Original Character: Well isn't it obvious where I got the idea for this costume? It is the most awesome movie monster known to man as well as the deadliest. It is the "PREDATOR"! This is the best color drawing I have seen of the Predator and will use it as well as many other references in my library to recreate this amazing creature that the "Stan Winston Studio" has created.
	Wire Frame Mask: Well since I have been bending wire for a while I decided to make a mask out of wire and make it my own design instead of a generic Predator helmet. As you can see I have lots of big squares on the mask and just putting papier-mâché isn't going to work too well. I know this because this is my 3rd mask. Each with a different technique.
	Plaster and Paper Shell: As you can see the mask is papier-mâché. What I did was I got some masking tape and taped the thing all over. I left large holes for the eyes so that when I make the lenses I can fit them and then seal up the rest of the wholes. I used at least 3 layers of papier-mâché and lots of glue.
	The Paint job: As we all know the predator had a worn copper look to his mask. You also notice that in predator 2 they had slightly different shades of metal. So each was customized by the owner of the mask. I liked the Worn Copper look so I used spray paint to get my mask to look like a dark old copper. The colors I used were, Black & Copper. The effect takes some time to get the hang of if you are new to spray painting like I am. You might also notice that I have lenses in the eyes now. Those are made of a thin sheet of Plexiglas that I heated up with a heat gun.
	The Dreaded Dreadlocks: These dreadlocks were a neat little project. I decided that since I haven't any Supplies handy for making an Injected latex foam mold for Latex Dreadlocks I Used Fabric instead. Yes you heard me right I used black fabric sewn in cones filled with polyfill and the rings on the dreads are hand sculpted from an oil based clay called super sculpy and then applied carefully.
	The Body Net: This part is the easiest of the predator costume. The body net which is actually a metallic micro-fiber net which interacts with the Predator's computer to make him invisible. But we don't have that so We will use a fishing net. Just lay out the net wrap the net around your extremities and body and cut it out or have a friend cut it out. Precision is not necessary since the Predator body net is occasionally damaged in the comic books. What would you expect from all those battles? Sew the net up with some thread that is strong and identical color as the net. Make sure you can slip your feet, hands and head through the holes in the sleeves, legs, and neck. The opening will be in the back of the suit where the invisible zipper is. The pictures shown are before and after shots of the netting.
	The Shin Guards: These are my first attempts at making shin guards for the Predator costume. They aren't much but they work for now. Maybe when I get a little better I will make them more awesome looking. I am hoping to make a layered Armour look with the wire and papier-mâché so it looks more like Armour than just a plain bland bit o' Armour.
	The Gauntlet: These Gauntlets are all manual no spring action or anything. Just pull out blades and lots of cool decoration. My next ones sometime in the distant future will be automatic with a push of a button on the wrist kind of Spider-Man style but cooler.
	The Predator Arm Computer: This is a fun little project that has two opposite opening hinges. The finished version is below the Wire frame and has many blinking red LED's and can go for over 2 weeks flashing without a battery change (I've tested it). Its really comfortable and is extremely easy to open and close with my own devised locking hinge. I like this and hope to add sounds next time, if I ever decide to remake the costumes props. I've been asked how I made this computer. Well take one wire frame, mix in a little soft foam for comfort and a little cardboard, and stir in a bit of papermache and you have the creation of the computer without the lights. If you want lights add a dash of blinking LED's to the mix and presto!!!
	The Plasma Cannon: This piece was fun to do. As you probably know the Predator's make their own weaponry so no two plasma cannons are alike. Mine was made out of several different toys and broken pieces that I painstakingly searched all over for and when I got them all together I treated it as a puzzle and found where and which ones fit the best to the base model of my cannon.
	The Plasma Pistol: This also was an interesting project. I found a laser tag gun at the salvation army. With this base model I removed parts of the pistol and added other pieces to it from a star trek model ship. Another modification I did to this pistol was that I switched the electronic components inside it and increased the speaker size. It now makes more realistic sounds which at best, sounds like a laser pistol powering up and then releasing the full power of its energy. I also put a red LED light in the nozzle to flash when it fired, just for looks.
	The Predator's Pelvic Armour: This is the Belt and Pelvic Armour I made. It is constructed from basic materials which I have all listed in this section of making this costume. The process took an entire day and was inspired by renaissance scale male armor.
	The Predator's Net Launcher: This is an interesting piece that was part of the predators equipment. Its the Net Launcher. It was kind of fun looking around the shop for things that resembled pieces to this costume accessory.
	The Predator's Skin: This was a fascinating process where I had to airbrush my Lycra Unitard that I sewed up from a pattern. The suits original color is a light ivory. The rest of the colors are a blend of "black, brown, red tan, yellow tan and red brown." I mixed them in one jar and watered them down for a more absorbent effect and quality since Lycra doesn't take well to paints. The mannequin its on that is hanging from the rafters is called a "Duct Tape Mannequin" which is shown on my costumes link previous to this page.
	Predator tryouts: This is my first tryout in the predator suit and Boy is it in need of more color. I need to also make my gloves and feet as well as a few accessories before the week is up. So far though it looks decent enough. I've been airbrushing this Lycra suit with watered down acrylic paints. I don't know what to airbrush it with otherwise but it seems to hold well enough.
	Suit Test 2: This suit is in its second test phase with a new airbrushing layer and Lycra gloves as well as a couple of details added to spice it up a bit. The gloves are airbrushed with the same paints as the body and the claws are custom made. Notice The Leather and Steel Spiked Rings on all ten fingers. Now that would hurt anybody who got hit *grins*. Notice the bone nexklace? The bone necklace is actually made of bone from a Ball Python, Tamen Gecko and leg bones from a road kill squirrel.
	Predator Staff: This is my Predator Staff. The Staff is made of cardboard tubes of 2 sizes 1/4" and 3/4" of which I glued together and added a foam grip with additional cardboard accent.
	Predator Suit Finished: I am finally done! The costume was awesome and unfortunately for me very Cold since it was 60 something degrees that night! I went to the Casino in Lake County and I got 5th place but thats because I didn't walk around. I basically got stuck at the tables where the food was LOL! The music was also way too loud so i had to go into the hall way which was my next mistake on not being seen by the judges. My fault but hey I had FUN! I also found out that on Saturday the Newspaper in that region had chosen only to print the parade and one costumer in the casino. That person in costume was me! When I saw that I was in the paper my eyes nearly popped out of my head. It was great to see that I was noticed by the paper as well as several other people in the area. Including a band called "DubbleFunkCrunch" who put my costume on their web site! Very Cool! :)
	"Tom Clemens", a friend of mine from work is a really good Photoshop artist and was able to take a picture of me and superimpose it onto a forest like background. Thanks bud!