The Know Nothing Nerd

I still need to write up a WIP for my Helmet, but here is a peak at what I got, and some of the coolness I’ve put in it.

Enjoy.

This post is a little overdue, but some real life commitments and work have kept me a busy man. About two weeks ago I brought my fabric over to a friends house and we used his sewing machine to make my robes. I used a pattern that can be found at tk409′s site.

For my fabric I used a waffle like print for the inner robe, and a thicker, natural weave from India for my outer robe. The outer robe has a seam down the middle of the back. I had to sew two pieces together since the fabric was not as wide as I needed.

Outer Robes

Inner Robes...

Weathering the robes was fairly easy. I soaked them in tea like I did with the fabric I used for my leg wraps. For darker spots I used coffee in a spray bottle. I applied this around the base of the robe where it would touch the ground, and also at the end of the sleeves. On my inner robes I used some brown water color paint I had and sprayed that as well. I wasn’t really happy with the end result of my inner robes, but they will work for now. They are very light weight, so these may turn into “summer robes.”

Overall cost was around 8-9000 yen.

I’ve also made my arm wraps, by using an old gardening glove and sleeves from an old shirt. I used the same material that I used on my boots to wrap the arms. By using materials I already had, I didn’t really spend any money on these. Thanks to my friend TS-969 for the old gloves (you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find canvas work gloves in Tokyo!)

Here is a pick with what I have so far. I call this the poor man’s Jedi.

Ok, so over the past two days I have put together my respirator for my Tusken. Overall it probably cost me about 2000 yen ($20). To start with I used a what I think is a container to store mixed paints. I was walking around a store near the paint section and happened to find these. I picked up two of them from the store for a little under 800 yen ($8). Quick side note, I am using a rough 100 yen to 1 dollar rate, so start doing your own math.

Ok, back to the respirator! I cut these containers roughly in half. I made one a lot shorter than the other since it would have to fit inside the other one. I then cut vertically down the sides of the smaller half, and made a sort of pinwheel shape. You can see what I mean in the picture. I also cut two vertical lins down the length of the longer tube to let it “open” up a little to fit the small end in. I then put some epoxy on the inside of the longer piece and stuck the two together. [ Remember to sand the area where you will apply the epoxy. It gives it something to stick too. This is pretty standard with a lot of adhesives. ]

Once the epoxy sets we are are ready to cover this badboy in leather. I picked up a piece of brown leather for about 200 yen. I first ran some sand paper over the surface, and then grabbed some glue I bought that would work with leather. I then wrapped the leather around the tube. You might need to hold the leather in place while the glue sets. You could probably use masking tape as well; I just held it in place for about 5 minutes. To get the gloss out of the leather you can use some steelwool to buff it out. I’ll get to weathering more in a minute.

Next up I needed some water pipe fitting that many use on their Tusken builds (see Studio Creations build). I could not find them anywhere. I asked the store staff and they looked at me like I was crazy. I ended up using the ends off some plastic parts I found in the gardening section, and some bolts. These would go onto the ends of the caps.

Next up I needed to make the rod that goes around the neck. I ended up cutting it in half and using two halves. I did this so that I could bend them at the same angles and lengths. I then epoxied them into the caps (also epoxying my “pipe fittings”).

Once everything was dry I trimmed the rods so they would match up in the back. I then painted the “pipe fittings” silver with model paint I had on hand. After that dried I dry brushed black paint on to weather and dirty up the respirator. Dry brushing is basically getting some paint on the brush and then wiping most the paint off the brush. You then brush your surface and you get some nice weathering. I did this on the leather as well. Some people prefer to mist black spray paint. To each their own.

Finally, I added a little leather in the back where the rods meet. Here are two finished pics. Enjoy!

It's Dirty!!!

The Finished Respirator

For those that are not in the know, I am currently working on my second screen-accurate Star Wars costume. I already own one costume that is 501st approved and that is my Tie Fighter Pilot (Technically, I have two. The Imperial Crewman is just a Pilot without the armor and helmet). Let’s get back to what is important, my new costume. This time I am working on a Tusken Raider.

You may remember the Tusken Raiders from the original films. They were the ones that ambushed Luke after he found R2 in the canyon and ran off when Obi-wan appeared. If you aren’t cool, you probably know them as the people that kidnapped Shmi Skywalker and resulted in them being massacred by Anakin. I am working on the Episode 4 / original version of a Tusken. There are some differences between the films. The masks have a different shape in the prequels and the prequel era Tuskens don’t have the respirators around their neck. Their are other differences like the types of bandoliers used, and materials, but I won’t bore you with that.

I have began the process of gathering parts to build this costume. I highly recommend visiting the Krayt Clan if you are interested in Tuskens. Go there, signup and like any forum on the net, read, read, read, before asking questions that have probably been asked before.

I am trying to build this for as cheap as I can. I’m shooting for 300-350 USD. If you think that is expensive, I would advise to not get into replica costume or prop building. I know a guy here in Japan that made his Tusken for about 150 bucks. However, he makes props and stuff professionally, and has a lot of parts and tools laying around.

I first started on my boots. I went to a local fabric store and picked up 2 yards of khaki denim. It cost me about 1500 yen ($15). I went home and cut it into 1.5-2 inch strips. I also made some 1 inch strips as well. After that I put it in the wash. I had read that people washed the strips after cutting but I wasn’t sure. I will tell you that when you pull them out of the wash it makes sense. You will end up with a pile of frayed, although twisted and knotted, pile of cloth. After you untie and cut away all the knotting, its time to weather the strips.

Weathered Khaki Denim

To weather and dye your strips you can use diluted dye, but the easiest way is tea or coffee. I make a big pot of coffee through in about 10 teabags, and put in my strips of cloth. Then I went to sleep and pulled them out 8 hours later. To set the die I used isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. I put the strips in a ziplock bag and added some alcohol and squished it around. After that hung them to dry. [An alternate way to weather would be to add the cloth into the tea/coffee bath and continue to boil for 40 minutes or so. Then add in some more water and salt to help set the dye. Continue to boil for 15-20 minutes. I did this on my 1 inch strips. They are a little darker, which is cool. I'll be using these on my hands.]

While my strips were hanging I misted them with black, olive drab, and sand colored spray paint to give them a little extra.

Glue Pants to Shoes

I also had a tube of brown water color I picked up at the 100 yen ($1) store. I mixed it with some water and put it in a spray bottle. It wasn’t really doing anything. I noticed the bottle was leaking on to my hands so I wiped them on the strips. The result was pretty cool so I started pouring it on my hands and wiping my hands on the cloth.

Next I started on my boots. I’m trying to keep this cheap, so I used an old pair of Vans and a pair of jeans to make the boots. I picked this up off of the Krayt Clan forums. Another user there posted what he did and I liked it.

Duct Tape for support and shape

Basically you cut part of the leg off the pants and glue it to an old shoe (slip-on!). After that you can use duct tape to give it some shape and support. From there I used about some of my strips to wrap the boot. In places like the heel and toe I actually cut several smaller strips to fit around the contours. I hid the ends of the fabric when I wrapped around with the longer strips. I used hot glue and some fabric glue to keep things attached. I then put Shoe Goo over the bottom of the boots to give them soles and also to prevent the cloth on the bottom from getting ripped away.

Wrap, glue, finished!

I still need to add some more weathering, but that’s it for now. Total cost for boots about 15 bucks, 25 with Shoe Goo. I’ll be hitting up the gloves and respirator later in the week.