Lou, KY Costuming Thread!

Sweet man thanks. Ive pretty much changed my mind for now about the Clone Trooper armor though. Im gonna start with something easier. Im gonna make an Anakin Clone Wars outfit. I figure the only hard plastic pieces I need on that are the shoulder pads. Now I just need to figure out how to get molds and stuff.

 

Almost done with a Tusken Raider costume. I'll post pictures and nerdy information when it's complete.

I believe it was the great Tusken poet Neeaaarrrgghhh who said:

"Ryyaaaaaaa Raaaaaa Neaaaaaaargh!"

 

Cool. I'd really like to see how the headgear is done. I've thought about doing a A'sharad Hett costume before.

 

Because no one demanded it I give you the Zombie Rebel Fleet Trooper!

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Deathtroopers%20Booksigning%2010-20-09/083.jpg]

I thought this would be a one time costume for Joe Schreiber's Deathtrooper book signing this last week but he teased a sequel so maybe I'll be breaking this out again next year. There are some costuming lessons to be learned from this outing though.
-I had a tailor make me a new RFT shirt out of some cheap Wally World shirts. I wasn't really concerned about quality or durability since I planned to zombify it. The grey cargo pants were also a Wally World special. The problem was these clothes looked nice and bright and new and they needed to be weathered. A weathering trick is to spray a fine mist of black spray paint from a few feet away to dull the color of the material. I also put the fake liquid blood in a cheap spray bottle and sprayed that around to get a nice splatter effect. The vest is unmodifed since nothing will really show on the black anyway. I thought about bloodying up the helmet and even tested some of the fake blood on the inside where you couldn't see it (it came off with polish) but I decided you really wouldn't be able to see it unless it's from the rear so I left it off.
-The makeup was a 10 minute job I learned from a youTube tutorial. Just white face cream, some purple shadowing around the eyes and cheekbones and some fake blood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bVMr-JtyaU&feature=related
I think it turned out pretty well. Other guys had more elaborate makeup jobs with latex wounds and such but while they were still waiting for latex to dry I was already out working the bookstore crowd. They also delayed the start of the event while they applied the finishing touches to their makeup.
-A hard thing to learn to do is NOT look at the camera. I wanted a nice undead vacant look so I put a little dot on the inside of my helmet and stared up at that most of the time. Of course I was playing a slow zombie, if you're an aggressive/fast charging/snarling zombie it looks better when you look at the camera.
-And the blaster? Zombies don't use blasters? Ah..without giving too much away, in Deathtroopers they do. Hmmmm....

 

With CV happening next year you may find yourself in the market for a Star Wars costume. I'm here to tell you you can do a lot worse than Costume Base (an overseas seller on ebay). They get a lot of flak in the costuming community for not being screen accurate but in my experience they do a pretty good job for the price so I feel the need to defend them a little. Are the costumes as good as others you'll see at a con? No. But they're good enough to be be recognized as the character you're hoping to imitate and with a little work the costumes can be upgraded to acceptable levels. Their specialty is the "soft" costume parts-pants, shirts, robes, jumpsuits and uniforms but they also sell some hard parts as well. Sizing can be a problem if you don't fall within average sizes but I haven't had too much of a problem. I've bought 3 pieces from them so far...a rebel pilot jumpsuit, a Han Solo ANH costume and a "Demon Barber" vest (for a steampunk costume) and they all were well made and arrived a few weeks after order. I got a "L" in each and the pilot flight suit fit great, as did the steampunky vest and the Han Solo vest. The Han Solo shirt's sleves were long and had to be altered and the pants were huge on me and had to be altered as well.

So if you're looking for a decent costume and don't have the skill, time or patience to put it together yourself CB is a good alternative

Of course now that I've gone out of my way to defend them I'm sure I'll experience some kind of problem that makes me regret being so complimentary.

 

I still have to write up my Rebel Pilot but I finished a project last week that I'm really excited about. So today we'll look at making a Jedi belt.

These are some examples of Jedi belts straight from the movies as recently seen (by us) at the Star Wars exhibit at the Indy Museum.

First here's Anakin's belt...
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/SW%20Indy%20Museum%208-29-09/035.jpg]

Next here's Mace's belt...
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/SW%20Indy%20Museum%208-29-09/048.jpg]

As you can see they're nothing but a smaller belt with a buckle over a larger belt.

Here are the materials you'll need (all prices approximate and I got everything at Tandy Leather unless otherwise noted)

A metal 1 inch side release buckle (I got mine from strapworks.com) $4 or scavenge a plastic buckle off of a backback or such and paint it silver.
2 inch leather strip $15 or 2.5 inch leather strip $20
1 inch leather strip $8
Two 1 inch belt keepers at $0.50 each
8 large buton studs at $1.60 each
2 small button studs at $1.60 each
Assorted dyes, rivets, buttons and leather tools

First dye your leather straps (I used a 2.5 inch and 1 inch) and belt keepers.
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/073.jpg]
Then cut your 1 inch strap in half, loop it through the sides of the side release clip and secure the ends with your belt keepers.
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/075.jpg]
Next you'll want to anchor one end of the 1 inch belt to the larger belt. Make sure you have the smaller belt centered, clamp it down and attach one end by making needle holes with your chisel (you have to pre-punch holes when sewing leather) and sewing the two belts together at this point. You could also use rivets I guess but the leather could still rotate around the rivet if it wasn't super tight.
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/074.jpg]
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/076.jpg]
Now that your belt is centered and anchored you can move it around to work the leather without having to re-center it each time.
Next you're going to punch evenly spaced holes in the larger belt on either side of the smaller belt. These are the holes you'll put the large button studs through (they have screw backs). The large button studs are mostly decorative but they also support the smaller belt.
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/077.jpg]
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/078.jpg]
You can now sew down the other end of the smaller belt. We're almost done. Now we just need a way to wear the belt. For this you'll attach the smaller button studs to one end of the belt.
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/079.jpg]
You'll then wrap the belt around your waist and mark where the button studs hit on the belt. Then punch holes for the button studs around that point (it will make more sense in the pictures)
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/081.jpg]
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/082.jpg]
We could finish there but you want to make sure your belt stays secure even if for some reason the button studs pop out of their holes. Plus you have two stress points on the belt there and you want to spread out the strain a little so let's make a large belt keeper, rivet it to the belt and attach some snaps to button it up tight.
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/083.jpg]
Now we're done. Add some food capsules, a corvertec clip and some belt pouches and you have a belt that looks as good as the ones in the movie.
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/086.jpg]
I'm really happy with the way this turned out but kinda disappointed at how much it cost. In materials alone I spent about $50. A jedi belt off of eBay can be found for about $30-40. Yes, that's for the cheap pleather but I thought making it myself w

 

I've been using colored eye liner for my Sith tattoos, and need something that will go on sharper and won't rub off and smear so easily. I could use sharpie markers, but then I'd have Sith tatoos for a week, or until I could finally get it off without taking my skin with it. LOL! Does anyone know of a product I could use, that will draw fine lines and look like genuine tatoos, that will wash off fairly easily?

 

I was talking to one of my friends who works in theater and she suggested using a Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner (that would help you create finer as well as sharper lines) and then lightly putting on a translucent loose powder over it. This would be your cheaper alternative. If you want to go a little pricier she said professional theater make-up of some kind would be another option. She also mentioned a theory she had about spirit gum being useful for this, but maybe try those two ideas first.

 

Water proof liquid eyeliner! What a terrific idea! Thanks Eleven, I'll purchase some today when I jaunt out to get the new Bane book.

 

Now for a look at the Rebel Pilot costume. I can (technically) say that my Pilot costume is an "award winning" costume since I won the costume contest at our Star Wars vs Star Trek night out

Of course how detailed you get with this costume depends on if you're doing it for fun or for a costume organization where screen accuracy is stressed. This will just be an overview. Anyone that's interesting in putting one together can contact me and I'll give you more specifics.

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y262/jedimika/Costuming/033.jpg]

Starting with the orange flight suit. If you're making it from scratch you'll need 2 orange coveralls (about $30 each). One as your base and the other as material for alterations to the first since it's very hard to find matching orange material. You need that extra matching material to alter the collar and add pockets at the shoulders, arms and thighs to turn the coverall into a "flight suit". Or Costume Base (who I mentioned before) sells one ready to go for about $90 if you don't sew. But remember you'll probablly still need to get alterations done once you get it.

An okay flak vest can also be had from Costume Base for around $30 and it will do the job unless you're looking for Rebel Legion approval. If that's the case you'll need to make some alterations to make it "legal". I just got one from someone in the Rebel Legion that specializes in them for about $125 just to avoid the hassle. Some of you have seen it in person so you know it's pretty sweet.

The same person that made my flak vest also makes chest boxes. They're about $75 or again Costume Base sells a lower quality one for about $30. Or people have made their own by carving out and painting blocks of wood and adding the hose and straps. There are a lot of talented people out there but unfortunately I'm not one of them.

Costume Base also sells their flight suit, flak vest and chest box as a package deal for about $100 (but don't forget the high overseas shipping charges).

Black costume boots as we've discussed before (they're used for a lot of different costumes) run about $50.

The ejection harness and belt is made from silver nylon webbing that I got from Strapworks.com for about $0.60/foot. I made mine myself but you can find someone to do it for you if you have to. But hey, if I could do it I know you can.

A screen accurate belt buckle runs about $15. Available from several suppliers.

The leg flares can be machined metal (about $60 for a set of 8) or just wooden dowels cut, beveled and painted silver for a couple of bucks. The leg flare holder can be tailor made (about $60) or just an old surplus army duffel canvas material put together for a couple bucks. The code clinders can be machined metal (about $25 for a set of three) or put together out of dowels and washers for a couple of dollars. You can see there are quite a few ways to get that Rebel Pilot "look" for all kinds of budgets.

My leather gaunlets ran about $75 but I use them for another costume as well and you can find black gloves in pleather a lot cheaper at a costume shop as well. Most times I wear my second best "Vader gloves" if I'm woriied about being someplace (like a bar) my leather gauntlets could get messed up.

The com pad runs about $12, more if you have blinky lights added to it.

A helmet is not required at this time for Rebel Legion approval because there aren't a whole lot of helmet providers at this time. There is one guy who makes a good helmet kit but there's usually a long wait. You can also still find some Rubies Luke X-Wing Pilot costume helmets but they're pretty low quality. The helmet kit runs about $75 and I had to wait about 6 months for it until he did another "run" but it was worth it. I still have to put it together and customize it but that's a project for another day. A Rubies costume helmet runs about the same on eBay and if you get it you still want to repaint it and make it "your own". Until I get my kit together I've just been doing without or wearing a black beret as kin

 

Oh my gosh you all! I am soooo excited! My Sith Armor has been right under my nose all this time!! I was in the crafts room, and I took out my battle armor to look at it. I was trying to get an idea on what kind of top piece to rig, so it doesn't pinch anything.... and I came up with an idea of front and back criss/crossed leather body straps, with scaled paldrons attached, to cover the arms. I thought.... "O.K, good deal with that.... Now, what kind of a belt design can I come up with, that these can attach to comfortably, that I can attach a saber to, and that I can hang a leather skirt from?" I was looking at my armor bag while contemplating this, and thought, there's my battle skirt, maybe I can get an idea from looking at that....... AND OH MY GOSH SUGAS!!! THAT'S IT!!! I ALREADY HAVE A BELTED BATTLE SKIRT WITH EVERYTHING I NEED ON IT, TO RIG THE REST OF EVERYTHING UP!!!! Its purrrrrrrrrrrfect!! Its black, its even battle worn to give authenticity! Its leather strip skirted, its thick enough to handle more stud placement for the shoulder strapping and a loop for my light saber, it can have a pouch easily attached to it.... I'm ecstatic! Its the belt and skirting to my Barbarian armor, which Master Jai-Rew has already seen.... talk about SITH armor! I tried it on with my current Zannah dress, and I'm glad Appo wasn't home.... LOL!!! I just had to blow up about this, I've got most of the work on my armor out of the way, simply because I had it already, and didn't even realize it. Whew!!! Bouncing off walls! LOL!! O.K., "that's" outta my system.

 

Woot! Can't wait to see it. Hope you don't make us wait until CV. Maybe this Spring after it warms up (and is less Hoth like) we'll have a costume get together. Or maybe wait until Summer and see how our costumes handle the heat since Orlando will be really sticky.

 

Wow! This thread rocks! Awesome job you guys!

 

LOL! No, I won't make anyone wait, in fact, I'm going to post some pics as soon as I get it finished. If we do the Comic Book Day this year, I'll more than likely wear it there, maybe to the other local Con.. can't remember the name of it... I'm Jonesing to get this done, and show it all off. The belt to the existing skirt is plenty "wide" enough, and thick enough to place a smaller strip going around it, just like a typical Jedi belt has on it. I can hang my saber, nutrition caps, and a utility pouch from the leather striping. All I need to do is go and purchase the pouch kit from Tandy. The leather shoulder cross pieces will attach to where my leggings usually attach to the belt. That will hold them up on my shoulders. I also intend on placing buckles on the straps for not only looks, but for utility purposes. I have scaled (layered leather) shoulder paldrons on my existing battle bodice, that will easily detach and re-attach to the leather cross pieces. They hang over the shoulder, and half way down the upper arm. IMPRESSIVE. LOL! I'm going to tool something on the cross pieces, but not sure what to place on them yet. S.W. symbolism... maybe some of the hieroglyphics? One of the Sith Logos? Both? Hmmmm. What? We'll see. Do you all have any suggestions? I'm also making some vambraces for my lower arms. I have all of my ideas layn out now. That's the hardest part of the battle, and once the cutting gets started, things will roll quickly. I am sooo excited to get it done... going to begin the work tonight when Appo gets home. By the way, another dress and cape are on the way.. these are a sleeveless black dress, and a red and black cape that has arm slits in it.

 

I can't wait to see it! Your costume is going to be AMAZING!!!

 

Thanks for the enthusiasm for me guys! I'm really excited now... we've begun the cutting work on the armor updates. I've decided on one upper body cross piece.. a Baldric style thing, draped over my left shoulder... my non saber arm. I'm also only wearing one paldron, which will attache on that same side. Included with the paldron which will hang from the left shoulder down the arm, I'm going to have a separate rounded paldron hanging from the front of the same side... I know its probably hard to imagine, but it will have the Sith Logo on it.. the same one Isulf uses for his ICON. So it will be right above my left breast, clearly visible. I'm going to do it in red and black. Where the boards Sith Logo is white, mine will be black. Thanks to the Jedi Forums, I found some Sith Hieroglyphs which were located on a Sith Holocron. The link to the image was on another thread within the Jedi forums. You can see it here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v713/WigginsTheBurninator/Sith_Holocron.jpg

I copied the image of the Holocron to my documents, blew it up, then traced the hieroglyphs on tracing paper. I laid the tracing paper right over the top of the computer screen, then tapped down the edges so it wouldn't slip while I was tracing. They will be transferred to my leather soon. They will run down the front of my baldric and down the fronts of the vambraces.

The Hieroglyphs and the Sith Logo have all been transferred to the tracing paper.

The straps for the Baldric, the pieces for the Vambraces, and the circle for the frontal Paldron have now all been cut out. I want and purchased some leather dye, which I will begin dying leather tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow night, we are going to Tandy to purchase some brass rings and the pouch kit.

We're on our way! Fool steam ahead!

 

Very inventive!

 

The Force Is Strong In This One! Can't wait to see it, I know it'll be awesome!

 

Thanks for bringing some of your gear with you last night Zannah. I was really impressed when Appo said you all used shoe polish to stain/dye the leather. I never thought of that. Great idea!

 

Thanks Mika! And once the shoe leather dye dries, it doesn't stain anything. I'm going to begin tooling in the Sith Logo and the Hieroglyphs tonight. Once the tooling is done, I'll dye the tooled leather, wait for that to dry, then I'm going to go over the tooling with red leather paint. That should help the tooling really stand out. We still have a couple of rings to place on the Baldric and the belt. The utility straps which will hold the saber and the pouch still need to be dyed and placed. We're almost done..... the tooling will take a while on the Sith Logo, its intricate on its edges, but it's about the process and there is no hurry. I'm pretty excited about this little project. Tee-Hee! And also, because of the design, it shouldn't be hot to wear at all. Thanks again!

 

Hi Gang! I have a question for anyone who knows anything about the quality of costumes from the "Rubies" Company. I was surfing Amazon this morning, of which Amazon doesn't "appear" to have much in the line of Storm Trooper armor to offer right now. (However, I will admit, I'm not savvy yet on how to surf the site.) But while there, I clicked on an available link threw Amazon, that took me to the Rubies Costuming site. Where upon, I found what, at first glance, "appears" to some nice Storm Trooper armor for sale. They claim it is some authentic looking stuff, and they are selling the armor and the helm for 580. Is that price reasonable? Does anyone know anything about the integrity of the company, and the quality of their merchandise?

 

CONTINUED: By the way guys, here's the link to the site, so you can see what I'm referring to. If it's as nice as the pic, it looks pretty dang good. It also looks as tho it originally sold for 1,000.00. If this is the same 1,000.00 set of armor, that I've been hearing about threw the years, this is one shavs of a sweet deal.

http://www.historicreplicadepot.com/proddetail.asp?prod=909866

 

On the bottom of the page it states "boots & lightsaber not included" that's funny! I know that the rubies Darth Vader & Boba Fett Helm looked pretty shoddy. It says comes with collectors helmet, but I doubt its going to come with any electronics inside it.

 

Thanks for that input Master Jai-Rew. Hmmmmm. Yea, the electronics in the helm. I hadn't thought about that one. Tap, tap, tap.... Hmmmm... I wonder... if a body gets a hold of a nice Helm, and it doesn't come with electronics in it, could a body purchase electronics and mount them, themselves?

Well, I've been trying to contact the distributor via the phone number in the "Contact Us" section... with no luck so far. I'd like to speak with someone about the armor and helmet first. Sending them an e-mail will be what I try today.

I've been toying with this armor thing for a while, and I've asked a few questions, but most of the answers I've gotten, I've "forgotten", because I wasn't yet dead serious about it. Now I am.... and in planning stages.

Also, another thing I can do, is go to the 501st Legions website and ask them. I know their local Commander was going to begin producing armor. Before I do "anything", I want to make sure I'm getting the best deal for the money. Right now, I'm looking and comparing. But if I can not make some kind of contact with this Rubies company, then they'll put themselves out of my consideration completely. I plan on sending them an e-mail, and we'll see if I get a response there.

In the mean time, I'll contact the 501st Commander. They already have armor, so I'm sure they know where they got it. LOL!

 

Hey guys ,would you like this thread "sticky"?