanting to incorporate the element of time into my costume, I layered spray paint and acrylic paint to mimic how metal reacts to real-world elements. If you would like to capture that faded and scratched look: apply petroleum jelly along the edges of your base layer of paint, spray paint over with another coat and then simply wipe away to reveal the base layer under underneath. Battle damage was created by cutting into the eva foam with an x-acto knife, hotgun along the inside, and adding layers of acrylic paint!

To address heat, I placed multiple handheld fans, throughout the costume. They pump heat through vents that you see above my shoulders, outlets along the sides of the body, and top of the helmet. While you’re buying the handheld fans from your nearest store’s outdoor section, grab a few small LED flashlights, you can place them in areas you would to be lit up! To prevent water and sweat damage, all outside seams were treated with kwick seal and the inside seams covered with fabric dipped in mod podge. It’s proved to be very effective over the course of the three years that I have been working on this project.

I realized very quickly that the music and voices from the characters contributed hugely to what makes Halo such an immersive experience. So I introduced portable speakers hidden in the back on the costume to play as I move around. The voice clips and soundtracks are controlled by my phone acting as a wrist display so that I can easily manage its selection. This has been a great hobby and a wonderful stress reliever!

Materials: EVA foam, wood, bits of metal, cheesecloth dipped in plaster, plastic, plasti dip, spray paint, acrylic paint, and fabric.

For Bonding: Barge cement, hot glue, super glue, fabric dipped in modpodge, and kwik seal.

Launch Gallery