Twi'lek Pam

Don't worry, tooling the lines is very easy! Add them before you dye the leather, since you have to get it damp first. Sponge on a light coat of water, give it a moment to saturate the top layer of the leather, and then use a strong straight-edge and something with a pointed (but not sharp) tip to etch the lines. I used a nail setter, and it did a great job. I made a very light and shallow line first, to make a guide line, and then went over it a second time with more pressure. That gives the tool a channel to follow so you have less chance of it getting crooked when you are pressing hard. Allow the leather to dry, and the lines will be permanent! Be sure to hold the leather and the straight-edge firmly so that they don't shift while you are making the lines. After that, you dye and seal the leather, and it's done! Pam

Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially reached our fundraising goal for the year! Thank you to Bill and Matthew for providing the last of the funds that we needed. Between your donations we reached the EXACT total of $41. How's that for luck?! I recieved a couple other offers for donations yesterday, also. Thank you for offering; perhaps you can help us out next year! Thanks again to everyone who helped us raise money for the 2012 web hosting. Your donations were greatly appreciated, and we're now good to go until next January.... when the fundraising will start all over again! Pam

That's a good question, and I really don't know the answer to it. I've seen armor for other characters (stormtrooper, clone, etc) that was dirty or battle damaged, and the sandtrooper amor certainly tends to look a bit weathered... so I would assume that Imperial Knight armor could be portrayed that way, also. But, considering the size of the Imperial Knight ego and their drive to always look and be the best, I imagine any damage to their armor would be repaired ASAP, so it wouldn't be normal to see something like that. They're the spit-and-polish variety of armor wearers. I would advise checking with an LMO before damaging your armor, just to be on the safe side! Pam

Thank you to James (hitori) for your donation to our web hosting fees. We've now raised $90, and have $41 more to go! Thanks, Pam

Thanks The armor was first spray painted satin black, and then I dry-brushed an assortment of metallic enamel paints over that. Mostly gunmetal, with some hints of bronze and silver for highlights on the texture. Pam

Those images are nearly all there is. The full version of the front view does show his full robe.... but with a white haze in front of it from the waist down so that you cannot see any details. There's one other front view, also just of the head, and the picture of him getting his head removed by Talon. That's it... he is only present for two pages, and then he's gone. You cannot count a custom figure as a reference, so those few partial images are all the references we have. As I often say, make a costume because you want to make it, not because you want to get it approved by some group. I do not think this costume would ever be approved for the 501st simply because there aren't enough references, but if you want it, make it for your own enjoyment. Pam

Better late than never! I updated the tutorial picture to the correct belt. Too many things on my too-do list, not enough time to do them all! (Actually, I hadn't even realized that it still had the old image... I don't get on the website often enough these days!) http://chucrew.com/Nihilus/accessories.html Pam

Saber tutorials, here you go! viewtopic.php?f=59&t=550 Pam

Ya know, the more I look at the flat images, the more differences I see between the designs there and the comic art. She definitely made some changes. I guess we can add this artwork to the endless assortment of potential tattoo patterns! Such is the danger of EU costuming... Pam

With duct tape, while standing like a flamingo, holding your breath, and glaring imperiously, of course. (Though, if you ask my husband... he'd say "With staples.") I imagine the best thing to do would be to enlarge the image and print out sections of it to help design a stencil pattern for each main section. As soon as I saw it, I just had to get out my own patterns and start making comparisons. I drew my tattoo patterns by sitting in the middle of a pile of comic books, trying to match the different angles, so it really was fun to see how close I got to her final design. In the front I missed the little hook design by the belly button. (The curves that arc up are supposed to have little fish hook designs.) I didn't notice them in the comic art until I'd already drawn the V shape without the hooks... and then I couldn't decide if they should be there or not, because they tend to come and go in the artwork. They really aren't very noticable in the flat image, either... perhaps they were meant to be very small, and only became oversized in a comic panel or two on accident. I still need to finish the rest of it, such as the extensions from the chest pattern that go down under the arms. I'll probably end up doing that someday, even though I gave up on the costume itself! And on this one, I definitely got the zigzag of the lines that go over the hips wrong... but I think I got the "butterfly wings" part of the design fairly close. My shoulder patterns don't seem to look very much like the flat image at all... I need to go back to the comics and see if they're really THAT badly off, or if perhaps she changed the design when she made the flat image. Either one is possible! Pam

This was posted on facebook by Jan Duursema, Darth Talon's creator. "Jan Duursema: Had some requests for Darth Talon's tattoos. Made this to create a turn around model of her in Daz Studio so I could understand the designs from all angles without driving myself crazy..." https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 2bd76f0b27

Pics are about halfway down the page: http://chucrew.com/Nihilus/hood.html Pam

Beautiful progress on this costume so far. I love seeing things like this develop. From the top.... Good choice on removing the ridged rings around the ear caps. I think that's a good improvment, both to make them look smaller, and less manufactured. Excellent job hiding the join between the headpiece and your forehead. It looks very good. I'd really like to see more curve at the top section of the lekku, where they come out from the back of your head. The crinkled sag of the fabric there right behind your head makes them look less natural. (It's one of the most difficult challenges when making lekku, along with giving them some curves so that they look sinuous.) Beautiful work on the armor. It looks very good. The bikini, belt, and boots look great, too. You'll need some extensions at the top of the gloves; like the boots/leggings go all the way to the top of the thigh armor, the black of the gloves should go all the way up to the top of the armor also. Make the tummy tatto patterns thick and bold, not thin and delicate! (I know it's difficult to count on someone else to do those tasks, but it's something to be encouraged!) Keep up the great work! Pam

Hi, I'm pleased to see someone tackling this costume again; it's been a while since I've seen one. It's a challenging costume, but it'll look great when it's finished! The biggest challenge for EU costumes is that most of them have to be made from scratch, one piece at a time. We spend a huge amount of time finding just the right fabrics and supplies, and then experimenting to find creative ways to make those materials meet our needs. To date I have seen three ladies make the Dark Force Witch costume. All of them had some really great elements to their costumes, but all three of them also had some glaring inaccuracies. If you're up to the challenge, I'd love to see you make the first truly accurate version of this costume. If you could do so, I would also love to see you serve as a model for the legion's CRL project. I have to warn you, though: I'd be really picky about the details, and getting 'em as close as humany possible! (Or perhaps a bit inhumanly possible... I am a perfectionist, afterall!) I think the biggest challenges for this costume will be finding the right fabrics, both for color and texture, and then coloring them again. The layers have an ombre dye pattern to them, which is a challenge to do right. (Just ask some of the Padme and handmaiden costumers out there!) If you dip-dye the fabric, then you'll need a fabric with a high natural fiber content, such as cotton or silk, because synthetic fabrics won't accpt most dyes. If you try to airbrush the color gradations, then you can use fabric paints and any kind of fabric, though this can be tricky also. (And the quality often isn't as good as using fabric dyes.) An airbrush gives much better results than a hand held spray bottle. Here are a few web pages about ombre dye. I have some more links somewhere... I just need to figure out where I hid them on my computer! http://www.dharmatrading.com/info/ombre.html https://www.ritdye.com/dyeing-technique ... %A9-dyeing (I do not recommend RIT dye for professional quality costuming... it's just not a high quality dye, or very permanent for that matter.) To start with what you have so far.... The red colors you've chosen aren't quite the base color that I feel you should start with. The base should be more of a candy-apple red that blends into purple, rather than the more brownish red that you're wearing. The base of the inner dress needs to be asymetrical, rather than flat across the bottom. The texture of that inner skirt fabric is fascinating... it really looks like something you would see a lady from Star Wars wearing. It isn't quite the deep purple that we need, though. Is it a fabric that would accept dye? I like the turned tops on the sceptor pieces. (Hardware store find, I'm guessing?) However, they don't match the reference images. It's always great to use found pieces, but we typically have to make pretty big changes to the things we come across, mixing and matching and creating some elements from scratch to get the right look. This is going to be a fun thread to follow. Good luck, and happy costuming! Pam

Thank you, Katherine! That's $80 raised, and $51 more to go. We're well past the halfway point! Anyone else willing to donate a bit to help keep the Flagship afloat? Thanks, Pam

Definitely stay away from spirit gum... that's the cheap and dirty product that tends to dry up and flake off long before a day of trooping is over! I'd recommend a better product such as Pros-Aide; it's professional grade stuff that works really well! Pam

Gaffer's Tape! The shape of the armor needs to be true to the references for approval. You'll need to work around that, one way or another! Pam

Thanks for the help! We got another donation, bringing the fundraising total up to an even $60. We have $71 more to go! Thanks, Obickay! Pam

Hi, I'm afraid those heels are much too high for a Talon costume. She has very low heels, or none at all: Pam

Many thanks to Stormtrooperguy, Okashi, and Kimballk for your donations to the forum's hosting fees. So far we've raised $45. Is anyone else willing to help support the forum? I'd rather see a lot of people donate smaller amounts, rather than a few people contributing more than their fair share! Pam

Hi, Everyone, please join me in congratulating Flagship Eclipse's new Detachment Leader, Katie! I've been serving as DL since 2007, so it's a job that is quite dear to me by now. Katie (Aysel) has been an excellent XO for the last six months, so I'm confident that as I step down, I'm passing the position into very capable hands. Thank you all for your friendship and support over the years. You've made my time as DL very rewarding, and I'm looking forward to remaining here with you for a long time to come. Katie, thank you for stepping up, and for giving me a chance to take a much-needed break from the leadership position. As another outgoing DL mentioned, it's time to recharge my batteries! Like other units in the legion that concluded the elections period with only one nomination, we will now have some transition time as positions are shuffled and folks learn their new jobs. I look forward to seeing how things work out in the long run! As the nominations clock ran down this afternoon, I was so excited! "I'm not going to be DL anymore! WOOHOO!" Then, it was over, and only Katie's name appeared on the ballot. "Uhm.... I'm... I'm not DL anymore? *sniff*" Then a while later, "WOOHOO!! I'm not DL anymore!" Then, "Uhm... *sniff*...." My emotions might be confused, but I KNOW that I made the right choice, and it was a good one. Best of luck to you, Katie. You're going to do a great job! Pam

Owww! That's a hard lesson to learn! ("You want a straw for your drink?" "Ummm... no, I'm not very fond of straws anymore...." If alginate is more than you're ready to deal with, there's always the easier technique of plaster bandages! They give good results, and you don't have to worry about bandages running over the nose or gelling while they're still in the bowl. You can also use them only for a certain area, if need be, such as the forehead. Lifecasting can be pretty intimidating at first, but it really is fun once you get into it! (Our workshop is filled with body parts... it's quite comical! There's a leg over there, a face over here, an arm on that shelf...) viewtopic.php?f=42&t=267 viewtopic.php?f=42&t=279 Pam

Hi, folks. Sorry I haven't been online very much the past few weeks.... let's just say that January was a really tough month for me, and I'm sincerely glad it's over. February hasn't gotten easier yet, but I'm workin' on it! I did pay the renewal for the forum and domain, so it's time to start collecting for another year's worth of Flagship hosting. Grand total: $131 If you are willing to contribute, your donations would be greatly appreciated. Please shoot me a PM, and I can provide the paypal information. Thank you, Pam

Okay, I sent a PM to the legion captain of the guard, and asked for an updated "official" standing on the rules about posting links to unlicensed vendors. When I started as DL, we were instructed in no uncertain terms that we are NOT to post links in a public area. We're playing nice in Lucasfilm's sandbox, we don't openly promote sellers that technically aren't supposed to be making things without Lucasfilm's permission, etc. But lately, I remove a link, somebody goes and posts another one. I remove a link, and another shows up. Mostly it's 501st members doing this, so either the rule has relaxed and legion folks know about it but nobody gave me an official statement... or we're still not supposed to be doing it. I'm crazy busy and stressed out of my mind this month, so this really is the last thing I want to worry about right now.... but I do want to make sure that Flagship remains in good standing and follows the rules! (What is it with Revan costumers always wanting a shortcut, anyway? Get dirty, folks! Take the time to sculpt, to cast, to sew! It's a lot more rewarding than just throwing your money at a vendor!) Pam