Jedi / Light Side Mara Jade costume

I saw some good fabric at Wal Mart a little while ago. and i just bought some material for the holster for 3.97 a yard.

I tried the sandpaper technique. I bought the finest sandpaper there was. its still a bit shiney but not as much as before. im not sure if I want to take a heavier sandpaper to it, so i think im just going to leave it as is.
I also bought the material for the cape, which i'll be working on without a pattern, so wish me luck. hopefully i can pull this off hehe.

question: where can i find a decent inexpensive blaster? with buying all the other parts to the costume im a little broke, so anything that looks similar would be good for now.

Also, with the hair dye, Henna sticks to your hair like permanent dye and wont wash out, so if youre looking for something temporary, i probably wouldnt use that. I've been trying to get my hair to be a decent red color. the last one i tried was Hydrience. and even though it was supposed to be permanent, it washed out in about 2 weeks leaving me with a dull coppery color. but the initial color was a really nice fiery red. I know they make a semi-permanent dye also. ive used it before and it seemed to wash out pretty well. but it also depends on what kind of hair you have. my hair rejects hair dye for some reason and wont dye easily, so i sometimes end up having to use two boxes instead of one. I was thinking of doing Feria next. I'm on a mission to find something, anything, that will come close to what i want.

 

Have you tried Herbal Essences? Everyone says it's good. (That's the brand Zahn used. ) Stay away from Garnier 100% brand reds, though--my mom once tried it and the color was horrid. Regular Garnier is fine.

Hey, if you're looking for a cheap blaster, how about asking "Reaper" Ed for help? I got my Princess Leia sporting blaster from him for only $25, because it's just a super-light plastic gun with a long muzzle epoxyed onto it. Ed is your man for all your blaster needs.

 

My blaster is a glock style child's gun. Its in the holster all the time anyways, so doesn't really matter what it looks like for my costume.

My belting is real leather that I dyed and finished myself and then had a shoe repair guy in my town piece all the parts together for me. Expensive but worth every penny! I used a bridle piece for the circle in the back. Its very pretty, although you never really get to see it because of the cape.

As far as the cape goes, when you make it, don't make the shoulders too defined. Keep all the pieces almost like triangles--no curve for the shoulder. Capes come out much better that way.

 

I have her outfit down and I have a really good wig for the costume (my hair is pretty short and won't work for any costume). I'm wondering what people did for the other parts of the costume, such as the gloves. I'm also wondering if people made their lightsabers. I'm guessing that you did because the pictures look good, but if you didn't you did a good job of finding ones that really work in the pictures.

I apologize if all of this was covered not too long ago. I did look through several pages of posts, but I have fractured my back so, as you can imagine, I am not currently functioning at the best of my ability.

 

LEGO: My gloves are just leather gloves I bought at K-Mart. Sabers can go a couple of ways. You can do the FX Mace--right color but wrong hilt. Or a graflex hilt. Or the Anakin FX would work since its like Luke's ESB one. Or the actual Mara hilt. Parks made the original for Decipher. That's what I have as well as a Luke ESB saber. Depends on what version of Mara you're going for.

 

If you're going darker with the color, it will last no matter what type (permanent or semi). Henna lasts about 6-8 weeks, and is really good for your hair, so that may actually be the way to go. The wash-out types won't show up in red tones at all.

 

Jade-Walker, where did you find a children's toy handgun? I haven't been able to find any remotely realistic-looking guns for a while.

Lelila

 

I found it at Party City. It has a red tip that I really need to do a paint job on. Otherwise its fine

 

i just wanted to say thanks to everyone on this thread, as i got some really excellent ideas and tips from ya'll.
pics of me in version 1 Mara:
http://www.nwaflorida.com/mara/pages/DSC_0131_jpg.htm
Pics of me in version 2 Mara:
http://www.nwaflorida.com/mara2/

im still not 100% happy with the top (it flattens my chest out) but its something that only i seem to notice when at events so it works for now.

now on to the next botched attempt at sewing!

 

That looks great Nice job.

 

Another blaster option would be an Airsoft pistol. I recently picked up a 6mm for $20 at Sportmart. Most sporting goods stores carry them, as well as Wal-mart and ShopKo. I did find that actual sporting goods stores carried more variety though. They look very realistic and I'm just making a few mods to it with model paint. The 6mm size works well for smaller female hands.

I'm currently using the EIII Anakin FX saber since it ends up being Mara's. I also have a prop saber that can hang on my belt. I made this one from a sink pipe and other hardware stores parts. You can do a basic internet search to find instructions and ideas for making your own "hardware saber".

 

you can also use some TOy Guns with minor mods made to them. I've done a couple hardware MAra Blasters for friends. all of them cost less then $10, even with the mods.

[image=http://images8.fotki.com/v132/photos/4/451189/1589330/Dartblaster-vi.jpg]
This is bult on a $.99 Luger Dart gun. alittle paint, some plumbers putty, and it's all done. On this one, the Dart Gun still works. And the Darts do stick to Stormtrooper Armor.

[image=http://images8.fotki.com/v131/photos/4/451189/1589330/Mara_BlasterA-vi.jpg]
This one was built on a $.99 pellet gun (Yes, I know, I didn't sand off the words Pellet Gun) I framed out the forward addition with popcicle sticks, removing the original trigger guard (A little small for some fingers) and then covered everything with the plumbers putty. Repainted it, and here it is.

[image=http://images8.fotki.com/v132/photos/4/451189/1589423/Mara_Blaster1-vi.jpg]
This one is a small Dartgun, one that still doesn't work, but came out nicely, I was able to open the trigger guard area, and use that to frame the forward section. Using the now famous Plumbers Putty, I filled it in. I have been meaning to convert the other, identical pistol that came with the set, but haven't had time yet.

None of these blasters are very big at all. The pellet gun being the biggest one, overall length about 3 inches, and not very thick. I had a holster made for it (no pics yet) to carry in the small of the back, like Mara.

Hope that helps.

 

So i happened to find a decent gun at the dollar store i'm leaving the orange tip on it just for safety.

i have the cape cut and ready to be hemmed. i just pinned the sleeves on my catsuit and the hemming on that is all that really needs to be done with that part. the only problem is that when its on, it flattens down my chest considerably, and I'm a C going on a D so i didnt think that would be much of a problem. maybe taking in the sides a bit will help that?
I'm putting together the belt, pouches, and holster tomorrow. all the pieces are basically ready, it just needs to be assembled.

i couldnt find the shin guards. i saw them earlier in the year at Wal Mart, but apparently theyre seasonal, so those'll be left off for now. and i couldnt get my gloves sent to me on time. bleh. oh i also have to do a makeshift attachement for the shoulder belt strap thingy(whatever its called lol)cause i couldnt find the ring to attach it in the back. but i figure that'll be under the cape anyway. the belt plate will have to be a silver painted piece of cardboard for now. ghetto mara hehe.
Its ok for this one Halloween though, cause in this small college town(Oneonta, NY), no ones gonna know who i am. I'm going to keep improving it though for other occasions.

I also dyed my hair. twice. the first time it came out a duller red than I had before. for that I used Ultress true red. And then I tried ColorSilk strawberry blonde. and now my roots
(the color I wanted my whole head to be) are lighter than the tips and I have a rainbow of reds all over. its no toooo too bad hehe. one day im going to do it right and get it professionally done. until then, i'll work on trying to fix this botched job.


Im excited for Halloween anyway!!! despite the problems ive run into its fun and im learning. one day I'll have the perfect Mara costume

 

Sounds like you're on your way.
But why are you putting sleeves on the catsuit? 'Cause of the cold?
I'm not sure how to fix the bust flattening thing without redoing the suit. Adding roundness in the bust area on a princess seam is the way to prevent that, but it takes some work with the pieces until they come out right. I'll likely have the same problem with my Black Canary suit.
The ring I got at Tandy leather.
And look at 2nd hand sports equipment stores for shin/knee guards in the hockey section

 

i meant the arm holes areas need to be hemmed still, otherwise it looks like i have wings or something. theres no actual sleeves on it.
It would've been easier to find the parts i needed if I was at home in the city, but Im in upstate NY at college where our only basic store is Wal Mart. thats why i've been relying on that to find most of what i need. im gonna keep looking when i go home for break.

 

You may want to shop online for the shin guards. I don't remember the name of the site I got mine from, but I found some great youth soccer shin guards that didn't have logos and brand names splashed all over them. Just plain black - worked great.

 

Wait, so Parks made the original Mara Jade/Shannon McRandle hilt? Can you buy another replica from him, then? I did a quick review of his website and found nothing that looked like hers.. But yeah, I'd be very interested in getting that, so any info would be great.


MTLBWY!
-Deborah-

 

PM sent

 

seswa , you costume looks GREAT!!!! Awesome job!!
Just out of curiosity, where did you get your saber from?
And what is the word on Park's Mara hilt? I thought he wasn't making them anymore...

 

The best thing to do is to call and talk to the Parks people personally. Don't use the e-mail system. Those people aren't the same people and don't know anything.

 

Heads-up: If anyone's interested, go to your local bookstore or B&N and leaf through a copy of the New Essential Chronology--there's a cool illustration of Mara wearing a whole new Emperor's Hand outfit. It looks a lot like the color of Zam Wessel's bodysuit with lots of techie gear worked into it and almost bionic-looking metal shinguards. The good thing is no pink cape.

It looks like a really complicated costume, but it'd be another neat option for dressing up as Mara.

 

Oooow, I'll definately have to check that out I'm all for the not-your-average-everyday-Mara-Jade-costume.

Oh, and, um, whoever came up with the pink cape in the first place? >.< I've never seen MJ with a pink cape, and seeing fan costumes with pink/purple capes is a pet-peeve of mine. XD If somebody could please point to proof that Mara wears a pink cape *anywhere*, I'd appreciate it.


MTLBWY!
-Deborah-

 

Thanks for the heads up on the Chronology. I'm going to make a stop at Waldenbooks today to check it out, which means I will probably end up buying it