Edward Scissorhands Costume

I wanted to create a unique costume that people could instantly recognize, a costume I could create with only moderate effort on my part, I wanted to be seen as the character I would portray, not as myself in a new outfit; that is how I decided on Edward Scissorhands.

How this costume journey began:

In August I decided I should make an Edward Scissorhands costume. My first thought was what materials to use for the costume without any consideration for the most important part – the scissorhands.

Scissorhands:

At first I thought foam board would be an acceptable material for creating the scissorhands, but I was in no way motivated to purchase foam board . After a Google search of screen shots from the movie, I thought of a material I was more comfortable making the scissorhands out of - windshield wipers. I think that windshield wipers are a good length (they look only slightly shorter than the scissorhands in the movie) plus they have no sharp edges. I cleaned the windshield wipers off with scrubbing bubbles, as I'd acquired free used windshield wipers. I removed the smaller fiberglass arms from the metal arm and wired those sets together in the same fashion as the larger set. I used a grey primer anti-rust spray paint on the windshield wipers. To attach the windshield wipers to my leather gloves I made a sleeve from the lining of an old pair of athletic shorts and used a zig-zag stitch. To secure the windshield wipers to the sleeve for the glove I used (I'm guessing) 18-gauge wire. I had plenty to work with and tried different designs. I also used nylon upholstery thread and electrical tape to secure my “scissors” to the sleeve that encases my gloves. I free-handed the shape of the scissor-handles, cut the scissor-handles from cardboard, painted them black and used electrical tape to attach them to my “scissorhands”.

Top, Pants & Boots:

The top is a cotton/ spandex blend turtle neck with remnant fabric from my stash whipstiched by hand to the front with polyester thread. I made belt-loops from nylon upholstery thread to keep my belts from sliding around and slipping and falling down. I purchased 5 of the belts worn with the costume from goodwill.
The pants I'm wearing were purchased from Goodwill, they are a polyester spandex blend so they have a leather-like sheen but are way more comfortable than pvc or other fake-leather pants. I chose these pants because I can easily alter them by sewing the fabric by machine. I added elastic at the bottom making them stirrup pants to they do not get bunched up at the top of boots.
The boots are boots I've had since I was 12- I loved these boots- I'm sure I wore them often, but they have since fallen into decay - luckily, I kept these boots which are now the perfect Edward Scissorhands 

My Face:

For the makeup I found Kandee Johnson and Emma Pickles YouTube tutorials the most helpful.

The look in these photos was created using a mix of white and dark brown costume face paint as the base and a mix of light to light-tan pressed powder and a variety of eyeshadows for the finished look. I used the glue stick method on my eyebrows.

For the scars I used Elmer's washable school glue and tissues. When you have Elmer's glue dried on your face talking feels weird, but that makes it easier to stay in character :)

For the hair: My hair holds natural curl with a little help from mousse or gel. I sometimes pincurl my hair for fun, so if it already has product in it and has been pin-curled I feel no need to tease my hair like crazy. I just fluff it up a little with a bristle-brush or my hands and pin it in clumps all over my head with the ends sticking out.