Introduction: Frozen T1000 Costume
Brrrrr, *clap clap* It's cold in here! There Must be some Liquid Nitrogen int he Atmosphere! *clap clap*
Don't be fooled! Despite the icy look this was actually a very warm costume to wear in Florida. Hence the shorts, for me. But in addition too being deceptively cold..........this costume is actually deceptively SIMPLE. It's just about layering up the frost on the different parts of the costume. Cost wise, this can be very cheap or on the more expensive side, depending on where you get your clothing pieces from. If you're looking to save money, don't leave this costume to the last min. Finding many of these items at thrift stores will take some time, so plan head for shopping time. Once you have all your materials, it's just a few hours to a half a day for the Frostification!
Supplies
Costume:
Motorcycle Half Helmet
Aviator Sunglasses
Bomber Jacket Pants/Shorts
Boots
Police Shirt
Police costume accessories
Materials:
Epoxy Glue
Painters tape
White Spray Paint
Silver Glitter Spray
Spray Adhesive
Fake Snow Spray/ Frost Spray
White paint Toothbrush/Bristle brush
Glitter Powder
Kosher Salt and Sugar and/or Decorative coarse white sand
Makeup:
Pale Concealer
Grey eyeshadow
White facepaint
ICE FX makeup kit OR Spirit Gum/Ice Cream Salt/Kosher Salt/Sugar
Step 1: Copify Your Helmet
For obvious reasons, you can't just go out and buy a LAPD motorcycle helmet. I'm very particular and wanted to get the exact look from the movie. If you're not picky at all, there are some police helmets sold as costume items, but if you want to keep the movie look, you'll need to either find a motorcycle helmet second hand, or buy one.
I ended up purchasing a brand new helmet and it was the most expensive item for this costume. Like i said in the intro, your cost savings will come down to the luck of the search and how much time you're willing to look.
Once you have your helmet, it's time to Customize! I was unable to find a black and white helmet, so I decided to paint the black on myself. I chose to use FlexSeal (Plasti Dip) for a couple reasons. 1. I already had it. 2. It instantly stuck to the plastic and I didn't need to worry about paint chipping off, or priming the paint.
It's really up to you how you want to paint your helmet. The FlexSeal gave it a bumpy textured finish which I liked, because it helped with the "frozen" look.
The police badge was just the flattest costume badge I could find. Depending on the size you may want to carefully use a heat gun to bend the badge a little, and have it sit better on the curve of the helmet.
The badge I used was small enough that it sat well as it was. I used plenty of epoxy to make sure there was a secure hold. Don't use too much, or it will ooze out the sides of the badge and look less professional.
P.S. Expoxy smells like farts.
Step 2: Copify Your Jacket!
I was fortunate to find a jacket, that looked similar to the bomber jacket in the movie, at the second hand store. However, it was a bit at the last min, so I didn't have time to track down the police type patches or create any of my own.
The only copification my jacket got, was the plastic police badge that came with the police costume accessories from Party City.
Hard Core cosplayers or replica costume creators should be able to embroider the exact patches and symbols from the movie themselves. However, you can find similar enough looking patches on amazon, or other stores. It's all going to be covered in frost for the most part, it's just a matter of how movie accurate you want to be. If you wish to Purchase replica patches you can do so here:
https://www.bonanza.com/listings/Los-Angeles-polic...
EXTRA STEP FOR PEOPLE IN FLORIDA (or other hot areas):
This Halloween it was 90 degrees with 91% humidity in Florida, so the whole winter coat was an issue. The first thing I did was rip out the inner lining of the sleeves. I didn't get around to the torso of the coat, because i was worried about losing some of the shape of the jacket. But if you are in a hot area, or want to make something like this for a convention, where the amount of people can heat up the space, definitely consider sewing in some vents in the torso, or be more careful about trying to remove lining where you can. I do not personally know how to sew, but there may be additional ways to cool down a jacket, if you research or ask a seamstress.
Since the jacket was still very hot, I bought a police shirt to wear under it. It meant having to frost effect an additional costume piece, and cover my arms and chest in frost make up as well, but it did allow me to keep the front of the jacket open, or take it off at times. Having the jacket open instead of closed helped considerably, I would recommend the iced police shirt underneath to make sure you have this option.
Step 3: Starch the Fabrics
For the most part Frosting everything is the exact same process for props an costumes...........EXCEPT FOR THIS ONE STEP! If you have fabrics you want to be a little stiffer for that frozen look, add on some fabric starch!
Starch it up!
Step 4: Spray Paint
Next take any white spray paint and give it a nice DUSTING of the paint. Simply spray from a distance and stop when everything is a nice grey color. It does not need to be perfectly even,
For the shirts and jacket, make sure on all these steps, you pull up the sleeves and get the underside of the armpits and other areas that block the spray paint. You can even hang the items upside down to make sure you get coating everywhere.
Step 5: Splatter Paint
This step is optional, but important if you are looking for this costume to be longer lasting and for the "frost" to not rub off.
Any white acrylic paint will work, but for the most realistic look, you'll want to mix the white with a pearly sheen, or possibly even glitter powder so that it glistens on the costume. Frost is very sparkly.
With a toothbrush or a bristle paint brush, flick the paint in tiny droplets all over the costume. If you've never used this technique before, practice on something until you can get a fine mist instead of large globs of paint. The more speed and force you use the finer the mist. If you're getting too many large spots or globs, you're putting too much paint on the brush.
Step 6: Snow/Frost Spray
If it's getting close to Christmas time, there should be fake sprayable snow/frost available at basic stores. If not, I found my snow spray on Amazon.
Unlike spray paint, it's best to use this in short burts so you have more control of how much snow is coming out. You don't want to coat anything too heavily with it, or it will look more SNOWY and lest ICED. But it does give some nice texture and is an easy touch up.
Let it dry overnight to harden. touching the snow while wet will rub it off.
Advantages: Easy, quick
Disadvantages: It rubs off the easiest. If you're costume is going to be touched a lot or you want to reuse it....make sure you're putting plenty of sealer on top and letting it dry before adding more coats of sealer. This will be the same advice I give you in the next step, depending on your choice of "ice"
Also, over time snow spray can start to "yellow". If this is something you want to use for more than one year in a row, perhaps for repeated cons you could look into using the same snow powder they use for flocking christmas trees. Here is a link on how to flock a christmas tree: https://www.lovelyetc.com/diy-flocked-christmas-tr...
If you want to stick with the FROST and not the SNOW look long term skipping this step is an option.
Step 7: Be a Little Salty
Ok, this step has a couple of options.
Let's start with which glue you want to use. For something quick and easy, spray adhesive will cover large areas evenly, and hold the ice mixture well enough. However, depending on the wear and tear you plan on putting into the outfit, you may want to opt for fabric or tacky glue brushed onto the fabric or prop. This will hold much better, but it will take a lot longer and may not end up as even in spots. It might be good to get most of the costume with the spray adhesive, with the areas that rub the most treated with the stronger glue. Remember, the ice mixture will go on much thicker in the areas with the thicker glue.
Onto the ICE options. I ended up trying both on different nights.
Mixture 1: Kosher Salt, Ice Cream Salt, sugar, glitter powder.
The great thing about the salt and sugar is how realistically frosty it makes the costume looks! Ice cream salt is big and chunky and can be broken with a hammer to make medium sized crystals. The Kosher salt shows up the best out of the three, and I used sugar lightly, because it was so fine and too much would have taken away the texture.
HOWEVER. There is a very real downside to using these materials.......i'm sure you can guess what it is.......Salt and sugar DISSOLVES when it gets wet. The fun part is, you don't even need to get rained or spilled on. As i mentioned.....IT WAS NINETY ONE PERCENT HUMIDITY Halloween week!!! At this point, there was so much moisture in the air my costume started acting the way the mirror does when you take a hot shower. My costume started to LITERALLY melt. It looked very defrosted by the end of the night.
HOWEVER: this was unique to where i lived. Chances are, in a cooler, dryer place or inside, this mixture will hold up fine and look great. Just make sure to add light layers of sealer. Don't spray too close to the salt or the sealer itself will dissolve the mixture. Just light layers, repeated, until you feel you've protected it. I used ModgePodge sealer but scotch guard will work also....Maybe try both. The more layers of sealer the better.
Mixture 2: White Decorative sand COARSE, Hermit crab white sand, crushed clear beads, glitter powder.
After the first weekend in the costume, I knew I was going to need something a bit more waterproof. Unfortunately I was rushed during the weekdays and never was able to find a Coarse white sand. It would work just as well as a replacement for the Kosher salt if you can get it. The hermit crab sand would replace the sugar because it's much finer. Theoretically you could create larger looking plastic crystals by crushing up clear beads.....the beads I found however, were unrealistically strong and refused to break even after being struck with a hammer! That's why this option is a bit harder, because finding the right materials is more like a scavenger hunt, where you have to keep your eye open to find something that might work.
ONCE YOU PICK YOUR OPTIONS
it's simple. Add Glue- Dump mixture. Shake off the excess and let dry. TAHDAH!
From a Distance, Spray the final product with a layer of Glitter Spray! You can't be sparkly enough when you're frozen!
Step 8: MAKEUP!
Now that your costume is done, let's focus on the main event.....YOU!
We're essentially doing the same steps as the props/costumes but with makeup materials.
***Please don't use acrylic paint, the snow or frost spray, or any spray adhesive on your skin. Glitter spray or powder should be the kind specifically designed for makeup use.***
STEPS WITHIN STEPS
Step 1: Find the palest concealer you can. Concealer will work better than foundation as it has better coverage and will last longer.....and we're not exactly trying to look natural. Coat the entire face and any part of the body that will be exposed. Blend with a brush or sponge to reduce streaking.
***NOTE: For anyone with dark skin, this step should be skipped. Ideally it would look best to lightly dust the face with white airbrush makeup, but if you don't own an airbrush, that's ok. Contour instead with a dark navy color and double up on step 3 with the white splatter. Brush over the face with a white glitter powder before applying the ice effects.***
Step 2: Contour. Basic contour on the jawline, temples and sides of the face can be done with grey eyeshadow. It's not necessary to go to dark, just enough to give your face it's shape back after washing the whole thing out with the pale concealer.
Step 3: Splatter paint. With a toothbrush you want to continue the same technique as earlier. But instead of acrylic paint you want to use a water based body/face paint. Grease face paint usually sold in party stores will not work for this. I recommend Paradise bodypaint in white. Mix the water and paint until the paint is fairly thick. Flick paint on to any exposed skin. Dust with glitter powder.
Step 4: ICE FX. Ice FX is a simple ice makeup kit you can buy for about $30. It's convenient in the sense that the ice crystals and powder they include won't dissolve off your face. However the Gel does start to peel if it's on a part of the face that is moving a lot (mouth) or sweats a lot (forehead). So just be aware of that. If you don't have the money or time to get this kit, you can use Spirit Gum in place of the gel. Spirit gum is much stickier (make sure to buy the spirit gum remover) and harder to get off, but it won't peel and is more flexible. It really comes down to choice.
Step 5: Crystals. PRESS don't dust the larger crystal pieces into the gel/spirit gum. If you're not using the ICE FX crystals and powder, either of the 2 mixtures used on the costumes will be safe for your face. Be aware, salt and sugar will dissolve if you sweat. The salt looks very good, but if you have areas you know will sweat, avoid using it there, and perhaps substitute the sand in that spot instead.
CLEAN UP! The ICE FX comes off very easy with warm water. However, you should use a warm cloth or paper towel to get off all the crystals and avoid all those tiny plastics from going down the drain and messing up your plumbing/making it to our water systems.
THE ICE FX is what I used for the glasses as well. The gel stuck to the plastic really well, but some of the larger crystals needed to be glued with tacky glue. You'll want to be more precise with the glasses, because you don't want the ice fx blocking too much of your view. The nice thing about the gel, is that it dries see through. You want to keep most of the middle of the lens clear.
Step 9: Extra: Frozen Broken Hand
I was running out of time so when i created the broken hand I went with simple and quick.
Step 1: PRINGLES CAN! Fits most hands.
Step 2. Cover the can in EVA foam.
Step 3: Create 2 or three disks of foam to stick on top of each other on the end.
Step 4: Cut and stab with a box cutter until the end looks broken
Step 5: Seal with Plasti Dip
Step 6: Spray paint with aluminum colored paint
Step 7: Apply the same frost effects you did for the rest of the props.
STEP 8: MOST IMPORTANT STEP! DO. NOT. FORGET. YOUR PROP HAND AT HOME! And for sure, don't forget it EVERY TIME! I don't have any pictures with the fake hand because I forgot to grab it each night i went out. If you plan on forgetting it, please skip this step.
Step 10: Cleanup and Storage
This costume is AWESOME, but it's also kind of messy.
No matter how well you glued everything, some of the ice mixture is going to shake off as you wear it. If you are riding in a car, bring a towel or sheet to cover the seats. It's not going to stain anything, but you may have to vacuum your car afterwards. Avoid as much mess as you can, by shaking the costume thoroughly to get off any unglued sand/ice/sugar before putting the costume on.
Depending on how much the costume sheds during wear, you may want to refresh it upon re-wears with some more glue and ice mixtures. It's up to you.
Store inside plastic bags to avoid any mess in your closet. I wrapped the hanging pieces in trashbags and the rest of the props are simply stored in plastic bags.
Step 11: Go Be Awesome. Prepare to Take Lots of Photos!
Strut your stuff! The cool thing about this costume, it naturally pulls you into the character. There's just something about the awesome helmet and glasses that makes you walk tougher, and straighter.
Even with the heat and humidity I had a great time and this has been one of my favorite costumes I've ever done!