24th November 2010: Making up the prosthetic Horns Next stage - I sculpted Plaster of Paris (mixed with a bit of PVA) onto the horn bases. It set pretty quick, which was good because I was running out of time before Expo! This stuff is really nice to use, you can carve it as soon as it has gone off and before it sets completely rigid. I wanted a rough look to the horns, to catch dark washes of paint later, so I carved into them rough!
When they had dried I worked the shapes down a bit further with metal files and sandpaper. Finally sealed them over by brushing a coat of PVA glue on and they were ready to paint.
24th November 2010: Making up the prosthetic Horns Having completed my head cast (see seperate album on how I made it) I set about making up my set of horns. I first drew Mauls face markings and horn postions onto the head cast, using ref pics of different angles..and a Darth Maul collectable figure also came in handy as a 3D ref source. Then I taped some cardboard bases onto these horn locations and edited/cut out the horn profiles until they looked like the ref pics. The profiles were stuck onto the horn bases with pva glue. The glue set in seconds and these cardboard roughs formed the framework for the horns to be sculpted.
27th October 2010: Robe - rough/pattern making Finally cracked the puff sleeves with forearm pintucks, - ok found out these sleeves are called 'Mutton Leg' sleeves.
The sleeves have taken the most working out, lots of experimenting. But also you can see from the patchwork of the whole 'rough' the robe took quite a bit of editing to get to the solution.
Phew!.. at last I can start cutting and putting the proper robe together.
18th October 2010: Pants finished. Woo hoo Pants are now finished. I love the fabric..it is soft and comfy against the skin.
Pic of the costume parts so far - Finished pants, Inner Tunic and boots.
Next on to the robe.. I think this costume is actually going to come in on time ^_^
17th October 2010: Cutting pants parts This is what one half of the pattern looks like pinned out flat on the silk (silk has been doubled over so I will cut two opposite shapes out). So two of these basically make up the pants. But the tops will need to be darted to bring the shape in at the waist. And I think I am going to elasticate the waistband to keep things simple.
17th October 2010: Pants - making the Pattern Rough The pants are quite baggy, a bit like like harem pants. They need to blouse over the tops of the boots, and be roomy enough to allow martial arts high kicks etc.
I made up my roughs out of spare fabric. Loosely following the shape of my jeans but going like three sizes bigger. After a few adjustments this is the final solution which fits well and looks right. I will use these as my pattern to cut the proper silk pants.
15th October 2010: Inner Tunic completed This how the full tunic is looking with a ref pic for comparison. I made it with side ties like the screen costume seems to have. I only put the ties down one side..The other side is sewed down to the waist. This makes it really easy to slip the tunic on and off - will come in handy when I have the prosthetic horns on.
(Sorry for the rubbishy pic quality - low light :S)
15th October 2010: Inner Tunic completed Yep, finished making the Inner Tunic today. This is how it is looking with a ref pic for comparison - really pleased how close I made it.
(Sorry for the rubbishy pic quality :S)
13th October 2010: Tunic - collar Here is my finished mandarin collar for the inner tunic.
I made it using two layers of thick linen to stiffen it, cut to my collar pattern and sewed together. Then I sewed two pieces of black satin-silk together inside out using the same pattern. Turned right way round and inserted the collar stiffening. Finally stitched the layers all together. There are four stitch lines which all converge as the collar narrows - because this follows the detail on the original screen costumes. I'm so pleased with how this looks. :)
12th October 2010: Inner Tunic - making the Rough Working on the Inner Tunic - This has a mandarin collar and extends down to just below the knees. Pic shows the rough in progress. After I spent ages working out the complicated shapes to get the mandarin collar looking right I realised I could have just copied my wifes Chinese jacket - Doh!
Anywho tis done now.
With the rough test fitting me nicely.. I have taken it apart and traced the shapes onto greaseproof paper. Inner Tunic master pattern is now ready.
5th October 2010: Pleather Oh yeah..I also found some pleather, or vinyl leather or whatever its called. The same market guy sold me this remnant for 3 pound.
This is to make the wide belt.
5th October 2010: Fabric Just got back from the rag market - woohoo!.. found the Black Raw Silk I was after. And it was only 3 pounds a metre. Also bought some Satin finish silk because the inner tunic has a different texture to the outer robes.
Wow this can really start going together now. :)
27th September 2010: Sith eyes Ha ha Sith contacts arrived. Wow that was superfast delivery from ordering online only a few days ago. Thought I'd better get them in quick in case there's a rush on for halloween...
There's no going back now. I just hope I'm ok with contacts - I've never worn them before. :S
This is the set I bought, 'Fire' lenses set, comes with cleaning solution and lense containers. Cost £17.99 from thebodyjewelleryshop.com (Thanks Alyx for the link)
1st September 2010: lightsaber progress ok so the hilt has not been re- sprayed it has been HACKED!
Well, the reason is it looks like I won't be able to fit the lighting parts all inside the blade tube itself. Instead they are going to be mounted inside the hilt just in front of the blade tube. And because I want easy access to the workings incase I need to repair anything I decided to make the end pieces completely removeable. To keep the hilt strong and perfectly aligned I am fitting some metal tube inside the connecting parts. Metal tube (see pic)is actually 'reclaimed' vacuum cleaner tube - neighbour was chucking it out, so it is free! :)
If I can find some fancy hex bolts I will use them to secure these removeable end pieces firmly to the main body.
24th August 2010: lightsaber progress The two halves of the hilt have now been glued together (CA glue), and all the old screw holes and seam lines filled. I also cut a chunk off the blade projection plates (end pieces) to slim them down and make the lightsaber look a bit more screen accurate.
Hilt is now ready for spraying...
17th August 2010: lightsaber progress Because my blade tubes are a lot slimmer than the original red plastic ones I have made some spacer rings to hold onto the new blades.
Spacer rings inside dia matches clear tubes dia, with slight clearence (for a nice sliding fit); Spacer rings outside dia matches the dia of the plastic hilt inside surface.
I made the spacer rings up out of some thick perspex sheet (offcuts salvaged from someones skip). Used core drill to cut general circles out and then turned these down on a mini lathe to make an accurate fit. To make sure all the spacer rings were centered precisely for glueing I slid one of the clear tubes all the way through from one end to the other.
The design idea is for the blades to be easily removeable so I can use the lightsaber either single bladed, double bladed, or no bladed hanging from my belt. The clear tubes slide into the purpose made spacer rings inside the hilt. The blade projection plates (end pieces) then screw onto the hilt to lock the blades in position.
Pic shows the perspex spacer rings now glued in position inside the hilt and inside the blade projection plates (the end pieces).
16th August 2010: Lightsaber progress Darn toy companies! - Hasbro used screws with triangle shaped holes!.. I couldnt find a triangle shaped srewdriver bit anywhere. So I had to drill the screws Means I will have to glue the two halves permenantly back together when it is time. At least this way I can fill the long seam line and screw holes.
This is what it looked like inside. The electronics board makes the standby hum sound, and a clash sound when you hit it. But the sound isnt very loud ..I prob won't be keeping it.
16th August 2010: Lightsaber progress I completely stripped out the toy hilt, and removed as much of the moulded in plastic fixing shelves because they would just be obstructions to the new replacement stuff which has to fit inside. I left the small battery acces door as is though, becuase it is usefull.
15th August 2010: lightsaber progress Keeping all the lightsaber progress together -
This is what I am using for my base. It is the toy Hasbro Electronic Darth Maul lightsaber. Not bad on the whole, but the blades are very toyish. With some mods and a re-spray I think the hilt can be made to look pretty accurate. The blades obviously need to be replaced with something a lot better. Although I don't want to spend loads so I am looking at various options for my blades. If I can make them light up cheaply then I will.
Pic shows the toy hilt and toy blades (red plastic things), and next to it the clear tubes I bought to make my replacement blades with.
10th August 2010: Gauntlets Finished WooHoo, Gauntlets Finished!
Re-shaping and re-stitching completed. I finished off by giving them a good coat of Black shoe polish since Mauls gloves appear quite shiney. I din't put any on the palm suraces though cuz I don't want to loose any grip on the lightsaber during the skit. So instead I brought the worn leather palms back to black with a permemnant marker pen. Job done.
6th August 2010: Gauntlets progress Chopped a lot out of the Gauntlet tops to get them closer to the screen costume. The hands looked a tad big on me too, so I slimmed them in at the wrist and flared back out. Sewing through the layers of leather was tough - but was possible with my trusty metal thimble.
Now the gauntlets are loooking like they should. :)
31st July 2010: Gauntlets progress Fleece insides stripped out, and exterior buckle details removed.
Also I have seperated the side seams of the top parts of the gauntlets. I'm narrowing the top gauntlet parts by quite a lot. I'm having to glue the side seams in the new narrower positions. Slow, but progress.
29th July 2010: Gauntlets Gauntlets arrived today, another eBy snag! Bought these second hand vintage motorcyle guantlets, they cost me £7 pounds incl the postage. Woohoo, that's another piece of the costume I needed to source..
The top gauntlet parts look a lot wider than the screen costume ones so I am going to trim them down to suit. They are fully lined with lambs wool fleece and fit very snug on my hands, in fact maybe a bit too snug cuz it restrics the movement of my fingers. Fine for gripping motorcycle handles, but I want more movement in my fingers. Also I think they will be too warm to wear indoors like this, so I've decided to strip all the lining out. It will also make it easier to adjust the shapes of the gaunlet tops and re sew them.
Here goes...
28th July 2010: Boots I removed the reflective strips from the heels using a seam ripper - carefully does it.
28th July 2010: Boots ...also removed the reflective name tabs from the heels.
28th July 2010: Boots On the front shin gaurds I sanded off the painted name tags. It left the leather very faded in those areas, but black boot polish brought the colour back nicely.
26th July 2010: Boots - at last! Woohooo, at last I finally won some boots off eBy. (previous attempts I kept getting sniped in the closing seconds.)
...They are not abs identical to the screen costume boots, but still pretty darn close.. They are Frank Thomas motorcylce boots just a slightly different design version. I'll happily modify these slightly - eg remove name tabs from the shin plates and the reflective strips from the backs.
Pleased at last I can get this bad boy costume started. Just gotta wait for them to be delivered. Come on Postie.... ^_^
Here is a pic the boots I'm getting on left and for comparison the screen costume on display on right.