Homemade Edward Scissorhands Costume

Edward Scissorhands is a popular Halloween movie character beloved and recognizable for the long, sharp garden shears he has for his hands. This is my costume of choice and my entry to a Halloween 2012 costume contest at my workplace. The key here is to create an easy and inexpensive Edward Scissorhands costume with the least amount of expenses. So, I checked out my closet to throw together an ensemble, as well as, makeup to create the sad and bewildered look. Follow me and see how I created my homemade Edward Scissorhands costume without breaking the bank.

Amazingly realistic

Instead of the long slender blades of garden shears that Edward Scissorhands displayed with dexterity, I opted for the normal everyday scissors that we are all familiar with. The pictures were printed on stock paper like the ones I used for printing my own greeting cards. All I had to do was cut these out, 3 types of scissors for each hand. There are other other high resolution pictures of scissors to choose from the link furnished below.

Website of high resolution scissors pictures

This particular pair of scissors had to be cut apart to make the blades movable. The picture on the right shows one blade separated from the other one. The second blade had to be pieced together with invisible tape with a "bridge" to completed the gap as shown. These two blades will be joined together with a button so these can open and close as shown on Step 3.

A button was sewn at the pivot point of the two blades as indicated by the circular screw. Fortunately, the size of the button matched that of the picture. The button will allow the blades to move when the handles are closed or opened. The stock paper used to print the picture of the scissors was strong enough to handle several stitches of polyester thread through the thickness of the carboard.

I used a pair of old knitted gloves to create my scissorhands. The large movable scissors (the one with the sewn on button) was placed in the center with each handle taped to the the index finger and middle finger. This will allow the scissors to open and close when the fingers are moved. The two other scissors are stationary, spread out evenly and attached with double-sided tape to the knitted glove. The high-resolution scissors pictures make them look like the real deal although much shorter than the long garden shears used by Edward Scissorhands in the movie..

I bought this pair of funky black and white pants which looked like it was wrapped with wide black duct tape. It was made well and the price was right. That is why it ended up in my closet. The proper occasion to wear this it seems was for a Halloween gig. And so this became part of my Edward Scissorhands costume instead of the black leather pants which was worn in the movie.

Basic black is a must in everyone's wardrobe

A black velour turtleneck top was called for the gothic look. Any black turtleneck top will do to mimic the high collared jacket worn by Edward.

Ankle boots with side buckles was what I chose to wear instead of the knee-high boots. The taller boots would mean that the crosshatched patterned pants have to been tucked inside the boots. This would defeat the purpose of displaying the abstract design of the pants.

Throw in a Western touch

Instead of straps of metal buckles adorning the black leather jacket as worn by Edward Scissorhands in the movie, this black denim jacket with some metal ornaments was the best I can come up with. Improvising for a Halloween costume has always been fun to do.

Edward Scissorhands' crowning glory

The only wig that was available at the local drugstore was this rock star frizzy wig which has the unkempt look of Edward Scissorhands. It was marked down to $5.50 so I was sold. The side strands of hair were a bit long, but these could easily be remedied by tying back the long tresses at the back into a ponytail.

A wig cap is advisable to be used before putting on the wig. I fitted the cap over my head (it looks like a very short and rounded knee-hi stocking) and tucked in my long hair inside. This worked very well instead of using hairpins. Two wig caps can be purchased for $1 at the dollar store.

YouTube tutorials helped a lot

I used this palette of eyeshadow makeup to use on my face and eyes to try to get the sad, forlorn look. Since I did not have a white foundation to get the pale ghostly look, smearing grayish white eyeshadow all over my face did the trick. Shades of brown were used to get the sunken look around the eyes. Black eyeliner was used to create the small puckered lips.