Jedi / Light Side Shaak Ti Costume

Hi,

This is my first time posting, but I've been checking out the threads for a couple of months. This Halloween my family has decided to be a team of Jedi. My son will be Anakin and I will be no one in particular. But here's the tricky part: my wife decided that she wanted to be Shaak Ti. I haven't seen that many Shaak Ti costumes out there (on the internet) and I was thinking that there's probably no better place to ask for opinions on how I should go about this.

We've got a difference in opinion on how to acheive both the montrals and the skin-tone. My idea is to take some thin foam and sew it into the appropriate shape for each peice (two for the top "horns" and three of the hanging lekku-like appendages) finding some way to attach all 5 pieces together and then to a "head-sock" that shows the full face. Then I'd end up airbrushing the whole thing in white, black and red (when it's needed). Some minor background on me: besides being an avid Star Wars fan, I also build lots of model kits and I paint a lot with an airbrush.

She suggested using paper mache to build the horns. Maybe that would be a better idea for something more like a head dress.

Anyway, the Shaak Ti clothing doesn't seem to be too hard to re-create. Some crumpled looking fabric for the skirt and a plain black tank top for the first covered by the standard Jedi robe and belt with a long peice of decorated leather in the front (hanging from behind the belt).

I'm going to find an airbrush-able red body paint so it (hopefully) won't look all sticky. Has anyone on the board had good experiences with certain brands?

Also, does anyone have a better suggestion for the montrals/lekku?

-Kyle

S_S edit: just unlocking

 

Oh yeah, we also were talking about black contact lenses....anyone ever use these? My wife doesn't wear contacts or glasses and I don't know how contacts will feel....

-Kyle

 

I think that for the montrals, you will want those fairly rigid- I'm guessing that those would be bone or something like that in a flesh and blood creature. For the Lekku, I suggest doing a search for Twi'lek stuff on the costumes board- you can modify the instructions for Twi'lek lekku to get ones like Shaak Ti's, and attach them to the montrals. The instructions I've seen for making Lekku usually involve fabric covered in latex- you could make the montrals, make the lekku, attach them to the headpiece, and then cover the whole works with a few coats of latex, then airbrush it. I think some of the other members can give you some websites that sell latex mask paint and makeup- I can't recall the names right now.

Good luck on this project- I'm admiring my 12" Shaak Ti as I write this, she's gorgeous.

 

Thanks for the tips! I'll go check out the lekku thread.

In the meantime, I was sketching up some ideas for the head have pretty much decided to go with paper mache (but I'm going to spend a lot of time getting it layered properly and smoothly). I'll try to scan my sketches.

I'd love to have the 12" Shaak Ti figure as a reference, but haven't found her in any stores yet. The RebelScum website has some detailed photos of her, though.

I went to a fabric store this weekend and tried to find a match for the scarf(?) that she wears. In the visual disctionary it almost looks like a corrugated octagonal pattern. Does anyone know?

-Kyle

 

i have designed and made a Shaak Ti costume... I made the head piece out of just white fabric, I hand sewed and hand painted it. if you have any other questions ask away...

here are the pictures...

http://photobucket.com/albums/b364/ms_ventress/Shaak%20Ti%20Costume/

 

Nice work, Ms_Ventress! Not bad at all for stuffed fabric. I might do some things a little differently, making the montrals stiffer, perhaps hollow around the ears for hearing, but that's a pretty nice job there.
An exellent idea for those who can't or don't want to work with Latex.

When I say hollow around the ears, I mean solid looking on the outside, but with a hollow space around the ears underneath. Otherwise, hearing might be obstructed by all the padding.

 

That's a great headpiece! What did you use for the facepaint?

Excellent point! After escaping death twice in Episode III, we've got to make sure Shaak Ti stays alert!

 

Shaak ti survived order 66? Cool
I didn't see her getting it in the movie along with many of the others, I always wondered what happened to her.

 

!!Possible DVD Spoiler!!



















I'm afraid she did not survive. You will see her death in one of the deleted scenes on the RoTS DVD. There have been some stills already leaked from that and I've seen them.

I believe she dies even before Order 66 is given. She is killed by General Grievous. The only Jedi we will see being killed by him.

 

Thats right! It ties into the Cartoon Network mini-series Clone Wars Volume 2.

 

Thats not the only deleted scene of her dying you know, there was another deleted scene where Vader kills her when he attacks the Temple.

 

Yeah I heard there was like 3 different versions of that scene at different points in development.

 

Hmmm, not to get too off-topic (I still AM building the costume!), but do the contents and actions that take place in a deleted scene count as "inscribed in stone" cannon?

Back on topic, our dog just ate our Skaak Ti figure's head (the 3.75" one) and so now (to look on the bright side) we can get a slightly better look at the costume

-Kyle

 

When it comes out in the end, it leads to a new pronunciation of the name doesn't it?

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

 

That sucks royally..Shaak Ti's probably my favourite female Jedi.
I read something on the Jedi Aayla fan site that Shaak Ti was wounded in a fight with grievous, but I didn't think she died..That's too bad, what a waste.

On the topic of costume making, Shaak Ti's outfit's not too hard to reproduce- she's got a long, flowing skirt- similar to those gypsy skirts that seem to be in vogue now, and a scoop-necked, long sleeved shirt. Over top of that, she appears to be wearing a knee-length version of the standard hooded Jedi cloak, and a long, narrow scarf worn kinda like a priest's stole. She's also got that fancy leather apron hanging down her front- you can get a good look at it in the Episode 3 visual dictionary. Aside from the headpiece and the decoration on the apron, it's not a horribly complex costume.

 

This is the scene that I was talking about:
[image=http://www.flixnjoystix.com/article_images/MovieNewsReel/ROTSdel3.jpg]

More stills from deleted scenes here:MilleniumFalcon.com

And yes, I had also heard that she was killed in the Temple by Anakin, which is why this scene surprised me.

 

Yeah I think one of the "Art of" or "Making of" books has pictures of storyboards of Anakin/Vader killing Shaak Ti. I don't think it made it farther than that before it got changed.

 

And she has really cool lace up combat style boote

I discovered that upon inspection of the 12' figure!

 

The deleted scenes don't count as canon. If they did, then there would be a major discrepancy between the deleted scenes of ROTS and the theatrical version. Shaak Ti appears in a hologram of the council later in the film.

Anyways, Resilient on these boards made a Shaak Ti costume. The lekku and montrals were made out of latex.

 

Looks like pre production but here it is:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/SnakePlisken/ByeByeShaakTi.jpg

 

In the ROTS novel, the author doesn't illustrate Anakin offing Shaak Ti, but he defintely seeks her out after becoming Darth Vader.

-Kyle

 

Amazing pictures and some great advice! Thanks! I plan on one day being adventurous enough to attempt Shaak Ti (well notice my user name) she is also my fave of the jedi. For now I have gone the easy route as a Tie pilot. lol

Eddited to add: I too heard of these scenes but had no idea any were gonna be in the extras on DVD. Wow! Of course I still harbor the belief that she survived and was only wounded...that way she may make it into the tv series.

 

PROGRESS PHOTO
[image=http://www.freak23.com/shaak_ti/shaak_ti_progress_1.jpg]

10 days untill this costume gets finished, I suppose it's time to find out how I work under pressure. What you see in this photo is a wire-frame of the montrals sturdied (did I just make up a word?) with small strips of cardboard secured to the wireframe with duct tape. The wireframe is elevated from the head by two cushioned arches located dead-center of the head dress. In case anyone was wondering, I am going to be using the paper mache method. I've seen the medium done well and done poorly and I'm not going to settle for a poor job here.

Also, I have a saber hilt that *sort of* looks like Shaak Ti's lightsaber that I got on sale from RLSA Sabers. I'll be installing the electronics in that so that my wife can walk around with an illuminated EL Blade. I'll post a photo of that too after I get more of the costume done.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Criticism?

-Kyle

 

Well today is the big day and whaddaya know....it's raining! I mean, here...in OREGON!

Regardless, I think were still going to venture out with an umbrella. Too bad they don't have those lightsaber umbrellas for sales here in the states.

Anyway, In case anyone was wondering...here's the update from me while I'm at work (I'll be heading home early to take care of some minor last-minute details):

Here's the stencil that I am using for the pattern on the tabbard:
[image=http://www.freak23.com/shaak_ti/shaak_ti_tabbard_stencil.gif]

And here's the lightsaber my wife will be carrying:
[image=http://www.freak23.com/shaak_ti/saber01.jpg]

I did finish painting the headdress last night and it looks pretty good - I have a couple of "touch ups required" spots to take care of. I think no one would notice, but I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to that.

-Kyle

 

[image=http://borgknight.twistednode.com/vader/shaakti1.jpg]

This is my daughter Alyssa in her Shaak-Ti costume. I skipped doing the parts between the horns and tails due to lack of time.

The headpiece is vinyl sewn to the correct shape and stuffed with Fiber-Fill so they give easily. The coloring is done with Sharpie because regular paint will just flake off. I was intending to use some kind of fixitive, but again ran out of time, so we did get some unfortunate smudging.