Mando Mercs Costume Club
Mandalorian Armor => Soft Parts => Topic started by: Aria on Apr 06, 2015, 03:41 PM
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First build soft parts! 8)
Hello fellow Mercs!
I'm Aria, and I'm working on my first kit starting with my soft parts. I'm sewing everything myself, so I'd appreciate some feedback and constructive suggestions for improvement as I go along. (I'd like to get it right the first time, so learning from other's mistakes is a great way to do that)
I am currently working on my kama, having finished my flight suit, flak vest and a few other soft parts to add some color. I'll be uploading pics of the 'finished' stuff, and adding more as I get more done.
The internet in my part of the world runs slowly at times, so forgive me if I take a while to reply/update.
Anyhow, this is my armor concept, so more or less what I'm aiming for.
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20141127_185447_zps3b537fa7.jpg)
This is my flight suit.
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20150328_180759_zpsyauz1env.jpg) (http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20150328_180949_zpsqjd8ydps.jpg)
It is two pieces; a shirt and pants, and they are made out of the exact same martial, despite the fact they look different in the pictures. :o
This is the collar. It zips up the back, and the zipper is hidden by the flak vest.
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20150323_204853_zpsdlfdbhmv.jpg)
And the fluffy ears are from my bother who thought my dress dummy needed some ears. Naturally.
This is my flak vest. It's duck canvas, and laces up both sides. I'm a little concerned about the shoulder tab/sleeves, but I hope they'll work out alright.
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20150404_175732_zpsxuj2wtxj.jpg)
and this is me with my belt/sash thing, vest and flight suit on....I don't have the leg wraps (which are red) on at this point. I will get a picture of that soon.
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20150404_200226_zpshanpuloc.jpg)
So what do you think so far? Feedback is always appreciated! :laugh:
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Looking good so far
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Looking good so far
Thank you!
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Did you make your vest yourself?! It looks incredible! I just finished mine today and it doesn't look near as good as yours. My skills (or lack there of) have got a lot of improving to do in order to get something like that to turn out!
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The shoulder tabs on your vest looked overly large, UNTIL you put it on. They seem to sit just where you need them to.
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Did you make your vest yourself?! It looks incredible! I just finished mine today and it doesn't look near as good as yours. My skills (or lack there of) have got a lot of improving to do in order to get something like that to turn out!
Yes, I did! Thank you! :) I've done a lot of sewing in the past couple years so I think that helped me get some practice in! I'm pretty surprised it came out as well as it did. I was thinking I'd have to work on it a lot more to get it to look this nice.
The shoulder tabs on your vest looked overly large, UNTIL you put it on. They seem to sit just where you need them to.
I was actually pretty worried about the shoulder tabs, so I'm glad they look ok now....I cut them down a few times form the original size before I was happy with where they were sitting. Hopefully they work out alright!
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Well I think I'm done with my soft parts....or at least the major work -- I may have to do a little 'editing' as I go along.
Finished my kama. I'm super happy with how the mythosaur skull came out. Pictures with the full kit so far this time. (not my final boots, though)
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/DSCN2639_zpsvukifuqx.jpg) (http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/DSCN2640_zpsholspmec.jpg) (http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/DSCN2641_zpsj3tbxfez.jpg) (http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/DSCN2642_zpsqgwyzejm.jpg)
yeah, I wasn't ready for that picture... younger sibs make great photographers. 8)
Thoughts?
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The skull is definitely sweet! I also love the look of long Kamas, so yours is looking really good. It almost makes me want to go back to wanting to use one in my build! :p
Don't worry. I'm not ever ready for pictures. Even when I know it's being taken. ;)
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The skull is definitely sweet! I also love the look of long Kamas, so yours is looking really good. It almost makes me want to go back to wanting to use one in my build! :p
Don't worry. I'm not ever ready for pictures. Even when I know it's being taken. ;)
Thanks! I'm thinking I may distress the skull side a little more to match the other side, but I'm really happy with how it looks.
Guess for us mercs who can't take pictures that we get to wear helmets, huh? :laugh:
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I see the distressing now! I missed that the first time. That adds to the look so much!
And heck yes. Hooray for our helmets! It'll hide the fact that I'm always the one guy who has his eyes closed in the picture. Haha
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I see the distressing now! I missed that the first time. That adds to the look so much!
And heck yes. Hooray for our helmets! It'll hide the fact that I'm always the one guy who has his eyes closed in the picture. Haha
Yeah, the lighting/coloring hides the distressing a lot, but it shows up great in real life. :) I like the look too...plus it's just fun to destroy things sometimes...I might have enjoyed that.
Haha, yeah, we'll start wearing our helmets in public for that reason!
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Love the style of your set, the Kama just looks fantastic! I plan to make one too but was going to go for the shorter one as I'm not that tall. Really looks brilliant :)
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Love the style of your set, the Kama just looks fantastic! I plan to make one too but was going to go for the shorter one as I'm not that tall. Really looks brilliant :)
Thank you so much!!! :) And actually, I'm not that tall myself - just over 5'2", so I think a longer kama works on anyone. (Plus it's a wee bit more feminine without being too girly, which is nice for a merc)
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I would have guessed you to be taller than that! Have you started on your bucket yet?
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I would have guessed you to be taller than that! Have you started on your bucket yet?
Uh....no.... :o That part scares me, so I'm going to put that off until the last possible moment! (meaning I have nothing else to work on! lol)
I seriously doubt it will be that difficult, but I tend to get overwhelmed when I look at the whole picture and how much work I have to do (mostly since I have no idea what I'm doing for a lot of it), so I'm trying not to think about it too much. I just started my armor today, so I'll get a thread up and running for that soon. :)
I know you've got a good start on your bucket, though, so you'll have to give me tips when I do start mine!
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I really like the look of that kama! The distressing on it reminds of an old, worn flag. In a good way! It definitely gives me some ideas I hadn't thought of for mine...
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Uh....no.... :o That part scares me, so I'm going to put that off until the last possible moment! (meaning I have nothing else to work on! lol)
I seriously doubt it will be that difficult, but I tend to get overwhelmed when I look at the whole picture and how much work I have to do (mostly since I have no idea what I'm doing for a lot of it), so I'm trying not to think about it too much. I just started my armor today, so I'll get a thread up and running for that soon. :)
I know you've got a good start on your bucket, though, so you'll have to give me tips when I do start mine!
I'll be happy to help where I can! The vest was the most intimidating thing for me. I'm still not happy with it! But I just worked on shaping my armor a little more tonight and added something to my helmet. I feel like I had a wasted night for the most part. :(
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I really like the look of that kama! The distressing on it reminds of an old, worn flag. In a good way! It definitely gives me some ideas I hadn't thought of for mine...
Thank you!! :) Go for the distressed look! It's A) cool looking and B) much fun to do.
I'll be happy to help where I can! The vest was the most intimidating thing for me. I'm still not happy with it! But I just worked on shaping my armor a little more tonight and added something to my helmet. I feel like I had a wasted night for the most part. :(
I think we all have days like that, where nothing goes quite right. Especially when we're working on something like kits and we want them to turn out perfect. But hopefully with hard work and perseverance we look alright in the end...fingers crossed... :rolleyes: But from what I say earlier your armor looks like you're off to a better start then I am! ???
I don't know if it helps with your vest or not since I haven't see it (do you have a pic somewhere??), but for my brother's flak vest I'm just using one of his shirts as a pattern and cutting around that. It's going to be a side opening vest like mine, so all I have to do to it is sew the shoulders, which is pretty easy. And then take up the sides a little...So much easier then dealing with patterns and things.
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That is looking brilliant. Love the leg wraps and the arm strip especially.
If you've already got this and it's just not showing on the photos, ignore me - but don't forget that with that much ripping your kama will probably have some amount of dirt or carbon scoring that won't wash out no matter how many times you put it through the Mandalorian washing machine.
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Wow! Truly inspiring work!
I love the way you did your vest. And your neckseal... And, well, everything!
If your doing a scratchbuild for your helmet, just remember to take your time and let every step take the time it needs... I guess that's also true if you're not going from scratch, right? :-)
Looking forward to watching your work progress!
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I don't know if it helps with your vest or not since I haven't see it (do you have a pic somewhere??), but for my brother's flak vest I'm just using one of his shirts as a pattern and cutting around that. It's going to be a side opening vest like mine, so all I have to do to it is sew the shoulders, which is pretty easy. And then take up the sides a little...So much easier then dealing with patterns and things.
Yeah. That's how I did mine too. But I need to go back through and open up the holes for my arms. It's kind of snug up around my armpit right now. Also around my neck it looks rather atrocious Haha. It's cut pretty crooked. This was a learning experience. If I need a new one, I may have to ask nicely for you to make me one Haha. ;)
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That is looking brilliant. Love the leg wraps and the arm strip especially.
If you've already got this and it's just not showing on the photos, ignore me - but don't forget that with that much ripping your kama will probably have some amount of dirt or carbon scoring that won't wash out no matter how many times you put it through the Mandalorian washing machine.
Thank you! Yes, I do want to do some staining on my kama...I'm just trying to figure out what would show up and stain the best. Any suggestions?? :)
If your doing a scratchbuild for your helmet, just remember to take your time and let every step take the time it needs... I guess that's also true if you're not going from scratch, right? :-)
Right! What's the old saying...patience is a virtue? Though granted sometimes one I wish I didn't require. ;)
And thank you, by the way. I'm glad you like my kit!
Yeah. That's how I did mine too. But I need to go back through and open up the holes for my arms. It's kind of snug up around my armpit right now. Also around my neck it looks rather atrocious Haha. It's cut pretty crooked. This was a learning experience. If I need a new one, I may have to ask nicely for you to make me one Haha. ;)
Haha, yes, by then I should have all three brother's vest done...so I might be an expert! :laugh: Cutting things straight is always hard though...you should see some of the pants I've made! :o
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You're making three!? :o Haha. Dang! You'll be happy if you never have to make another vest in your life after that. I think it's awesome that you're doing it as a family. That's definitely cool! :D
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And here's how mine turned out.
(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a209/Riley_knows/Mando%20Mercs/IMG_20150412_220852065_HDR.jpg)
(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a209/Riley_knows/Mando%20Mercs/IMG_20150412_220724704_HDR.jpg)
I guess it's not TERRIBLE for a first attempt. Haha
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Kursh, if you don't like your vest (looks fab BTW) you could always mount yer plates on that epic beard!! ;-)
Aria, I wanted to ask about your neckseal. Did you use anything special to get the nice ribbed effect? I tried cotton batting, PVC foam piping, even tried with cheaply skipping ropes.... Can't get as nice a ribbed effect as you did... So, spill it! What's yer secret??
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Kursh, if you don't like your vest (looks fab BTW) you could always mount yer plates on that epic beard!! ;-)
Aria, I wanted to ask about your neckseal. Did you use anything special to get the nice ribbed effect? I tried cotton batting, PVC foam piping, even tried with cheaply skipping ropes.... Can't get as nice a ribbed effect as you did... So, spill it! What's yer secret??
Haha. Thank you! I guess I'm OCD and critical of myself. I'm trying to work my way into BEARDs!
And yeah! I love that ribbed collar and I'd like to try it out on mine!
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I'm gonna have to agree with jm - that's a good looking vest! The neckline doesn't look that uneaven to me (at least no more then mine is) The only thing I see is what you mentioned about the arm holes being too small. :P
And yeah, it was one of those things where the sibs found out I was joining and all of a sudden it was like, "I've wanted to join for forever!! Make me an outfit too!!" .... and then the next morning I woke up to three concept sketches posted on my fb. lol
Alrighty, ribbed collar. First thing, it's not terribly comfortable, so I actually have a thin black collar I wear under it to keep it from chafing my neck. Second, it's kind of frustrating (as all things mando seem to be - but we love it anyway), so be warned!
It's black denim, stuffed with fiberfill. (phiberfill? I forget how it's spelled on the package) You can find it at Joann Fabrics or most craft stores...it's the stuff they use to stuff dolls.
I used an old pattern of mine for the collar itself. Cut two and sew them together like a normal collar, but when you flip them inside out (so the seems are in the inside) you're going to sew two lines down the length of the collar. So you sort of have three long 'tubes' down the length of the collar. (you may also want to sew a line just inside the actual seem at the bottom of the collar so you'll have room to sew it onto the flight suit once it's stuffed) Try not to make the tubes too thin in any places, because that will make it difficult to stuff (I know ??? )
From there you're going to take the big bag of fiberfill and take out little teeny-tiny wads one at a time and roll them up (so they stay stuck together as they are stuffed) and stuff them down the tubes until the tubes are nice and plump. (It takes a lot more stuffing then you think) I used a chopstick to help. I also found that stuffing all from one direction (meaning not flipping the collar over as I worked on it, but keeping one side up the entire time) caused the fiberfill to clump in such a way that it actually curved the collar for me.
From there I just sewed it into my flight suit, trimmed off what wasn't needed and added my zipper.
Does that make sense? It does to me, but I made the thing....if you want I can get up a tutorial post with pics explaining the whole thing in another thread? (Pictures make everything easier to understand ;) )
AND I also just got my armor build thread started (I'll link it into my signature in a sec) if you feel inclined to head over that way and give me feedback on my horrible armor attempts! :laugh:
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So your soft parts look AMAZING.
One thing I wanna advise about though is the vest lacing on the sides; I have this on mine and it's hard to deal with. I know with mine I have to unlace essentially the whole thing to get my flak vest off, and then re-lace each time I put the vest back on. The laces may start fraying on the ends if you have to unlace & re-lace each time. I recommend putting a zipper on the back, under where the backplate will go; it will save time & frustration when kitting up. I promise this will make it easier. On the off-chance I missed it & you do already have a zipper; you are way ahead of me & are genius :)
With the above being said, I do however love the look of your vest. I'm a big fan of the lacing on the sides. I am also jealous of the kama because it's gorgeous. This is just phenomenal work all around
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That ribbed collar idea makes perfect sense. We had a clan armor party today and I had a chance to check one out up close. With that close up visual and your directions, I think I can manage! Thanks for taking the time to type it all out for us! :)
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So your soft parts look AMAZING.
One thing I wanna advise about though is the vest lacing on the sides; I have this on mine and it's hard to deal with. I know with mine I have to unlace essentially the whole thing to get my flak vest off, and then re-lace each time I put the vest back on. The laces may start fraying on the ends if you have to unlace & re-lace each time. I recommend putting a zipper on the back, under where the backplate will go; it will save time & frustration when kitting up. I promise this will make it easier. On the off-chance I missed it & you do already have a zipper; you are way ahead of me & are genius :)
With the above being said, I do however love the look of your vest. I'm a big fan of the lacing on the sides. I am also jealous of the kama because it's gorgeous. This is just phenomenal work all around
First, THANK YOU!! :D That means a lot, because your kit is amazing.
Second, I've been able to keep one side of the vest laced and slip in and out with only one side unlaced. (saves a lot of time!!) I thought about a zipper at first but I hate how they look, so I'll stick with lacing for now and see how it goes. If it annoys me too much I'll stick a zipper in the back and pretend it was that way originally! :laugh:
That ribbed collar idea makes perfect sense. We had a clan armor party today and I had a chance to check one out up close. With that close up visual and your directions, I think I can manage! Thanks for taking the time to type it all out for us! :)
No problem! I'm glad it made sense, I might have been slightly sleep deprived when I wrote it...
Let me know how your collar goes! :)
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Since it was raining today and I couldn't work on armor, I did a bit of "staining/carbon scoring" to my kama. Thoughts? I want to leave the skull side untouched until I get the full kit done to see how everything looks.
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20150420_190808_zpsru7lmdfb.jpg)
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20150420_190830_zpsk2fp0j6j.jpg)
In theory, my legs should be blocking most of the inside of the kama, so I did less staining on that side.
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I like it! It definitely looks like you've been in a scuffle or two! I'm also in favor of leaving your designed side alone until you're further along. There's nothing wrong with that! I'd hate to see you "rough it up" too much and end up not liking it.
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Exactly my thoughts!
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looks absolutely fantastic!
I hope my kit turns out half this good!
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looks absolutely fantastic!
I hope my kit turns out half this good!
Thank you!! Good luck with your kit - just remember it takes time and planning (and sometimes beating your head against the wall....) ;)
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That looks really good, very battle worn. Can I ask how you did it? The edges look 'proper' rather than just torn or cut. Just love that Kama to bits.
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That looks really good, very battle worn. Can I ask how you did it? The edges look 'proper' rather than just torn or cut. Just love that Kama to bits.
Thank you!! :D
For the edges, it helped that I picked a super fray-able material (linen), but I think this technique will work on just about anything except pleather and leather.
I sewed a seem along the kama just above the point where I wanted to fray it to (using the same color thread, of course), then I cut out the jagged parts using both scissors and a seem ripper (scissors for the larger parts and the seem ripper for the smaller details) and attacked a lot of the edges with the seem ripper to fray them until I was happy. So it's kind of a combination of cutting/fraying/attacking fabric.
The staining is eyeshadow. I used a lot of black highlighted with gray and a wide varieties of brown highlighted with very small amounts of white. I used the same technique about six years ago when I did a Jurassic park uniform and the stains on that uniform are still there and very visible, so it doesn't fade or wear off over time. Just be careful, because it sticks to fabric and DOES NOT COME OFF OR BLEND at all...so once it's on there it's on there. ;)
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I want to see that Jurassic Park costume! I bet that's rad!
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I want to see that Jurassic Park costume! I bet that's rad!
hahaha! I even cut the brim of my hat so it looked like a dino bit it...it was awesome. ;D
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hahaha! I even cut the brim of my hat so it looked like a dino bit it...it was awesome. ;D
That was another one of my childhood favorite movies. To this day, I still have all my JP toys, pillowcases and books.
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I still like watching it in the dark because the raptors are still scary in the dark....somethings I will never out grow!
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Just a note to say thanks for the advice on fraying, neat trick to sew first and use a seam ripper to shred. I would never have thought to use make-up, great idea!
Also...Raptors, one of the only movies to ever give me a nightmare. Raptors *shudder*
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Just a note to say thanks for the advice on fraying, neat trick to sew first and use a seam ripper to shred. I would never have thought to use make-up, great idea!
Also...Raptors, one of the only movies to ever give me a nightmare. Raptors *shudder*
Do you say, "Clever girl..." right before you're eaten in your dreams? :P
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Just a note to say thanks for the advice on fraying, neat trick to sew first and use a seam ripper to shred. I would never have thought to use make-up, great idea!
Also...Raptors, one of the only movies to ever give me a nightmare. Raptors *shudder*
No problem! I hope it helps - I think your kit is looking great so far, I can't wait to see how it turns out. :)
Do you say, "Clever girl..." right before you're eaten in your dreams? :P
Now I really will have nightmares....thanks! :P
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Just wanted to add my kudos to the many . . . That Kama is awesome. I really appreciate the discussion of you height, though. I'm also 5'2' and didn't think I'd be able to pull of a long Kama. I'm re thinking that now . . .
;D
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Just wanted to add my kudos to the many . . . That Kama is awesome. I really appreciate the discussion of you height, though. I'm also 5'2' and didn't think I'd be able to pull of a long Kama. I'm re thinking that now . . .
;D
Thank you! :)
Honestly, as long as you scale everything to your own height you can pull off anything. So try that long kama, you might be surprised. ;)
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If you need a bucket I have some for sale, though I'm not sure they would fit you:/ if not, the scratch build really wasn't that bad, I went over to TDH to get a template, and once you get started its just 10 minutes at a time
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Yeah, I struggled with helmets quite a bit before I got mine.... :laugh: I was thinking about scratch building the next (upgraded) one, but I think that would take me forever!
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Twi'lek soft parts (Wow, look how far I've come! :laugh:)
Um, well, I'm doing it to myself again and started a new build about a month ago. I'm doing a twi'lek this time. Figured I'd add my soft parts onto my existing thread vs. starting a new thread for just a few pictures.
Build is going nicely so far. Soft parts are 90% done, have to sew my cape together and add some details to the blue loin cloths. Shouldn't take very long now that I'm rolling. Armor is mostly cut out and shaped. Will be starting a new WIP for that process tonight as well.
I learned some stuff with my last build (mainly I don't like codplates) so I'm opting out of those this time.
Build will be mostly black (seems like a theme with me, huh? ;) ) and bright blue. And, in answer to the most important question, I am going to be a flesh colored Twi'lek. Not really interested in being blue for a week after an event. :P
Concept.
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20160226_001740_zpsf3bwlsrr.jpg)
Cape....
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20160225_170326_zpsixnkvwlm.jpg)
Blue in the center is a square of the same blue I'm using for the loin cloths. Breaks up the black a little. It just needs more break in time to hang like the rest of the squares. Trust me. ;)
and I'll get some photos of the rest of them up tomorrow. Mostly just needed to remind myself to post the updates. :rolleyes:
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This will be sweeeeet. Any projections on when it'll be finished? If you finish your second kit before I even finish my first I WILL karate chop you. :P ;)
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But but but... BLUE!!!
Know that feeling all too well. Finding blue patches that I've missed the day after an event. And that's with most of me covered to avoid excess painting of skin :P I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided to do a bright blue Twi'lek. in hindsight, flesh coloured would have been so much easier.
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This will be sweeeeet. Any projections on when it'll be finished? If you finish your second kit before I even finish my first I WILL karate chop you. :P ;)
Goal is Motor City....So we'll just have to have an epic karate battle! :laugh:
But realistically, it depends on how long it takes to adjust the bucket I end up with to the lekku....So....sometime this year would be nice!! :P
But but but... BLUE!!!
Know that feeling all too well. Finding blue patches that I've missed the day after an event. And that's with most of me covered to avoid excess painting of skin :P I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided to do a bright blue Twi'lek. in hindsight, flesh coloured would have been so much easier.
I love blue twi'leks....but the idea of not having to scrub my skin off to remove the color I love more. :laugh:
Alright, it was a busy day today....so keep reminding me and I'll get photos of soft parts up by the end of the weekend... :D
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Twi'lek soft parts are done!
Flak vest, sash (it's black) and front loin cloth (with cape in the back):
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20160304_172452_zpskjxs7ti9.jpg)
Back loin cloth (and part of the cape?)
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20160304_172523_zpsqekc58rs.jpg)
More or less looks like this when it's on me:
(http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah111/ladygambit/IMG_20160308_171916_zpshj0dasgk.jpg)
But...usually happier! :P
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Heck yeah! That loincloth looks awesome! I was just thinking about your project and was going to ask if you've made any progress!
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Heck yeah! That loincloth looks awesome! I was just thinking about your project and was going to ask if you've made any progress!
Just a little! ;) Took a while off to finish some other costumes and commissions....and take a break from torso plates. :P Back on it now and just want to knock it out.