My Quest to Make Latex Covered Foam Lekku - #1 Making a Lekku Pattern From Scratch

Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 1 - Stand and Pattern
Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 2 - Making Tails
Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 3 - Covering Them in Latex
Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 4 - Custom Ear Pieces

While waiting for my armor I ran into so many people with lekku at C2E2 and on the internet. And I couldn't help but want to have a pair of lekku myself to dress up with. Being a Twi'lek would be pretty cool. Costume ideas are endless. You can repaint them, be a custom Sith Twi'lek or be a custom Jedi Twi'lek, or be numerous characters. So many options!

So began my quest for a set of lekku.

To begin with: Twi'lekPam on Etsy is undoubtably the best around. She is super nice and they sell for about 150 dollars. I have personally talked to people and they recommend her. She is quite a celebrity when it comes to lekku. Link to her store

But since I just laid down $700 for armor, I need a cheaper option. And its kinda fun to make your own stuff. So the next option was either cloth or foam. I wasn't too impressed with cloth because it doesn't look like skin. Foam it is then!

One foam lekku tutorial is by Sam - A Tale of Two Lekku
I liked what she did and I started the same way.

#1 - Making a Head Model and lekku base

I began by buying some half-inch thick foam at JoAnn's Fabric store. I want long lekku so I got a 50 inch piece of it. It's lovely and green. Don't forget to use coupons at JoAnn's!

Step one:  make yourself a head to work on
I found that the model heads in craft stores are too small for even my small head. You can make a plaster head of your own or go the cheap route and make a duck tape head. The process is pretty simple: buy saran wrap and duct tape, and talk your friend/hubby to tape your head while you watch TV. You may also need to convince them you aren't insane. Have them wrap plastic-wrap over your head first, two layers. Leave an opening for your nose. Next have them use duct tape. Go over it three times to make the dead stiff. Then have friend/hubby cut a small bit up the back (while trying not to cut your hair) and slowly slide the head off. Patch up the slit and you have a weird robot head just your size.

My hubby wouldn't cut it off till he put eyes on it. Angry eyes too. If I had to do it again I would use colored duct tape for fun. Note about hair: I plan to make two small buns or ponytails for my hair to be in when I wear the lekku. (my hair will be stuffed into each lekku when I wear it) so I left my hair down and didn't put it in a bun for the head model.

Step two: make yourself a pattern for you lekku base

I looked at several online tutorials and one mentioned using a diaper-shaped pattern for the head. So I decided to be a bit more scientific and I made some measurements and used those. I ended up with the pattern below. I used a scrap piece of cloth and, yes, I know I didn't cute both sides the same but my scap was too small, but I made it work. I would say the right side of my picture is the accurate side and I used it to cut my foam. One measurement I did not include in the picture is that I took a piece of paper, rolled it up, and put it on my head model and decided where my lekku should be placed, then I measured that distance from 1 inch above where my eyebrow would be. That way I knew where to put the lekku openings in my pattern.

The blue text tell that I took piece of foam, marked 12 inches on it and used  it to draw part of a circle where the lekku would be. Then I fit it to my head. And it fit almost perfectly!

I purposely left extra foam on the back just in case I cut my pattern too short. I used pins to hold the foam together. I did not use tape! I think it would tear the foam when removed.

The lekku openings.

A side view, with my too-long back. Which I promptly trimmed up.

And it looks just like a diaper - just like the Sam said!

All trimmed up and glued. I used a low-heat glue gun. A high heat will melt the foam. I found it pretty easy to glue,  but you had to pinch the foam together till the glue cooled or it split apart. I glued in small stages and now it holds quite well.

I trimmed the back and made smooth line.

And step one is done! You have a robot head and a lekku base.




Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 1 - Stand and Pattern
Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 2 - Making Tails
Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 3 - Covering Them in Latex
Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 4 - Custom Ear Pieces

Family Cosplay 2015

My hubby is in full costume mode - that means he is building like crazy. He comes home from work and builds, hangs out a bit with us, and returns to building. It's what we do.

But it is cool!

So he has been building Halloween costumes for our the recruits.

Here we have Chopper and Sabine from Star Wars Rebels.

And Ant-Man. Our second love is Marvel.

R2-KT Movie Patch

I have met R2-KT at Star Wars Celebration. My daughter fell in love with her because she was pink. We even have a mini-figure of her. She crops up a lot in the cartoons and conventions. We thought it was just a cute droid idea to make R2-D2 a girlfriend. Come to find out that R2-KT is so much more! I stumbled across an article on SlashFilm.com about this. She was made for a dying little girl named Katie (KT - get it?) and has a rich story of service and sacrifice in building her. After reading a post about her movie debut, I was proud to buy this patch. The proceeds go to many charities that help children with terminal illnesses. Check her out in the new movie and like her on Facebook!

Her puzzle patch is pretty cool - I might have to invest in that one as well.

Star Wars Imperial Bridge Crew Member Costume Build #4 - the Hat

Ok, so I did the unthinkable. I bought my hat pre-made on ebay.

All the forums at the 501st say not to do this, two people I talked to said not to do this, but I was just so intimidated by the fact that I had a hard time finding a pattern so I did it.

And I regretted it.

First off, it's oddly shaped.
Second, the greeblie or disk was not accurate.
Third, it's too tall!
Fourth - it was too big. I measured my head size, and got a hat that was way too big
Fifth - it cost 30 bucks. What a rip off!

Sigh, crap. I just need to make my own hat.

Bridge Crew hats doesn't come up that often in google, but Imperial Officer ones do.

Cyberseams Imperial Officer Uniform Hat had the best tutorial and pattern, so I started there. First I had to print the pattern on Legal sized paper. The trick is to just buy the sheets for 7 cents each at a copy place and print them at home without buying a whole ream of paper. The office couldn't print it for me because it was copyrighted.

And remember that second suit I bought? The one I was going to cut up to alter the other one? Yep, it came in super handy again! I just cut it up some more and now my hat matches my jumpsuit perfectly. I got some plain grey fabric for the lining, something not stretchy. And I got some interfacing (iron-on) and stiff interfacing for the bill.


List:
printed pattern
second jumpsuit from storage for black fabric
1/2 yard iron on interfacing (to make the hat stand up better)
1/4 yard stiff interfacing or Buckram Heavyweight Cotton Stabilizer
1/4 yard of lining material
black thread
pins
scissors
iron and ironing board
new video for kids to watch
snacks - chocolate is preferred


I found the pattern to have a few typos or errors. So here is what you need to cut:
- two black sides and two gray sides for the tall hat part, called crown
- four black flap pieces (top and bottom), which will make two black flaps. They were the same even though she had two pattern pieces
- one white stabilizer for bill
- two black pieces for bill (top and bottom)
- one black and one grey circular piece for top of hat

Then attach interfacing. I find that cutting out my pieces first, then ironing it on just till it sticks, then cutting interfacing is best. Then iron it on thoroughly after it is cut. Put an old T-shirt on top so you don't get the interfacing sticking to your iron!

I put interfacing on all black pieces, not grey. Here all all the pieces all interfaced and ready to sew.

I followed the pattern pretty closely and the directions. Here are few visuals to add to theirs that help it all make sense. I don't know why but you trim the bill, maybe after making the pattern he or she resized it and didn't want to redo the paper pattern but the first thing you do is cut this. I did use their notches in some cases but mostly I did not.

I cheated. I sewed my black pieces together, trimmed them up so the seam wouldn't be bulky, turned it right side out, and then put the white stabilizer in in. Then I sewed the decorative lines. It came out great! I was worried about the extra part showing but the hat turned out fine at the end. I did not trim the white edge off because of her large seam allowances. I read the description on the 501st page for my hat and made sure it fit their requirements on the lines, not hers.

Then you sew your crown pieces together, just the black ones first, then the grey.

Make sure to press your seams flat so the hat lies nicely. I pressed mine open and flat. I was worried about how large the seam allowance was but in the end it all worked fine. Make a note where you center lines are. I put a yellow pin where my center seam was (seam on the sides was my choice) and also put a white pin in the front part of the circular top. That way you always know which is the front and center of  them.

Note: the pattern said to notch the crown. Well, it didn't work. And logically I realized I needed to notch the circular hat part. Did that and the hat fit much better. Note my yellow center and red pins. The rest or side pins were white. Helped line them up easily.

A notch is not a slit, so make sure you make mini-triangles and then pin them closed. Worked great.

If you look below you can see the white pin that indicates the front of my hat and a center pin is there as well but doesn't show. That way I know where to center my flaps and bill. Doesn't that look like a a promising start?

Note: trim the seams as the pattern states, with a layering technique to help reduce bulk. Google it for details but it makes the hat looks so sharp!

And when putting the flaps on, I found you need to measure or center them first. Unless you put centering pins in your pieces earlier on like me. I sewed my bill on by starting at the center and working out like the pattern mentioned. No puckering at all. I did the same for the flaps. 

The rest of the pattern seemed straight-forward. Send me a note if you need more details and I will provide them. The whole process took abut 3 hours for me. The cost was about 15 dollars (7 for greeblie) I purchased items at Jo Ann's with coupons to boot.

Now, isn't that much nicer? Compare that neat, trim little black hat on the right with the oddly-shaped hat on the left.

Ah, much better!

The greeblie or insignia disk I purchased off of a 501st member - Ken at elvistrooper.com

It was much better and way more accurate then the ones that came with my ebay disaster hat. And inexpensive.

I plan to attach the disk to a thin rare-earth magnet and then it can easily be removed. Or use super glue. Whatever strikes my fancy.

Merry Sithmas

Star Wars stuff used to be limited to the Star Wars room - amply named for all its star wars stuff.  I personally am not a collector. My hubby is. While I read the books, watch movies, follow blogs, and make costumes, he buys tons of star wars crap - oh, mementoes.

And now it is taking over other parts of the house. Nerdy though I am, it might start bothering me.

New last year was the Star Wars lawn ornament set from our local hardware store. I liked them too and bought them for dear hubby.

And this year it was the Star Wars Tree. Luckily my black Halloween tree (used for The Nightmare before Christmas Ornaments set) worked out great. I still can't believe I found a black, fake christmas tree!

Complete with Star Wars Ornaments. I wanted more red, but he wanted silver. Sadly Target was out of the Yoda Tree Topper, and I want the Darth Vader Tree Topper, but the recruits want a star. So Jed tied a Bossk action figure up there. It was pretty funny....

So next year it will be one of these: well maybe.... unless something cooler comes out.

And check out this ornament set from ShopBuyTrend by Disney. I might just buy this now for next year. That way I don't regret it forever.

I am pretty sure my geeked-out hubby will be very happy. Especially for Han Solo in carbonite.

Star Wars Mania

We all know the new movie is coming out - but holy snikies! So are tons of merchandise. Not that I complain that often about buying cool star wars stuff but I think it may have reached a new, pitifully low level with Disney buying the franchise.

Just a few finds:

We are waffle people so naturally I did buy this item from thinkgeek.com and I admit it works pretty well! The waffles are very filling and huge, and can't easily be divided without destroying the death star. Something my recruits at home just love.

Shower heads: both hubby and I agreed this was just creepy. Having Darth Vader stare at you while you shower just seems wrong.

R2-D2 humidifier: Oh, Disney, how low can you go! But of course I bought one for my son's room. Sheesh, like shootin' fish in a barrel.

Notice our star wars room. Filled to the hilt with Star Wars and Marvel crap - Oh, I mean collectibles. But the puzzle was actually fairly challenging and kept our attention for most of November. It is a photomosaic puzzle of Boba Fett. It is so difficult in parts that you have to peer with a magnifying glass at the guide they give you to look at the patterns on the mosaics. Best 10 bucks spent ever!

And this was mine. They were out of the Tie Fighter so I got this one to give to my hubby. This 3D metal model was super hard to put together and besides being super shiny, and super cool lookin' - it now sits on a rotating base that just adds to the geekiness of it all. I highly recommend this one. But not for kids, maybe a very skilled teen.  And get the base, you will want it. They now have ones that light up.

Star Wars Imperial Bridge Crew Member Costume Build #3 - the Accessories

The Comm Pad

First on my list of accessories was a comm pad. Not needed but I really wanted it. 

If you are interested in making your own, the Nerdista has an inexpensive tutorial on how to make one from a plastic sign. You can get a sign from your local hardware store.

However, I chose to buy one. I purchased a flat one at first and when it arrived I just didn't like it. It was thick and heavy. My hubby also purchased the same one to use with his rebel pilot costume. He was able to trim a lot of bulk from his and make it work. I still didn't like it. So after hunting around I found one that was curved, and reasonably priced at Hole in the Ground Productions.

See the two side by side. Note how slim and curved the one is. It seems to fit my arm better.

Needless to say, it became my preferred one. I made sure to buy it before making my pocket. That way the window I cut for it was perfectly sized.

To paint it I just used sharpies. It is a challenge to get in all the cracks but I made it work. 

It turned out really good!

The Belt