Rob Emery Costumes & Props

The 2 piece female fantasy armour was made exclusively from recycled beer, juice and pop cans, mostly the pull tabs. It's 100% Aluminum (no thread, tape, velcro, buckles, etc.) - 100% Recycled and Recyclable. For the male armour suit and the 1 piece female suit, I started using string & wire to make them more robust and faster for models to get into. For all, I eventually added a silicone coat and sometimes felt inside to make them more robust and comfortable. The Alumiwear line was showcased in the Deadly Sins 2 fashion show & at Polaris 2011 (Workmanship winner, Journeyman division). (Digital Art: Joe Diamond, Rob Emery, Michelle Renee. Models: Stephanie, Alissa, Alii, Rob Emery, Lovina & Jenessa)

I created a Steampunk Journalist's aether teletype and compact camera case (to fit around my digital camera. Photo by Convoke). I also created a set of steampunk weapons (tasifier, gatling gun and vampire rifle) and some MIB-inspired gear.

When my folks radio antenna got knocked down, I welded it into a 2/3 scale Viper (front is 3/4 scale so I can fit in, back is 1/2 scale as that matched the materials I had). I added wings, skin, front wheel and engines (water barrels) from Craigslist free stuff. The canopy, rear wheels & cowlings were made with new materials. I also turned my welding jacket into a pilot's uniform jacket by adding trim, buckles and shoulder patches. For DragonCon 2018 I made a War Of The Gods uniform, using another jacket sewn into shape and decorated with fabric paint, 3D printing a new gun, holster & buckles and putting white duct tape over the boots (since replaced with bought ones so I can use the boots as normal again).

Batman's mask, gauntlet and armour are mostly made using black duct tape (over foam, leather gloves & a baseball cap).

The Cyberman costume is duct tape over bristol board, with foam for depth/shaping. A sound sensitive circuit was linked to LED's in the mouth and a keychain based voice circuit to deliver the "Delete" and "You will be upgraded" lines. Pic with J.Wood who made & was Mercy Hartigan. I made a Dalek out of cardboard and duct tape. The head was a salad bowl, and the eye stalk was made from pvc tube and a spherical Coke bottle. Then it was merged with the Cyberman and The Hybrid (below) was born (pic by Christine Mak). It was later upgraded (right) to a more screen accurate Emperor's Guard Dalek using 3d printing, mdf skirt, styrene body and aluminum tape over most of it. The R2Dalek2 was just a bit of fun while I was working on R2's dome (cross your eyes to view the pic in 3D).

Amy Pond was made with fabric paint and a 3D printed radio & baton on a real police vest, a costume hat & a regular belt. I also made assorted props: Shakri Cube, Judoon Scanner, custom (Godzilla sound + laser + mechanical) screwdriver, Jackson Lake's screwdriver, Osterhagen (USB) Keys, Chameleon Arch, Time Lord cufflinks, River Song journal and a Tardis. The sonic screwdriver is a conversion of the Wand Company's 11th doctor remote control to allow it to extend. The River Song journal was made by tea-staining the pages and 3D printing the covers. I designed the Tardis to make it portable (it fits entirely in a sedan when disassembled), indoor-compatible (it fits under an 8' ceiling when assembled) but is still large enough to look full size (it's about 90% of the height of the 1980 Tom Yardley-Jones Tardis).

For Piccolo, I started with a commissioned costume but modified it by adding latex and thermal glue to the arms, and more fabric to the hat, belt & boots. The pouch and gloves were made from scratch. The gloves were made with air dry foam nails, dollar store gloves and latex, with some LEDs for the special beam cannon attack. Piccolo pics by ASPhotography and Greg Payne.

I modified a Roomba Braava Jet 240 to look like a Farscape DRD so it can do the mopping in my home in style. I plan to do more rebalancing of the weight but was surprised the maneuvering held up pretty well despite being converted from a small (7") square Roomba to a larger oval DRD. Its size (10.5"x8.5") is a little smaller than a real DRD (14"x10") to help with that and make it easier to get through obstacles like chair legs. Click on the image to the left for a video of it in operation, sped up 8x.

I created the gun, holster and suspenders for Malcolm Reynolds. Later the gun was replaced with one a little more screen accurate (the original was designed to fit around a TV remote control). Pic is with E. Chartier who made the Inara (I made the Inara laser pistol and a boltcaster). Jayne's (Firefly) shirt and gloves I painted with fabric paint. The Jayne hat and wrist cuff were purchases. The guns modified toys. The holster is a quick conversion from a bag and the ankle cuffs were made from pleather & nylon.

For the Jon Snow ( Game of Thrones, thumbnail by Very Frank Pictures, link picture with Tina (Melisandre) and Nicole (Daenerys) ) I sewed the gambeson and made a jacket extension to match. For the cape, I bolted some black fabric and leather belts to a fur floor mat. Ygritte was made sewing fur additions to a fur coat to better match the form. I made a metal version of Longclaw using an air dry foam sculpted pommel over a metal sword but for conventions I use a purchased foam LARP sword. I made a sheath by gluing together pleather bits. Melisandre's necklace was soldered together from wire and metal cut from a brass bed. The Iron Throne was made from wood trim and dollar store swords.

For Pete Venkman (photo by Merle Robillard), I modified the Mattel neutrino wand to sync up with the lights on a homemade proton pack. The pack was made of foam over beaverboard, with a baking tin, floppy disc case, Pringles tube, PVC pipe, wood trim, etc.

I made the guns and holster for a Lara Croft costume (Digital Art: Joe Diamond, Model: Djulz).

Bofur was put together from a sweater and jacket, and other clothing I already had. A hammer/axe (not in the picture) was created out of a foam one that was coated in silicone and repainted. The mustache/goatee was made from a wig. The costume, along with a cardboard barrel was used on tour in Middle Earth

Black Widow was made with fabric painted SHIELD badges on a stretch fabric costume. The belt buckle and bracelets were hand-carved, the rest of the buckles, the gun and the holsters were 3D printed. The duct tape Wolverine X-Men Uniform is around 90% tape (all duct / duck tape) - silver inside, black outside and clear to hold the orange string. The other 10% is foam, velcro, string, buckles, leather gloves/boots and cast resin claws. Wolverine was the winner of the Polaris 2010 novice division and workmanship awards. Iron Man (pic by Convoke) is bristol board and red/gold duct tape over a red body suit and ski boots. The Arc Reactor is custom made with LEDs, cast arc ring and optional battery compartment back (4AAA). I eventually replaced it with a more screen accurate back (9v) and gave it a home using 3d prints and CD cases.

The Predator (pic by ASPhotography) was made by painting in latex over a Mr.Incredible suit, plus airfoam sculpted armour, car mats and a very heavy plaster helmet. To lighten it, some pieces were replaced with Worlba molded pieces.

The Borg was my first costume. It remains one of my heaviest, even with 15 lbs already removed (Photos by Wandering Dana & FanExpo). It's made of every cool bit of junk I could find glued down to football padding, a bought mask and an artificial arm made from aluminum tubing. I made the Geordi visor for a friend from aluminum sheet and brass screen. The spore drive was made with 3D printing, a plexiglass cylinder and LED string (tape) with a remote driver.

For Boba Fett, I experimented with reinforced plaster (heavy) and air-dry foam (light) only to find out how brittle they both are. A layer of Goop (glue) added to everything makes it fairly resilient despite the brittle core. Eventually I replaced some parts with 3D printed ones for better accuracy. Slave Leia's bra and boot trim were made with air dry foam over formed metal wire (with Goop again). The bracelet and skirt plates were 3D printed. The staff and hairpiece were assembled from assorted scraps. The carbonite "Han Solo"-like door was made for my man cave. It has a thermal detonator for the door handle. For the Jedi Knight, I made a lightsaber with a detachable blade and the belt & overcoat/cloth for the Judogi. R2D2 was made with 3D prints based on the Michael Baddeley files (v2) with an aluminum dome from Granite Earth. For the electronics, I integrated a frequency hopping radio transmitter/receiver, a Sabre, a Syren, an MP3 trigger and amp, chargers and am looking into an Arduino Uno and I2C servo controller to handle some of the more complicated gizmos. For the logic lights, I used LED belt buckles and for the PSI's I made some LED flashers.