Well hell, I never did post anything about the jawa? During the Arnold Classic back in March, a bunch of us were talking about jawa costumes. SWMBO and I decided to join the bandwagon and make some for ourselves...
![](http://www.arrestingphotography.com/photohost/jawamask1.jpg)
![](http://www.arrestingphotography.com/photohost/jawamask2.jpg)
![](http://www.arrestingphotography.com/photohost/jawamask3.jpg)
First up, the mask you wear under the hood. The two top choices are a fencing mask or an airsoft gun mask. I tried on someone's airsoft mask with my glasses and they fit, she did too. So I ordered the exact mask x2 and gave them to a friend. She wired up the eyes for us. The rheostat lets us change the eye color, usually orange or yellow but for Xmas and Pride we can get creative. I just had to sand the lenses to fog them up.
Add a cellphone battery bank to the back for power, added some tiny fans (hers in the chin, mine in the temple because my beard kept hitting them, not much space). Then cover the mask with either fabric or gaffer tape. I went with tape, already has adhesive on it and the airsoft mask is solid anyway. People with fencing masks tend to use fabric for air flow. I had to use plenty of tape to get rid of the face shape and make it more generic and oval. That's one reason people use fencing masks.
![](http://www.arrestingphotography.com/photohost/jawamaskunder.jpg)
Then you need the face covering. Here I have two actually, a neck gaiter type of thing and the regular balaclava most popular. Trying to decide which I like best. Yes, it's warm.
![](http://www.arrestingphotography.com/photohost/jawatestrobe.jpg)
Thanks to COVID-19 canceling everything, we didn't have any build parties coming up. SWMBO had just bought a sewing machine & was going to get tips, but that didn't happen. She started making face masks though, and learned basic skills. She finally said berkeley it & used some old bed sheets and drapes to make a test robe. I call it the albino jawa. After that, it was time for the real deal.
10 yards of monk's cloth dyed in my washing machine, 5 bottles of dye, and an evening of washing/rinsing/checking/etc. I'll skip the photos, but cleaning the washing machine afterwards was easier than I expected!
Boots! Time to make some boots. Rubber generic boots from Walmart, she went with a bit nicer and a zipper. Both get covered in left-over fabric using a glue gun.
![](http://www.arrestingphotography.com/photohost/jawaboots1.jpg)
![](http://www.arrestingphotography.com/photohost/jawaboots2.jpg)
I cut the top few inches off & it really only took about 30-45 minutes to do both boots. No set pattern just wrap them up somehow. Easy Peasy.
I also had to find bandoliers. The CRL calls for " British 1903 pattern, Martini Henry, Turkish Ottoman, Swedish, British, NZ, Australian, Canadian, German or similar recreations, and matching the style in the movie. " So thankfully there's enough of us nerds out there it's easy to find the right recreations!
And then:
![](http://www.arrestingphotography.com/photohost/jawa-final.jpg)
Add some black elbow-length opera gloves and send in the photos. I was happy to have the Gonk droid 99% complete to use. We got our 501st Legion approvals in a few days. It's also a Rebel Legion CRL so we sent that as well, still waiting on their approval. Now we just need "sound gloves", with pressure switches in our palm to hit for various sound bites. Etsy has a couple but I've heard they aren't great quality.
Utinni!