Costuming

I love costuming, whether it's for the stage or otherwise, and I've put together some favorites that I wear for different events:

I regularly attend Renaissance festivals, and created my own Knight's costume - to include "knitting" my own chain mail. The lion design and colors are my family's Coat of Arms.

I've always loved the movie Ghostbusters, and thought it would be fun to build my own Proton Pack replica. And as long as I was building one, I figured I'd might as well build several (with help from friends, including Mr. Miller from school) so that those friends and I could all wear them together. It took three years, plus a few additional years to build ghost traps, goggles, and a PKE meter (all with working light effects), but I'm now ready to bust some ghosts!

The costume and gear are all movie-exact (well, except when I've swapped the tip of the gun out with a silly-string shooter as is visible in the middle photo here), and I've won several costume contests with them. I met Ghostbusters actor/co-writer Dan Akroyd when he was in town a few years ago, and he was gracious enough to add his signature of approval to the equipment (as seen in the photo on the right).

I belong to a Star Wars costuming group called the 501st Legion. In addition to working with Lucasfilm by making appearances at various conventions and movie premieres, we do a lot of work for charities such as Toys for Tots fund drives and children’s hospital visits.

This photo was taken at one of the national Star Wars conventions. I'm in there somewhere...

There are thousands of 501st members worldwide, with over 100 in Texas. The Houston/Clear lake area has over a dozen active members.

The left and middle photos here were taken during one of our visits to the Texas Children's Hospital, one of our favorite charities. We visit there from time to time to hand out toys and cheer up the kids a bit. The photo on the right is from a walk we did at University of Houston Clear Lake, raising money for juvenile diabetes.

In addition to the stormtrooper armor, I also have the black costume for a TIE Fighter Pilot. It's a lot more comfortable to wear, and is easier to pack if traveling by air. Sometimes I'll wear the Stormtrooper armor to an event and loan the Pilot's gear to a friend that might want to come along. That's the case in this picture, taken at a Safety Fair at Mall of the Mainland (Texas City). I'm in the Stormtrooper armor, but my students will have to guess who's in the Pilot gear. Here's some hints: it's someone from school, and his classroom door has a sticker of the Imperial Symbol (visible here on the Pilot's shoulder and helmet).

In December of 2007 we were asked to help the ABC television station in Dallas film a bit for a show they were putting together called "The Photographers". It featured articles about the different people at the studio and what their job entailed. The last time I checked it was still available here on Youtube, and Star Wars fans will definitely want to take a look. See if you can guess which one is me...

If you are interested in more information about the 501st Legion, then you can visit their main website here, or you can go to the website for the Star Garrison (the local branch) here.