Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, our daughter was terribly sick from a flu and was relegated to basically lying in front of the television. We had watched nearly every kid’s movie imaginable already. It was my birthday, and I had just gotten the entire Star Wars series on blu-ray. I wondered…is New Hope too “grownup” for a robot-loving kid? I asked her if she was interested in a movie about robots and outer space. She said yes…
And that was where her love of C3PO began.
Funnily enough, C3PO was my favorite as a kid, too. (When had I painted our Munny family portraits well before her discovery, you may notice I was C-3PO.) Yes, R2 was funny and silly and snarky, but you wouldn’t really know what his beeps & whistles meant without the other half of the conversation. 3PO was silly and personable and charming. And our daughter developed a “crush” of sorts on him. All you’d need to do is say “Oh deah!” in that dainty little accent, and she’d giggle tremendously, as if she had just been spoken to by a movie star. This meant that she would often ask ME to pretend to be C3PO, which I didn’t usually mind doing (even in the grocery store).
When she asked for a doll, I decided to scour the internet for one I might make, and came across the idea to make one from a wooden artist’s figure model. Once painted and presented, he brought lots of kid-smiles.
I made her a shirt with sharpies.
I made her (by request) what turned out to be one of the (unintentionally) creepiest dolls I’ve made. (C-3PO doesn’t work well as a soft doll, we found out. But she liked him anyway.)
I appliqued a shirt.
And she even made her own C-3PO shrinky dinks and drawings.
So this year, when it came to Halloween costume choices, she had one request from the get-go: she wanted to be C-3PO. Now if you’ve seen the pre-made costumes online, they look pretty goofy. So I decided to get abstract with this, and see if we could pull it off cosplay-style.
Since I didn’t want her face to be covered completely, I cut up a gold plastic craft store mask. I had seen all these awesome online tutorials about how to build your own cardboard armor, so I built up a chestplate and back with cardboard, masking tape, and paperclay (which is super fun stuff). When it dried, I sanded it and painted it gold. I got a black bodysuit, and used fabric glue to tack on little pieces of gold “plating” to the arms.
I got a super cheapo set of kid’s elbow, wrist, and kneepads and painted them gold. Got a pair of gold dance leggings for kids, to which, after putting them on for the first time, my daughter exclaimed, “Oooh! These feel soft to my legs!” 
A pair of costume glasses spraypainted gold (with stripes on the eyes–she was VERY insistent that it have stripey eyes), and BOOM! We have a funky C-3PO costume.
So there you have it! Yes, it’s strange. And yes, it’s unusual. But you know, it was fun to make and she ABSOLUTELY LOVES it. She walked around with her arms stiff, saying “Oh DEAH!” Hopefully it’s at least a step above the storemade ones, and passable enough that people won’t make fun of her while she walks by (because if they do, they can expect my momma banshee to come out).
I was going to try maybe a little brown pullover and get by as a Jedi, but she asked if I could be R2 with her. Oh lord! I guess if she’s willing to go all out, I should too. But I think I might go a LIIIIIIITTLE simpler on mine. 🙂
busy mockingbird 
So awesome! I can’t believe you not only came up with a costume, but this is amazing!
Love the glasses, kind of steampunk junior.
Adorable
both of you !
You did a fantastic job! Good for you… hope she has a wonderful time trick or treating and stealing all the attention!
You have to be the BEST Mom in the galaxy!
Ah, thank you so much! I have a “sith side,” too, but I do my best!
This is the best costume ever! So impressed by her love of Star Wars and your mad skills.
I love it!
AWESOME!! I wish I had kids just so I could do this!
As a fan of dressing up myself…fantastic!!
That is so nice!!!
I adore the arts and crafts you do with your daughter. This costume is brilliant. It’s incredibly refreshing to read stories of how you use art to help your daughter express herself. C3PO is so rad. Her good taste is impeccable… for any age!
Amazing! Looks like a great costume to me and no proper scifi nerd will EVER make fun of someone’s handmade costume. Ever. Never ever. If someone does, tell them that I said so.
And as for that wooden artist’s figure doll, that’s just so brilliant that I think I will rip off your idea, if you don’t mind. I’ve had one of those dolls for years just collecting dust and waiting for something to happen and this is it! I want to have my own C-3PO!
I would hope not! And feel free to make your own–I got the idea from someone on etsy who does something similar!
You give Hope that a Creative Empire exists…at home. Create a Better Alliance by being You. Avoid all things creepy and Dark. Live what you do. Moms are The Force…keep it within you.
Love it! Thanks!
With you is the force. So proud your daughter must be!
Fabulous! You are very talented and your daughter looks adorable in her one of a kind costume.
Love the backstory and the costume. Great job!
That’s super! You are a really inspiring mother, involving your daughter in so many wonderful crafts.
I love all the C3PO stuff you made! You guys are so awesome 🙂
Without question this should be filed under “Parenting: you’re doing it right.”
That’s soooooooooo cute!! I love the little wooden figure model 🙂
So great! Has she seen ESB? I wonder what she would think of C3PO being dismantled. Along those lines, though, hubby could be Chewbacca & carry her on his back! XD
She didn’t mind that–she DID have a problem with the droids being “tortured” in Jabba’s dungeons, though!
How cute! All of those crafty websites are great for ideas but when you add your own twist, personal touch, you create memories. Something your daughter, and you, will always remember. Happy Halloween!
You are so creative and so clever and C3PO is the icing on the cake. Our pastor used as a sermon your blog of when your daughter began messing w/your sketches – had those fabulously crazy pics on our wall. I just sent this post to a bunch of friends and told them to join up! I particularly love your photo of you giving yourself a tat. Your little dolly is soooo lucky to have you for mama – and I know you feel the same. Peace!
What fun! I really miss making tiny little costumes. I made several for my son when he was little. He’s 25 now. His favorite, which he wore as pajamas for a long time, was Max from Where the Wild Things Are. Great job. Now I have to look up paperclay and make myself some armor. Just because.
OH! So awesome! I made my daughter a Max costume last year! She had asked and asked to be Max, until I made the costume, and finished it and she said, “Oh, nevermind. I want to be a bee.” Uh…no, kid. You’re Max. 🙂 She loved it, though!
That’s great. 🙂 A bee costume – would- be adorable!! Your daughter sounds like a lot of fun. I love your collaborations. I put one of your prints “Into the Storm” on my wish-list. Love that piece!
Here’s my son’s Max costume.
http://jerryrussell-illustration.blogspot.com/search/label/Fun%20Stuff
Made a little iron on patch with a painting of Max the King. I still have the costume around here somewhere, I think.
Love how you did her mask! How did you keep it on her head? Did you glue it to the glasses? Or attach it some other way?
It’s one of those masks with a little elastic band around it–I just cut it in half. Thanks!
Useful info. Fortunate me I discovered your website by accident, and I’m stunned why this accident did not came about in advance!
I bookmarked it.