Spring, MO StL's Official Costuming thread!!

Hugs to all! Thanks for the ego boost!

PS--I think I'm going to be debuting Visas at the Springfield St. Pat's Day Parade this Saturday!!

 

Cool Susan! Make sure to post pics. How are you going to be in parade with?

 

I think Norm posted about the parade over on the Springfield FF boards. Right now, of course, it's a bunch of Springfield 501st and FF people, but I think Eric Wickes, Chris and Bernadette Adams, and B and myself are making up the non-Springfield contingent.

The parade starts at 2 pm. Here's the site for it-- www.springfieldstpatsparade.org

Come on down, y'all. Everyone is welcome!

 

Sounds like fun Susan! I spend St. Patricks day with my family. If you couldn't tell by fair skin and freckles I'm Irish. LOL! Have fun and take lots of pics!


Would anyone be interested in getting together soon to do some costuming?

 

Sounds like so much fun!! Enjoy yourselves!

 

Speaking of costuming soon, I've got to come up with an idea for my TIE Pilot. I'm going to be in Series 7 of the 501st trading cards and don't want to really do the "Hi, I'm may be dressed up but I'm just standing here" cards...lol

I've got til June (at least) to come up with something. Maybe I'll have a cool idea if I troop on Free Comic Book Day.

 

Steel, that sounds really cool! I am not really familiar with it though. Are they trading cards and you have to have some kind of background/history to your character? Fill us in more, maybe we can help.

 

I'm sure some might have a little "back story" for your character, but most of them just give some info about the "person behind the mask". Events trooped, other costumes, things like that. Here's a link to the second series, loads up 50 pics, so it may take a bit to load on dial-up.

Click Me

Its always fun to give them to kids at events.

 

Those are cool!

 

I picked up some stuff to make the vest for my pilot today, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Dajuan, any recommendations? Did you use dowel rods? Anyone have reference pictures? Etc...

I'm also looking at making a twi-lek. I've picked up the stuff to make the lekku and a headpiece. I'm going to try the stuffed leggings method that many others have, and then cover it with liquid latex. I'll post pictures as I try it.

 

Jon,
Let me know how the latex over the hose works. I plan to re-do Shaak Ti this summer using the slush latex method. I am a little intimidated by the whole process, but think I can do it. It just might take a few tries.

 

Pilot's almost done! I just need to do the belt and make some food capsules (I assume that's what the things on the belt and boots are supposed to be) and I'll finished! It looks great so far except that the hose keeps falling off. Gir. I need a longer one.

I also started putting together my Rebel Trooper helmet today. It would be much easier if I could find the right sized drill bits. Hopefully when my dad gets home, he'll know where some are and I can finish that helmet tonight too.

Leash: As for the latex, I've run into a problem. As the latex is drying, it cannot touch any other part of itself or it will tend to stick together. You can pull it apart, but in places down the tentacles, it tended to bunch up and doesn't look all that great.

If you're doing Shaak Ti, you might not have as much of a problem since those aren't quite so close together as the lekku are. Another thing I'm not too happy with is that it's not quite as opaque as I'd like. I've only put on two coats and have enough for 2-3 more, so I think it might work out okay, but at this point, it's too soon to tell. I'm still debating whether or not to scrap it since it's bunched in some places.

 

Jon,
post some pics asap of the pilot and the rebel trooper helmet when you finish.

What type of latex did you use? I am going to be doing a process called slush latex. You make a positive out of clay (sculpture), then you make a negative out of plaster, then you pour in latex (mask making latex) and "slush" it around. From what I have read so far you need to do four to six layers. I am fine with trying this method, but it has been suggested to me that I will need around 2 gallons of the mask making latex and it is around $40.00 a gallon. So, I just don't want to screw up. I found a great forum though with all kinds of mask making pro and amatuers willing to help. Will you be home this summer? Maybe we can try this together. Anyone else wanting to do a Twilek or other alien??? I just need some moral support really. LOL!

http://www.theeffectslab.com/forums/index.php?sid=cae1cf75180c35ebacd1b85df5d08a8e

 

I'm using some paint on liquid latex from an *ahem*adult*ahem* store. PM me if you want the site of the brand. It's not quite family friendly.

I think that if it weren't on such a porous surface (the leggings right on top of stuffing) it would be much better. I might try to put a bit of paper mache in the next day or two and see what it's like painted on there.

I will be home this summer, and if this method doesn't work out for me, I'd definately look into the slush latex method. I was just hoping to avoid having to make plaster negatives and all that. However, if I must, then that's the way it goes. I do want a really nice alien though. Twi'lek's seems simple to start with, but eventually, I wouldn't mind making a Rodian or some more interesting species.

 

Jon,
I have a great store near me that sells the stuff you are speaking of, but thanks. LOL!
It will probably adhere to the paper mache, but it still might be slighty porous. Let me know how it goes. I am interested in trying it.

Let me know when you are home from school, maybe you can give me moral support and we can learn together even if you decide not to do an alien right away. A Rodian would be cool btw!

 

Newspaper will probably be somewhat porous still, but the holes between the weave aren't nearly as large as with leggings. A lot of the latex ended up going straight through!

I think with paper mache, since the weave of newspaper is much tighter, and you also have the glue to fill the holes somewhat, that not so much will be wasted.

Unfortunately, lekku need to be more flexible which is why paper mache won't work for them, but it might work for your Shaak Ti since that's more rigid.

Either way, getting together to do something this summer sounds fun. One of my friends and I are wanting to do an X-wing fan film this summer, and to save on getting the helmets, we're going to try to make at least one or two aliens that just can't wear helmets, hence the sudden burst of energy over break to get my pilot done and try a Twi'lek!

I'm all dressed up nice right now because my family's taking me out to dinner, but when I come home, I'll try to get some pictures of everything thus far.

 

Yeah, I wondered about latex over material. There has to be some kind of fabric that would work. One person I read used polyfoam, cut it to size, hotglued the seams & then used latex over that. Another person used styrofoam. Though I love my paper mache', I am dying to try the mask latex. So, if all else fail I can fall back on good ole paper mache'. LOL! Sorry, I misunderstood and thought you meant you were going to see if the liquid latex would work over paper mache', just as a test of how it would work.

Well I will plan for some costuming fun this summer then. Yay!!! LOL! Can't wait to see the pics!

 

I want in on a costuming day, but at this point I don't have anything that doesn't involve a sewing machine. LOL

Well, except my new saber. And Tom already told me to have 911 speed dialed into my phone. LOL

 

I just bought my own sewing machine in order to finish the rebel pilot.

Dajuan, I empathize on the flak vests. Bah! I've got the material to make a bunch more, which is good, because I'm already unhappy with mine. It looks good, but of course, we're our own worst nitpickers!

Anyway, I promised pictures of the various things I've been working on, so here we go!

First off my (nearly) finished pilot:

[image=http://s94958815.onlinehome.us/StarWars/costuming/rebelpilot/finished1.jpg][image=http://s94958815.onlinehome.us/StarWars/costuming/rebelpilot/finished2.jpg]

Obviously (at least to those of you who did one), there's a few thigns missing:
The utility belt
Boots (I cropped out me wearing sandals)
Glove extentions
A hose that's long enough and flexible enough to not just stick out stupidly.

But for now, it's pretty good.

Next up my WIP Rebel Trooper Helmet:

[image=http://s94958815.onlinehome.us/StarWars/costuming/rebeltrooper/1.jpg][image=http://s94958815.onlinehome.us/StarWars/costuming/rebeltrooper/2.jpg]

I never realized quite how stupid these helmets looked until I started getting this one together...

And now, after keeping Leash in suspense, a ton of pictures of the lekku. To go easy on you 56k's I'll link to these ones since they're not as interesting.

Here's a shot of them just laying on the ground. You can already see some major flaws: There's some rather massive wrinkles, as well as duct tape showing through that I used to try to keep the stuffing from being lumpy.

Here's them on my head. Looks pretty stupid, but I don't think they'll look too bad from that angle once I put on the leather head band to hide the seam.

Same thing from the side. This angle is looking at the one that I wrapped all the stuffing in duct tape in. It doesn't look nearly as good as the other. The duct tape tended to fold and make ugly peaks. If you try that, don't do this.

From back. The one on the left is the one with no duct tape. Looks pretty decent I think. On the right is the duct taped one and I'm not impressed.

Lekku pulled over shoulders. I think I prefer wearing them this way. It looks more twi'lekky. However, causing the extra curvature does force it to fold up more. This time, the duct tape is on the left and again, looks pretty bad. Lots of folding up. The right one is the just plain fabric and looks very nice until you get to the part behind the head where it really curves around and you get lots of folding. I don't think there's much that can be done about that though.

Same thing from duct tape side. Again, stupid folding duct tape....

Here's the reason I did duct tape the one side; Where the rolled stuffing for the lekku meets the main part, it tended to seperate. I was hoping the duct tape would avoid this gap. It did, but caused more problems in other manners.

This shows some of the sticking of the latex. Not a huge problem here but...

At the ends, where there's a bunch of excess fabric, it looks horrible.

Same thing for the seam.

That's it for the pictures. So overall, I think this method may work; It just needs a lot of thinking about things I didn't know about at all.

If I were to redo this (which I very well may), I would avoid using duct tape at all. To keep the stuffing from separating, I think sewing it lightly

 

Oh wow Jon!

Your rebel pilot looks great! What did you use to make the box?
The WIP rebel helmet looks good too.
The lekku do not look bad, though the non-duct tape one looks better. Maybe with a leather headband it will look even better. I would love to do a twilek costume too, eventually. May I ask how much the liquid latex was? You can pm me with it if you want instead of posting it. I am just wondering how much it costs compared to the mask latex.
Well if you do decide to redo the lekku you are welcome to try the mask latex slush method with me this summer too to see how that works.
Thanks for all the pics!!!

 

Do the X-Wing Pilots use the same gauntlet-style gloves that the TIE's use? If so, there are a couple of relatively cheap alternatives on this side (with a little modification needed). I think this is where I ordered my TIE gloves, way back when.

Biker Leather Go to motorcycle gloves and the gauntlets are toward the bottom.

 

The chestbox was part of the kit that came with the helmet. There's also a wrist comm that I completely forgot about till just now. I think it's buried in the bottom of my costume box. I'll have to dig that out and attach it.

The liquid latex was $25 for the jar I got, which was 1 pint (16 fl oz.) It came from Cheap Trx on Grand. Supposedly that jar can do 3 coats of the average sized human body so I figured I'd have a lot leftover since this is just a headpiece. But since the latex can seep through the leggings and is absorbed by the stuffing, it is being used up farily quickly. Perhaps if I try again, I'll try sealing the leggings first using some hair spray?

I'm not sure what the Rebel Pilots use for gloves. They're probably modified motorcycle gloves like everything else. But the ones I have are fine, they just need an extention.

 

Thanks Jon. That is the store I was thinking of. I love that store!!! LOL! The mask latex is $37.99 a gallon, but that does not include shipping. I was hoping it might of been a cheaper alternative to use the liquid latex. I am going to look into it and see if the mask latex can be painted on like the liquid latex body stuff.

 

WOW! That's impressive!

 

This is what I did today ( instead of studying)...