How to Make a G.I. Joe: "Snake Eyes" Costume (Version I)

Silent… but deadly…  I’m talkin’ bout snake eyes. ‘nuff said!

Materials:

-Black Balaclava (motorcycle mask)

-black long sleeve shirt

-black pants

-black military boots

-samurai sword

-red craft foam

-plexi-glass (home depot)

-2 spice caps

-magnetic computer bag

-black gloves

-toy gun

-cardboard

-double sided velcro

-oranaments

-key rings

-shoulder strap of lap top bag with clasps at each end

-nylon belt with buckle

-Heating gun

-4 washers

-Strong miniature magnets (home depot)

-thin metal squares (about 1x1 inch). i just sawed some off of a metal ruler.

Put on the balaclava, shirt,pants, nylon belt, and tuck the pants into the boots. Take the red foam and glue them (or velcro as we did) on the right shoulder in the pattern of the arashikage clan

(pic 1)

I first cut the shape onto a piece of paper (pic A), then traced it onto the plexi glass. Save that piece of paper. The top angle should be about mid forehead. the bottom angle should be roughly under your nose (pic B). the length should be roughly from mid ear to mid ear (pic E). Take your plexi glass and use a saw to cut out the diamond shape. you can use sandpaper to smooth the edges, but be careful as plexiglass is sharp when jagged.


Take your heating gun and warm up the diamond shaped plexiglass.. I wedged the piece between two sleeves of a table and started to bend it in half, so it looked like an “L” (pic C). be careful to make sure the plexi glass is warm, or you will snap it. Once it is cool, warm the sides and bend those in as well.. you should have a nice curve (Pic D) that will fit around your face.

(pic 2)

from there, take that piece of paper that you traced onto the plexi glass, and trace it onto the magnetic computer bag. cut out the shape and hot glue only the edges of the diamond shaped bag cutout onto the edges of the plexi glass. this way, you can still see out of it, but no one can see inside. Now, take some painter’s tape to assist with a straight edge, and paint 3 lines from ear to ear (pic E).

(pic 1)

Now, take  your spice caps, and cut a groove into the side where the plexi glass can fit into.Glue plexi glass and caps together. Now tape your small magnets and Glue them inside the spice caps.


(pics 2 + 3)

take your 1” x 1” piece of metal and put some foam on a side.. These will go inside your mask (metal side out, foam side against your temples).. now the magnets in the spice caps should “click” onto the metal pieces against the temples of your head, thus keeping it on your face

Take your gun and outline it on some cardboard. you will need to cut the basic shapes in pic J, and assemble them together. You are basically making an enclosure for the gun. once completed, take some fake leather (or just paint it black), and go over the entire case. Make a strap to hold it in place. you can either secure the strap with velcro or a little buckle. Since snake eyes wears his gun on his right hip, a belt loop should be placed on the LEFT side of the holster. if you want to switch sides, just put the belt loop on the other side.

Grab some type of strap (can be leather, nylon, even cardboard) and put a hole through each end. Now put two metal washers on each side. (pic K).. loop them around your belt on one side.. from there, take your shoulder strap belt and click it into the washers (pic L). Take two straps of double sided velcro and secure your sword to the back (pic M)

(pic 1)

For a grenade, take a thin strip of foam and horizontally encircle the ornament (pic N). There should be a little cap that you stick the hook through for the ornament to hang.. CAREFULLY cut that off and save it. grab some cardboard and you should have 2 trapezoid looking pieces, a long strip, and that piece from the cap (pic o)

(pic 2)

assemble the cardboard pieces together, (the strip will wrap over the top).. hot glue the entire cardboard trigger to the top of the ornament. Take the “cap” that you cut off the top and glue it to the side. Put a key ring through and you have a grenade. BOOM.

(pic 3)
i made three and used some double sided velcro and safety pins to attach them to the front of the chest strap.

(pic 1)

You can either buy a plastic knife, but if you don’t have that option, here is the way you can make it. use cardboard and cut out 3 shapes of the knife (handle included) (pic P). Now take 2 of those pieces and slim down the blade (pic Q).. glue all three pieces together, with the bigger of the 3 pieces in the middle. Now you take hot glue and fill in the gap to create a blade (pic R). put on the cardboard hand guard, and then attach a cardboard end to the bottom of the knife(pic s).

(pic 2)

For the sheath, take your knife and wrap it is fabric, leather, or whatever.. even foam works.. make the sheath snug and then cut off and sew the bottom along the edge of the knife (pic T). On the back of the sheath, make a belt loop. take some elastic and sew it horizontally so that it can wrap around your thigh (pic U)