Here's a shot of the headdress that I forgot to post - an "in progress" pic from this past weekend:
[image=http://www.freak23.com/shaak_ti/shaak_ti_progress_3.jpg]

The lekku are made from white tights stuffed with poly-fill. I didn't want to cover them with liquid latex because of the photo reference from the Ep3 Visual dictionary. I think she looked cool in AOTC, but I really think her ROTS changes were for the best and one of those changes is a softer look to the lekku. (To the mods: if this picture isn't manipulated enough to post, I apologize)
[image=http://www.freak23.com/shaak_ti/shaak_ti_comparison.jpg]

-Kyle

 

that looks really cool man--and what a difference with the AOTC and ROTS --i think she looks better in AOTC

DL

 

Here's the finished product.

[image=http://www.freak23.com/shaak_ti/shaak_ti_complete_6.jpg]

I made the mistake of not asking my wife to pose in wide shot so we could get everything in the picture (cloak, scarf, blouse, skirt, belt, tabbard & saber). As long as she doesn't have to put that clown makeup on again, I think I can coax her to pose with the outfit on.

-Kyle

 

really cool---she is one of my fav Jedi, i would love to have that costume--i also like Aayla Secura too!

darthlrrp

 

Thanks! I thought she looked pretty damn cool, too. That reminds me of when we were almost bickering about which Jedi she should be. She wanted to be Aayla Secura and I thought she should be either Shaak Ti or Barriss Offee.

I'll say one thing about the way I went about making the wireframe/cardboard base for the head dress...it was a total pain in the arse. It took me so freaking long to get it all assembled. You're basically looking coat hanger wires, cardboard, masking and duct tape covered with paper mache. I'm still not a big papier mache fan, but it turned out allright. We used wallpaper paste instead of the ol' fashioned water & flour mixture. Plus, I was able to bake it in the oven...it just barely fit.

I found a site online for someone that sculpted theirs in clay and then made a mold from it. Then they cast the horns in latex.

-Kyle

 

Just looking for verification as I plunge into the world of "I'm gonna make Shaak Ti!"...

she has THREE head-tails, right? Two in the front, over the shoulders that are about lekku size/shape, and one in the back that seems a little bigger... more salamander tail like.

I haven't been able to find a good still picture of her backside, so I'm working mostly from the action figures.


ALSO.. is it pushing it too much to use black velvet for her robes instead of the Jedi-brown? I have 5 yards of black velvet just begging for a use....


Thanks guys! Helpful as always!

 

GrumpyDevil, could you post the address of that site? I would love to see how they made that headpiece.

 

Yes, she has three lekku. The one in the back almost looks like something stepped on it. My suggestion for a photo of the back lekku is from Rebelscum.com:
http://www.rebelscum.com/toys2005/rotsshaaktibk.jpg

I think that if you're looking for screen-accurate results, you should stick with a dark reddish brown for the cloak. However, I think that with the prequel Jedi, anything is possible. To me, Barriss Offee and Luminara Unduli are perfect examples of Jedi who don't follow the conventional rules of garb. I'm not really a costumer (Shaak Ti was my first attempt), but I'm sure others on the boards have much better input.

-Kyle

 

Here's the site that shows photos from the creation process:
http://homepage.mac.com/laulandne/melissa/costume2/index.html
You'll notice that there aren't any photos of the completed costume on this page. But I'm pretty sure I saw a photo of her standing with a Plo Koon and Kit Fisto from a C3 Photo Gallery.

Now HERE is a really cool Shaak Ti that I just found.
http://www.deviantart.com/view/10274053/

-Kyle

 

The Shaak Ti in that deviantart link is my go at making that costume for ComicCon '04. It has it's kinks that I still need to work out, but thanks for the 'really cool' vote.

 

Resilient, I definitely think that your Shaak Ti is amazing! I'm surprised that I never saw it before posting the link last night.

I checked out your sculpt for the head, and I was very impressed. You should post a tutorial about that. I've never tried sculpting from anything but Super Sculpey before. But you should definitely share your experience. I think that while not everyone will have the skills to make their own sculpt from water-based clay, a tutorial would be so helpful to any other Shaak Ti hopefuls.

-Kyle

 

all i had to work with to figure out the head tails was my action figure... cause I made my costume in 2002...

here are some pics that might help you.

[link=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b364/ms_ventress/Shaak%20Ti%20Costume/starwars4.jpg]shaak1[/link]

[link=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b364/ms_ventress/Shaak%20Ti%20Costume/starwars19.jpg]shaak2[/link]

 

I have been thinking of making a Shaak Ti for my 5 yr old daughter. I wasn't going to do the clown makeup route, but rather in one of the SW art books, it was said that she originally had a white face with a red veil that covered her nose/mouth. I was thinking of forgoing the headpiece and doing a sheer red veil over her hair with cut outs for the eyes. Maybe edge it in some silver bead trim like the 12" doll.

 

Have you seen the image? If not, you can see it here:
http://www.padawansguide.com/shaak.shtml

-Kyle

 

Thanks for the link. She's got beads of some sort on her veil and I love that the smaller picture in the left corner has her with little boobies! LOL I think Shaak Ti has the most cleavage out of all the SW chicks out there!

 

OMG - I didn't even notice that!

 

Unlocked and bumping for recent query.

 

So I'm looking to make either a Shaak Ti costume, or possibly a costume of the togruta I play in the Star Wars RPG with my friends, either way the horns and tails would be identical. It seems that this is a particularly hard piece to create. I've seen the horns made from fabric, paper mache, and latex (oh god the latex was pretty). Fabric isn't really my forte and paper mache looks like its really time cosuming, I could have an IDT student at my school do it out of latex but I like creating my costumes with as little help as possible. So what are my other options the 3 tails will almost surely be done with the painting fabric stuffed hoisery approach, I like the way those usually turn out. The horns I'm considering making out of foam but if I do so it will be time cosuming and a pain, because I think I would have to make it in pieces and glue them together, possibly layers staking on top of each other to flow with the stripes. Any ideas or suggestions for this would be greatly appriciated. ^_^

 

Hey! Shaak Ti is a great choice for a costume. I did one for the ROTS premiere and it turned out pretty good. I don't have any good pics, but check out the homepage of the St. Louis Fan Force and I am on the banner.

http://boards.theforce.net/st_louis_mo/b10179/p1


I used paper mache for the headpiece. I used aluminum foil to sculpt first and then the paper mache over it. You can buy some stuff at most crafts stores called celluclay and it is paper mache made easy. It dries quickly and goes on pretty smooth. I used leather that I salvaged from some chairs I was throwing out for the lekku and hand painted them with regular acrylic craft paint. You could use white tights for the lekku and buy fabric paint (you can get at craft store or Walmart) as another option. I really like my Shaak Ti costume and plan to redo the headpiece for Dragoncon. I just didn't like they way it sat on my head.

Good luck!

 

Good Lord. I've been asked if I wanna tackle Shaak Ti. My first instinct is to go all out and sculpt it in clay, mold it, and cast it in latex. But damn, that'd be some huge molds...

 

Well from what I can see the head piece looks pretty good but its hard to tell with the picture being so little, hehe. I think I may experiment with paper mache between my spring and summer quarter, if its working for me thats probably the least expensive route and as a college student low cost is nice. My goal before was to maybe shoot for the Toronto Convention in September but i may be ditching that to save up for Celebration, in which case I'd have until may which is a good amount of time cuz it leaves room for me to try, mess up, and try again. Plus it looks like I wont be going as Shaak Ti but as my character which is exciting and pleases me since i have qualms with a lot of Ti's costuming. Example, why does she have a hood on her robes, and how does she put on that tank top, hehe. But back to horn construction i'm actually kinda reconsidering with the amount of time latex, but it may be a hopeless dream.

Anyway, another question is ears, how shall i cover my ears but not completely sacrifice my hearing?

 

My hearing was not sacrificed at all with the paper mache. I could hear just fine.

I hear ya on the latex route. I am going to Dragoncon in Sept. and I am still thinking of doing the latex. I am just scared that I will spend all that money on the latex and then it will not come out right. LOL!

Good luck whichever route you go and make sure to post pics!

 

My wife's Shaak Ti headdress is not holding up too well. Parts of the papier mache are coming off. I would love to find someone local to help me make a latex foam version.

-Kyle

 

Maybe i should just go with latex right from the start, it seems like everyone ends up wanting to eventually. Plus it would look so pretty and be likely to hold up longer then some of the other methods presented. Its just I really want to be able to make it for the most part on my own if i did latex, i'd prolly need help. :/

 

You should check out what Resilient (from this forum and deviant art) did:
http://www.deviantart.com/view/10273960/
http://www.deviantart.com/view/10274010/
http://www.deviantart.com/view/10274053/

I've never worked in latex, but I would love to try it some day.

-Kyle