This is a basic tutorial on how I built this Jawa. Of course there are many ways to do it and there are also several other good tutorials on the web. I will give the basic procedure I used to construct mine. Some of the materials may be hard to get so you might have to improvise depending on what is available particularly when it comes to the fabric. Once you have read through this you can get answers to specific questions on the Jawa forum where there are already over 100 posts on making the costume.
I constructed the frame partially out of wood to make the Jawa more stable so he can hold an Ion Gun without falling over. The Ion Gun weighs about as much as the whole Jawa! The most difficult part to construct is the head. I used a foam head to mold a paper mache shell. I wrapped the head in cloth and then used wall paper paste and paper strips to wrap the head. I slit the back open after it was dry to pull the foam head out and was left with a holow shell.
The frame is constructed as seen here using the wood and PVC pipe and fittings. The sizes vary but I made my Jawa about 40" tall. Any shorter and his gun would drag on the floor!
This is how the frame is padded. I slid the pipe insulation over the arms and shoulders. As far as the hands go I originally used wire with vinyl tubing over it for the fingers which works relatively well.
The hemispheres need to have several light coats of the yellow paint sprayed on the inside. Be careful not to put the coats on too thick or you will get runs. Figure out how to mount your flashlight housing into the hemispheres. Mine friction fit but you might have to make a bracket of some kind. Cut two holes for the assemblies a bit below where human eyes would be.. Then glue a piece of leather dyed black for the face and wrap the head in black cloth glued on with more wallpaper paste. At the neck is a fitted a circle of wood with a hole for the PVC pipe to insert into which holds the head on. You will need to wire up the eyes and get a battery box with the appropriate voltage. If you wire the bulbs in parallel and they are 3V then you will need a 2 cell holder, if they are 6 and parallel then a 4 cell holder. They bulbs use up batteries quickly so I am thinking about switching to large LED's or perhaps a plug in transformer.
The next big hurdle is the robes. I used a Ralph Lauren blanket that needed to be dyed. These are hard to find but have similar patterns to the movie version. The most important thing is to get a fabric that frays nicely. The robe is a simple tunic shape which is sewn up the sides and shoulders. The hood is sewn up the back and the front folded over a metal wire with a black inner lining.
The bandoliers are British Enfield 5 pocket which were used in ANH and Swedish bandoliers were used in TPM. I also made a custom belt with holster for the gun. It has 3 pouches I found at a surplus store a long time ago that are attached to a snap on strap similar to the ANH Jawas.
