[Member Program Fundraiser 2017]

Donation sent, happy to help!

[Zara's Darth Talon W.I.P and upgrades]

I used worbla for my armor, and I think a few others have done so also. I know some also use cut and burnished metals like aluminum (like those for purchase from Twilek paradise), but worbla worked pretty darn well for me and has held up so far. You could make worbla look more metallic via exploring painting methods. Since you're not wanting to stick with worbla, I'd say give the metal or pvc a try. I'm not an expert or anything though so take my advice with a grain of salt. Hopefully someone more experienced can chime in,but do let me know if I can help at all.

 

Your painting looks super good on your skin, btw!

[Newly Approved Members Post Here!!!]

Hello from Timberline Garrison, SL-22031. I was approved this weekend. I'm not too sure what to post that doesn't feel super repetitive. I posted some more pics in my WIP thread, and made a couple albums. Hopefully they will help someone. Looking forward to learning more and improving my costume.

 

Force Lightning

[501st/SLD and/or TFE Detachment Access Requests]

Hi, I hope I'm doing this right. I need 501st/detachment access.

 

Profile link: https://www.501st.com/members/displaymember.php?userID=24128&costumeID=112

ID: SL-22031

 

Thanks so much

[Approved: Darth Talon]

Hi everyone and thank you! I use prosthetic adhesive to hold the lekku. They don't slip this way. also,Talon has a small red gap between the triangle and the main lekku tattoo in eh reference images I used, but I will double check it just in case I was remembering incorrectly. I do have some issue with the flaps near my ears staying on well, and they had to be reglued a few times during the shoot.

 

Thanks so much for all your feedback. I'm excited to keep improving on this build (I already have plans to upgrade parts I'm unsatisfied with haha)

[Darth Talon Bikini Top]

This is a little older, but I thought I would chime in. My top isn't as deeply plunged as Talon's seems to be in some panels, but it does the job. What I did was take one of those sticky bras with no straps like they often use under wedding dresses, and then I glued it into a deep plunge push up bra in black. I covered this with faux leather strips sewed to create the paneled look with hand stitching to the bra. Twilek Paradise has a really great tutorial doing mostly the same things. I can't remember the link off hand but if you google "darth talon armor tutorial" it should pop up.

[Approved: Darth Talon]

Hi all! I was approved as Darth Talon finally after a year of work (approved today actually, haha). If anyone has questions or wants more pictures and such, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I can post progress pics as well if anyone thinks they'll be useful.

 

 

Flickr with pics:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/amaranthscastaways/albums/72157669928370811

 

 

When I was starting it was hard to find an exact amount of ink posted anywhere, though so many people offered their experiences when I asked. So, I thought I'd post exactly what I use in case others are too shy to ask.

 

It takes 6oz of body ink to do the red from face to knee; for point of reference, I am 5'2" and have an athletic build, so those of you who are curvier or taller may need more ink. A more efficient airbrush set up would reduce the ink, in my estimation, to 4oz. I paint lower than required because the costume can slip and slide a little. I use a Badger Patriot top feed airbrush with a detail nib- it's not the most efficient choice, and I'll be upgrading in a year or so. For ink I prefer Reel Creations alcohol based body ink. For the tattoos, I used stencils with PAX, but I will be upgrading to black body ink for these as well.

 

For my face make up, I used Mehron water based cake in a darker red shade, as well as Mehron liquid black ink for the tattoos.

 

For my saber hilt, I used a sink pipe and sculpted with JB Weld putty and Apoxy brand epoxy putty. This hilt does not have electronics in it, but I am working on one that does atm.

 

Thanks for this forum for help with my progress, and I'm happy to aboard as SL-22031!

[Approved: Darth Talon]

I'll definitely pay a visit to the Maul section. My methods have all come from approved Talons, including one from the gal who runs the Twilek Paradise. She painted the tattoos with latex first and then glued them on, however I was unable to get them to come off the plastic. Wasted like four days painting them all just to have that method flop. Weirdest part was it worked when I did a test tattoo on my shoulder and hand, just for some reason not when I went to do the final deal. BUT I keep telling myself just because one suggestion failed doesn't mean another won't work! *trying to be optimistic* I'll probably try the latex method again later when I have more time. I think I know what I did wrong the second time, but I'd really like to get my approval done and then worry about improvements and upgrades a bit after that.

 

I've had the full body cast suggested before, and to be honest I've never cast anything in my life, nor do I know anyone local who could do it. I'll look into it for sure, but I think stencils will be the best choice for now, given my complete lack of experience. I feel like I'd mess it up and waste a lot of supplies.

[Approved: Darth Talon]

Having tattoo issues, sadly. My method didn't work for who knows what reason. I'm looking into mylar stencils atm. the local laser cutting place says they can do it, but I have to provide the mylar, which I have no idea how to find or what thickness to use. Anyone have any ideas?

 

In the meantime, whilst contemplating ragequitting, I got my Sith contact lenses in, practiced more with the facial tattoos, and worked on my lightsaber!

 

Practice #4 on make up/contacts:

 

And the saber so far. You can't see the crystal in these pics, sadly, but it's there! This saber won't hold electronics because I'm a goof and bought the wrong blade holder- it didn't fit the pipe, so I just kept sculpting and decided to go with just a prop. I still need to do some detailing, but everything needs to cure a bit more (the epoxy wasn't completely dry in places where it was super thick, apparently, so hopefully that doesn't mess everything up).

 

[Approved: Darth Talon]

I hit some snags with the Lekku. I had to get all the paint off which took two days of scrubbing. Tried ink for the first time on latex. Apparently, it takes a lot more ink to paint latex than it does skin (thanks to Pam for explaining this so I didn't die of a heart attack over how much I used). Clearly, I need practice with the ink. I still have some spots where it's not perfect, and it's irritating me greatly. BUT They're done, except for adding the velcro to hold on the head armor. Basically, at this point I just need to do some small touch ups/weathering on the armor and work out the kinks in the body paint, and then I think I'm ready to submit. All components of the costume are as complete as I can handle right now (I feel like I'm just letting my inner perfectionist find things to pick at to avoid submitting haha).

 

I ended up making thigh high boot covers that actually look surprisingly good, far better than I thought I'd be able to do. So anyway, here are the newly painted lekku.

 

 

[Of Body Suits and Cloaks- Approvable or Not?]

Thank you that's what I thought! At least now this info is in an easy to find place for others when they search!

[Of Body Suits and Cloaks- Approvable or Not?]

Sorry to be spamming the boards so much, but as I'm nearing costume completion, my local garrison has been offering suggestions and advice. We have one other person that does body paint, and that is our Darth Maul. He uses cake based and only on his head/neck. They seem to be questioning my use of body ink, haha. I'm comfortable with it, so for that I'm not worried.

 

However, they've suggested a body suit. I remembered reading that a body suit is not acceptable for Darth Talon official approval. They asked to me cite where I read it, and for the life of me I can't remember!  So, is it possible to use a body suit for approval? Can you use a body suit for trooping later, especially when it's chillier outside?

 

Also, can one use a cloak for Talon and get approval? Can I use a cloak for future trooping, again when it is chilly outside?

 

 

Thanks for your time and patience.

[Approved: Darth Talon]

That Rub n' Buff is amazing! I'll def look into it some more!

[Approved: Darth Talon]

Thanks! I'll check out that book. I've done a little dry brushing on Warhammer minis, but I'm not very good at it. My airbrush is probably my favorite thing I've ever bought- I don't know how I'd function without it. I've had the same brush for nearly 5 years now. I've burnt out a compressor before this brush, haha. She's done me proud.

[Approved: Darth Talon]

Hi! Thanks for your response already. You guys are seriously the best group of people I've ever encountered.

 

"Lekkus: the paint job on your lekkus are fantastic! Very clean work!"
Thank you so much! I've been pretty nitpicky over them, so I'm glad it's showing.

 

"Bikini Top: I'm always curious how people keep these on?! What's your secret!! And my current project of Cad Bane keeps me gym motivated too wizard to motivation!!"

My secret: one of those sticky bras XD I glued one of them inside a padded strapless bra. After I came up with that, I found a tutorial doing the same, so I think that's how we ladies are defying gravity.

 

"Bracers: the bracers look pretty metallic to me! Are these Worbla as well? For sharing sake, if you were curious about what others might have used, I personally love using Rust-Olleum: Metallic Accents. Applied with dry-brushing for weathering!!"

Yup! Completely worbla! This is my first time working with it, and I've learned so much. I'm excited to try playing with it more. I've used two different shades of spray paint and a chrome spray paint. I then used my airbrush to apply a black-ish silver mix to darken the chrome up a bit. They're sealed with a polyurethane spray. Sadly I noticed a few chipped spots already dang it, but I should be able to fix them up pretty easy with my airbrush.

Thank  you for the feedback so far. It's made me a lot more confident.

Edit: Those bracers are fabulous. I'm going to try dry brushing so more, to see if I can get something close to that. It's fantastic!

[Approved: Darth Talon]

Now for the armor. I'm nervous about this partly because I don't want to have flubbed badly. XD I'm being a huge baby about this, I think! haha  I do think the leg armor could be a little more metallic, which wouldn't be hard to do. I've left it as is while I think about it. The armor still needs the straps so I can wear it.

 

 

 

 

The belt is my baby. I'm really proud of how it turned out, and it's nice and sturdy and will be able to hold my lightsaber. There is a buckle on the belt that will be hidden with the lightsaber hilt.

 

Front of Belt (could be shinier?):

 

 

Back:

 

 

On, but without the straps hanging down:

 

 

That's pretty much it for now.

[Approved: Darth Talon]

Ok! So now for the bikini top.

 

I've had two kids and lost like 40lbs over the last year and a half, so Darth Talon is kind of my motivation to keep going. I'm a weight lifter, so I'm feeling more confident but still really shy about posting these. Be gentle!

 

This is the bikini top before I did the touch ups (white areas are covered, and I'm reinforcing stitching atm):

 

 

Here is the back after the touch ups:

 

 

Here it is on from the front:

 

 

 

Here is the back before I finished the sewing bits:

 

 

The next post will show my armor progress.

 

 

 

[Approved: Darth Talon]

Okay, so I'm SUPER nervous to share my progress here. This has been a huge learning experience for me, and I've already redone the pieces a couple of times to get them where they are now. So, I'd like to share my progress pictures so far. I honestly don't know why I'm so dang nervous, probably because I'm a perfectionist and no where near as skilled as some of you amazing ladies.

 

At the time, I couldn't afford metal armor so I went with Worbla I've made to look metallic. I realize now the aggregate cost is up to as much as it would have been just to buy it! XD Oh well!

As a note, it might seem like I'm spamming for a bit, as I'm going ot group each part of the costume in a separate reply to this post. I've been working up the courage to post my progress since I joined up the forum, so there's a lot I've been holding in.

 

All Parts Complete

 

Parts I want to Upgrade:

• Head Armor (just need to pay for it, as I've lined up a comission)
• Hand Armor Strips
• Gloves (out of a faux leather similar to my boot covers)
• Need to finish new saber sculpt with light

 

Okay so this first pic is the Lekku progress

 

 

This is the head armor part I'm working on for the Lekku. It's very unfinished. I haven't trimmed or sanded it yet, and it can still be molded and sculpted at this point before I get to the work of priming and painting it.

 

 

 

[Delete found my answer]

Delete I figured it out XD

[Talon Ear Cones and Seam Lines?]

OMG THANK YOU.  This is going to help while I figure out the dang head armor. I've got it made out of worbla, but can't figure out how to actually get it to stay on, since it doesn't wrap around her front. This should help hold the lekku on and hide all the seams so I don't have to worry about the head armor if I don't want to. Thanks again! I'll get some and see if I can make it work.

[Talon Ear Cones and Seam Lines?]

It seemed easy enough to hide the lines of the prosethetic with a head dress when I was going to attempt an Aayla Secura. However, Talon is more difficult. I can't really find any good references for hiding the edges of the prosthetics, especially for her ear cones. I've seen some corseted Talons around the internet with varying styles of head piece that do serve to hide the flaps of the cones, but these do not seem to be 501st-okayed.

 

I have a set by Twi'lek Pam I've painted red, and as well as her ear cones. They are slightly big on my head, so in order to hold these on, I'll definitely need to do a head piece of some kind. I'm considering purchasing one from twi'lek paradise, if that is considered okay.

 

I'm sure this question has been asked before, and I may have missed it as I'm browsing this forum so I apologize in advance.

Can anyone offer me any techniques or advice for making the head piece fit organically?

 

Thank you all so much ;A;