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[Garretjax]

What are people's tips for weathering black soft parts. Both my best and flight suit are darkish black and I'm getting to the point where I need to weather them to match my armor. Any tips

[The Unknown Mando]

What are people's tips for weathering black soft parts. Both my best and flight suit are darkish black and I'm getting to the point where I need to weather them to match my armor. Any tips

What material is it made from? Do you want weathering as in faded jumpsuit?whats your character been through? What does he/she do?Dirt shows up on black, ash does as well, different clay surfaces or chalk will show up on black as well. What about pet hair.....the bane of black clothing

[OriKad]

I'm wearing a pair of black sweatpants (my sit around the house and work on stuff pants) that are pretty well weathered.  Key points are places where the seams are coming undone over time, small holes, places where you dripped or spilled something on yourself, and some fading in high-wear areas like the knees, seat, and thighs.  I've got a pretty good pink splotch where I leaned against my mixing plate full of bondo...  There's a few little splotches of paint and glue (easy to simulate by splotching your normal paint and glue on your flightsuit)...

Denim and duck, and other hard-wearing woven rather than knit fabrics, tend to get a little shinier in the seat, knees, thigh tops, and inside of the legs if it's been a LONG while since it's been washed (once had to go 3 months without being able to wash my pants because of bad drains and a closed local laundromat)  Wear some white pants for a few days straight and take note of where they start to look grimy, then rub black shoe polish into the same areas on your black flightsuit.  Do the same with a shirt (you don't want to be the guy who's wearing an all-white outfit a few days straight, so do them on separate occasions)

[KaylinSilverfurr]

You can weather black fabric in a few ways;

1. Using a mix of off-white spray paint to lighten it in areas and give it that sun exposure,
2. Using a mix of bleach and water, like 10% bleach to 90% water, and use the same as you would spray paint. Do fabric testing first to make sure that your fabric won't disintegrate from the bleach though, and use the dilute mixture in layers in order to get it to the lightness you want. This will make the fabric go orange though, not white, so be aware of that,
3. Using matte eyeshadows or terra cotta conte/charcoal sticks. Usually you'd use these in areas like the stitching and folds, as that's where dust collects naturally.

~Kaylin

[Kerricane]

there's always the damaged aspect, taking some sandpaper or cheesegrater to it. especially around areas like knees, elbows, underarms, etc. my favourite method for weathering is to grind colored conte sticks (the pack i get has black, white, and 2-3 shades of brown) and mix them into different shaded powders, sprinkling it all over the piece, and then giving it a good beating. then, you can use a damp cloth to wipe it off where you don't want it, leaving it in the cracks and crevices. this would work especially well with white or grey powder on a black suit.

[Garretjax]

THsnk you all for the suggestions this is all really helpful.

[Buir Be An Vheh'ade]

like it has been said above .  white spray paint. more specifically i have used  88 cent walmart blue can white  primmer spray paint, caue it dries  flat. no gloss. and when i did alot of my darker stuff for wasteland clothes and such. i would  lay them out flat hold teh can  about  3 -4 feet above the pieces and spray horizontally across the air space above them in full depressed short burst. on non  windy day. the mist slowly lightly lands on the fabric giving the faded look. then after a hour or so caue it will be reallly sticky so let it sit there for a few hours in the sun. then crumple up the clothes and do quick 1-2 ft away fast  sprays  to give it the  heavier use look
and be sure not to go too heavy . the cloth will get  pretty stiff.  and be sure to let it dry in the  warm air and sun for a day or three

[DocJancsi]

One thing that has not been mentioned is washing soda.  Washing soda is baking soda’s meaner nastier cousin. It is found in the laundry section of your local supermarket and is often sold as a laundry booster right along side borax.
This stuff is very good at aging fabric. It is both mildly caustic and fairly abrasive. Toss whatever you are weathering into an agitator tub washing machine with 1/4 cup of washing soda and use fabric softer in the rinse as you normally would. Then tumble dry on high heat.  3-4 cycles like that and the garment will look years older. [size=78%] [/size]

[Thel Ihveen]

For my kama, boots and leather goods I used a combo of physical weathering and acrylic/fabric paints. The only real difference between weathering black and weathering any other color is the "grime" colors you have to use. Black or dark colors won't show up, so instead you have to use lighter colors in small amounts. All the sandpapering/fraying/cheese-grater-ing/driveway-dragging stays the same.

For paint, I personally stay away from things that will potentially wash or wear off, since my flightsuit gets thrown in the wash after hot summer troops. Acrylic artists paint such as Liquitex brand, fabric/puff paint found in the craft aisle, or spraypaint work great because they're designed to be permanent. For colors, any kind of gray (ash), tans (mud), red-brown (red dirt), or light brown (general planetary grime) will certainly show. These can be dry-brushed, spattered, sprayed, or stippled on. Let me know if you want more info on how I like to apply the paint!

Whatever you do, though - apply hints of the same colors to your plates, if you can. If your boots get spattered, go for the boot plates/knees/shins as well. You don't have to go all-out on your plates, but if you have grime instead of general wear and fading, keep the grime consistent.