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Nefthys
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Posts posted by Nefthys
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Congratulations on your approval! Your costume is certainly excellent and it is great to have another member amoung our ranks.
For your hood falling down, I solve this problem by wearing a fabric head band with a piece of velcro at the top and then add velcro to the underside of the hood. Helps keep it up and is still comfy. Hope that helps, and look forward to seeing many more trooping photos from you in the future!
Cheers,
Nef
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I know the feeling well. When your costume starts to get a little worn around the edges, although for COTF Nihilus that isn't always a bad thing, lol. Looking forward to seeing your pictures of the upgraded kit!
Cheers,
Nef
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Hello!
Wicked Armour usually has a long waiting list. It can take up to a week for him to contact you for orders. Be patient and wait to see if he does get in touch soon. If not try sending another email, he may also be on vacation.
If you do get a wicker armour Nihilus, it is NOT ready to wear right away for 501st approval. You will need to do some small upgrades and adjustments to it to make it 501st legion acceptable. My wicked armour does very good work, but it just needs a bit of a face lift before you submit it. If you do get one, take some pictures and post them here for the recommendations on what to adjust.
Cheers,
Nef
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Looking good! Thank you for working on the site for our detachment, it has needed a bit of love and care.
Cheers,
Nef
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For areas of skin that have a lot of movement or rubbing, such as the inside of the elbow, I tend to use a cream base makeup. It usually provides excellent coverage, but also the ability to move and bend much better then water based paints. Just note that all cream base makeup require powdering to set properly. That being said, Kryolan and Mehron make very good body paint that has a mixture of glycerine in it to give it the elasticity to bend with the skin. In either case, with cream or water base makeup, you will need to blend it to match the airbrush paint. Also keep in mind an good sealer over top of the makeup will help it stay put if rubbing is a concern, especially areas of the skin that come in contact with fabric.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Nef
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Looking good! I'm always so thrilled to see people making their own Nihilus mask! I also approve of the very awesome Nightmare Before Christmas t-shirt.
Cheers,
Nef
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Have you tried using a purple or even pink dye yet? I know red + blue = purple, so in theory it should work, but fabric likes to be troublesome sometimes. Perhaps using purple over the red will give you the colour gradation you need. Another option is using a fabric paint, rather then a fabric dye. Water down some fabric paint and try misting it on with a squirt bottle and see if you can get the desired effect that way. That is what we use for the Tusken raiders "dirt" look and it turns out great.
Cheers,
Nef
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It looks very good so far! The only thing you might need to change are the rivets on the belt. They are supposed to stick out, not be flat. Something like this:
http://www.tandyleatherfactory.ca/en-ca ... 09-17.aspx
Looking forward to seeing the whole costume put together!
Cheers,
Nef
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I used a plain quilters cotton and added the padding. It's light and soft, so good for hot weather and nice on the skin.
Good luck with your friends approval!
Cheers,
Nef
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It is in reference to the KOTOR era or universe as he also shows up in the comic books, and other merchandise, in this style. Plus when they write the CRL's they allow for generalizations here and there. Better to spend time working on as many CRL right ups for more characters, than agonizing over tiny little details on one character. That being said, when people ask where my character is from I usually just say the KOTOR 2 video game as that is his most well known appearance.
Cheers,
Nef
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Is that you Thomas ? in the Picture?
what an amazing costume and my book of the sith now has a deeper meaning seeing that a costumer manage to get printed in the pages
Thomas makes a great Nightsister!
I jest, but Thomas is correct that many artists have based their illustrations off of costumes that fans have done well. As always, the most important thing is to make the costume you want to make, not because it will get you into a specific group. I'm now a member of many costume groups, but every costume I've made is because it was a character I really liked. Heck, I made a Jarael costume and still haven't gotten off my lazy tooshie to get her approved for the Rebel Legion. I loved her character and wanted to make it for Celebration in Orlando last year, so that's what I did with no intention of actually getting into the Rebel Legion.
Cheers,
Nef
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As DisposablHero mentioned, Scott's tutorial on how he made his Nihilus is wonderful! I did not have access to fiberglass however and had to make my hood differently. I used the top of a plastic bowler hat for the round shape, and then added the "cat ears" or "crown" with chicken wire coated with acrylic gel medium. You can see my build thread here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2154
It's near the bottom of the first page where I show how I made my "cat ears".
There are many other methods that people have used to create theirs if you have the time to go through some of the build threads on the forums here. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!
Cheers,
Nef
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That is wonderful news! It is always nice to have another Nihilus amongst the 501st ranks. Congrats to your friend!
Cheers,
Nef
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I primed my mask with Gesso and the paint held really well, never had to do any touch ups. However my mask is made with an acrylic base, so that might be why it sticks so well. Looks awesome Cajun!
Cheers,
Nef
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Nice to see you wearing a proper breather, safety first! Looking forward to seeing how the resin casts turn out. The sculpt is looking very good. I'm interested to see how the hood and "cat ears" turn out, as this is always one of the trickier parts to this costume build.
Cheers,
Nef
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A very fine costume indeed! Your wife looks wonderful in her full kit. Very glad to see a Mother Talzin out and about for 501st troops.
Cheers,
Nef
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Hello!
Thank you very much for the reply.
With respect to the tearing of the outer tunic, outer skirt, inner skirt and cape, I did pretty scary (with sandpaper and scissors making small cuts), since it is difficult to break a little costume party: S. So I will try to do something more irregular. I thought if I was somewhat ragged, was enough.
This part can be hard to get to look right. Take your time with the shredding, it took me almost 2 full evenings of working on my shredding and weathering to get it to look decent. Then I took it outside and shredded it some more with a sharp rock against the cement driveway.
With respect to the hook and cape, it seemed to me that I had something big. I'll get on it.Just make the cat ear points a bit smaller and you should be looking good. This is one of the hardest parts of this costume, so don't feel bad if it takes a couple tries to get it to look right.
With respect to the bottom of the dress (to wear a black pants), is completely covered with the inner and outer skirt skirt when I have put the full suit. It can be seen in full body pictures I posted.I can see you have good coverage in the full pictures, but you can still see a little bit of a gap. My robes sometimes flop open in the front so I just use a safety pin to make sure it stays closed. Perhaps you just need to also add a safety pin or a snap to keep it closed in the front near the top.
Are the boots and gloves ok?Yes, gloves and boots look good.
Regarding the belt, I'm missing the trimmings, my question is whether these types of ornaments are painted black:
As DisposablHero pointed out, yes those are the ones we use. And yes, you will need to paint them black. The best thing I have found that works really well for painting those is black nail polish. I did 2 coats and it has never chipped or worn. Had my costume almost 2 years and the black is still as good as the first day I painted them. Nail polish is useful for so many things!
Finally, if making these changes and leaving the suit conditions, would be to be approved by the Legion 501?Thank you!!
Regards!
Yes, if you do these changes then you should be able to submit for approval. Just don't be surprised if you don't get it right the first try, they may spot something that needs to be changed that I've missed. As I've said many times, very few people make it on their first try. I had to submit twice before getting approved!
Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions or need any advice on your costume.
Cheers,
Nef
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No input?
You must have posted this while I was typing out my long response, hehe. I hope my input is helpful!
Cheers,
Nef
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Hello J2H!
Review time for your Nihilus! Thank you for posting up your images and getting feedback. We may seem like we are being picky, but we actually just love to help and give as many suggestions as we can.
Cape:
As you already said, the cape isn't attached to the vest. This is something you will need to do for approval. This will also help with the look of your cloak in the back. Nihilus' cape from behind has lots of small folds in it, right now yours does not. Sewing the cape to the vest will solve both of these issues. When attaching the cape, stitch it so the folds continue over your shoulder and drape down your back. You also need to have the front of the hood drape down from the mask and hang down on your upper chest. Looks like it is tucked in at the neck right now.
Hood:
It appears you don't have the "car ears" under your cape hood above the white mask. Take a close look at the pictures of Nihilus at the top of his head. There are 2 points (we call them cat ears) that come out from where the top of the white mask ends and meets the black fabric of the hood. You need some sort of rigid hat under the hood that has the "cat ear" shape coming off the front. I used a plastic bowler hat and cut the brim off, then used chicken wire, cardboard and acrylic hard medium to make mine. There are a few different ways to make it. If I knew then what I know now of costuming I would have used Worbla or Sintra to make the "cat ears" shape as they are much easier to use. Here is an image of what my rig looks like that I wear under my cape hood:
Robes:
Your shirt top is showing, and it should not be. You want the illusion of a long robe with no top and bottom piece. This is a simple fix! Tuck the the shirt into the robe bottom part, then place your obi (belt) over the point where the two meet to hide the joint. This will give the illusion of a single robe with no breaks. I can also see a split at the side of the bottom robe part where your leg is showing. I understand this is probably for ease of movement, but it will need to be hidden. Ideally you should have enough fabric in the bottom part of your robe to allow a lot of flow and movement without needing a split.
Gloves:
The seem a little short. Technically they should reach up to the elbow. You can always try submitting with the current gloves you have and see what they say, but be warned that they may make you get longer ones.
Everything else is looking really good so far! Try making those few adjustments and post up some new photos.
Cheers,
Nef
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Hello Agustin!
Sorry for the delay in responding, but I've been out of town with no internet access. Now I am back to the land of technology I am catching up on emails and forums.
Your costume is looking very good so far, and you are quite close for submission, but there are a couple things that will probably need adjusting.
The hood and cape:
The "cat ears" (as we call them, the 2 points going up from the side of the white mask where the hood hangs down around the mask) are a little big. You will probably want to make them a bit smaller and bring them in closer towards the white mask. Everyone always has trouble with this part of the Nihilus costume. I myself had to adjust mine twice before getting approved. The black hood that hangs down from the "cat ears" needs to come in close to the side of the white mask. Most of us add velcro, or snaps, to the side of the mask and then the black fabric to make sure they stay put. It's hard to tell from the picture, but do you have the hood tied in the front with the ends hanging down? If yes, then the ends will need to be tucked in to the knot to hide them. Nihilus does not have the ends hanging down, just a single seamless knot at the front of the hood.
Weathering:
Your weathering at the bottom of your robes and cloak are to uniform and tidy. They need to be much more random, as well as adding some torn holes near the bottom. Using sand paper or a cheese grater works well for getting a random ripped look. I used a craft knife and just did random zig zag cuts along the bottom. I've added a picture of my own robes to show you what I mean:
Your robes:
Just one small thing there, you can see your pants in the gap in the front. Ideally you should have your robes fully closed in the front so that you can not see your legs.
Other then those small adjustments I think your costume looks great! Just let me know if any of my suggestions need clarifying or a better explanation.
Cheers,
Nef
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Sounds like you are well underway and have a good list of what to work on! I also love weathering costumes, hehehe. Far too much fun shredding fabric!
Cheers,
Nef
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Hi Dragon_Priestess!
I'm not a Mara costume expert so I won't be able to provide a proper answer. However I did want to point your attention to the Mara Jade section of the forums. Not many people visit this section sometimes, so your question might get missed. Try posting it in the Mara Jade section and someone will see it and be able to answer you questions.
Cheers,
Nef
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Hello Jim and welcome to the Flagship! You are certainly in the right place if you want to know more about the Ventress costumes. Take a look in the section dedicated to her and you will find the CRL's and lots of info and links as well as some helpful people.
Cheers,
Nef
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Looks great! Good luck on your submission!
Cheers,
Nef
Looking for Darth Nihilus KOTOR Crown Piece
in Darth Nihilus
Posted
The only person who might be selling them is My Wicked Armour, but I'm not a 100% certain. Most of us have made ours out of various supplies. Trying emailing MWA and see if he makes and sells them.
Cheers,
Nef