Minecraft Costume

This instructable is for anyone working on a full-size costume of Steve.

The main difference between this and other versions I found is that here the costume is open at the back. This does not really alter the effect from most viewpoints, but makes it simpler to make, and to get on and off.

There is a short clip of the costume in action at the end of the video.

The basic templates for the costume were taken from Steve Bear at http://www.fps-x-games.com/

These were edited in photoshop and then scaled up in illustrator. The scale factor was determined by measuring the chest width, inside leg and arm length of the person who will wear the costume. In this case it is JianJian - who is 10 years old. The proportions of the costume are not the same as in the game, so the scale for each part: head; body; arms and legs - are slightly different. The pieces were then laid out in illustrator to be printed on a series of A1 sheets of foam core. We needed to print 11 of these (including the sword). I realise that this is quite expensive but we have a relatively cheap local print shop. There are several benefits to this material: the colours are good and flat; the material is light and fairly hard-wearing; you can create very neat mitred joints by cutting a V-groove in the back of the board and folding over.

Cut out each part using a very sharp knife.

Where possible, cut out a “V” groove on the back of the board to create neat mitred joints. You should test on scrap pieces first to perfect your technique.

In order to strengthen the edges of each part, they should be reinforced with thin softwood battens (6mm - 10mm) These don't add too much to the weight but make the costume far more robust.

Each part - legs, arms, head, body is made up into a box shape and glued using a hot glue gun. This works well with the foam core.

The sword is composed of three pieces of foam core glued together in a sandwich. The central section is cut away to make space for a thin wooden batten - this stops the sword buckling.

The sword is pushed into the arm through a slot.

From these three back views you can see that the body and legs are tied on. The ties were made from old t-shirts cut into strips and glued to the inside of each part using the hot glue gun.

The left arm is held in place with a wooden batten and a handle inside Steve’s wrist.

The right arm all has the wooden batten behind the wearer’s elbow, but holding the sword keeps the arm in place.

The head is kept in the right position by glueing an oval shaped support to locate the top of the head and then side supports. These kept the wearer's head aligned with the eye holes.

We had to make some small adjustments to the arm heights and neck holes, but otherwise it went together well. Good luck with your costume!