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Starting an AOTC Concept Asajj


Guest Boudicca

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Guest Boudicca

Here's a quick photo showing the shirt & collar. I'm almost there!!! I just need to finish sewing in the snaps to make the collar lay flat.

 

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I thought it would be sufficient to sew in one on each shoulder (inside the lining of the collar so the stitching doesn't show on the outside) with the matching snap attached to the shirt on each side. Boy was I wrong! I had to sew in 7 more snaps around the collar. Now to sew the other 7 to the shirt! At this rate, I could've just stiched the collar permanently to the shirt... but since I live in hot sunny SoCal and most of our troops are outdoors, I figured it would be important to have a washable/dry-clean-able shirt!

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I like the way you're taking this costume step-by-step and thinking each part through. (And yes, washable is good!) I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing come together! Thank you for sharing your progress with us.

 

Pam :-)

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Guest Boudicca

Thank you!

 

I know there haven't been any updates in a while, but work has been busy...

 

I did try a couple weeks ago to do the bald cap and makeup. Epic fail. I read all the advice, and decided to try the Kryolan glatzan cap, and I bought both water-based Ben Nye makeup and alcohol-based Reel Creations makeup. No airbrush.

 

(I would like to try to avoid using an airbrush, at least in the first instance, because our Garrison does a lot of outdoor troops with limited changing spaces. These are most often the charity troops that are the reason why I do this! So I want to try this without "equipment" so that I can get ready with nothing but an ordinary bathroom or even just a mirror. I realize I may have to break down eventually and get an airbrush and learn to use it, but that will mean getting ready at home (and leaving a misty white mess everywhere) and then driving up to 1-2 hours to a troop.)

 

First, my hair. It's long but very, very fine, so I thought it would be easy to hide under a bald cap when slicked back with gel. I put a rubber band at the nape of my neck where the collar would sit. Then I marked the cap with an old eyeliner pencil to cut it to fit.

 

Lesson 1 - However small you think you're making the ear holes, make them smaller! I cut holes to just inside my ears, but when the holes were actually cut out and that part of the material wasn't stretching, I ended up with a lot of skin showing around the ears that I had to stretch the cap to cover.

 

After some struggling with the ears, the hair around my ears, etc., I finally put enough Pros Aide on there to stick everything down. For acetone, I used a Q-Tip dipped in nail polish remover. That process worked ok in places, not so much in others, but it still gave an OK look.

 

Then I mixed the ProsAide-Red Acrylic paint (we have LOTS of acrylic paint in the house as we are miniatures wargamers, so I mixed it to a shade I thought would work with a drop of red and a drop of red-brown to get the "pink" out.) I stippled it on.

 

Already I could see a potential problem. My hair is dark auburn and the color was showing up very clearly under the thin bald cap and the PAX. I hoped the makeup would cover it even though there was a real contrast between my pale skin and dark hair.

 

First, I tried the alcohol-based Reel Creations body ink. I started around my neck area, where the collar would rub against the skin. Two coats with a makeup sponge and the white was still incredibly faint; my skin could clearly be seen under it. I tried the alcohol-based makeup next, and it just refused to stick to my face. When I tried it on the bald cap itself, the coverage was so thin that, again, it would've taken a gallon just to cover the dark hair color under the cap.

 

Then, I tried some white Ben Nye cream/cake makeup. It came out incredibly blotchy. While I'm used to helping my husband with his prequel/pre-scarring Darth Sidious makeup, I quickly learned that there's a difference between making someone look slightly paler and 3 decades older, versus trying to turn your face completely white.

 

After scrubbing everything off, I went to a local costume shop, and luckily one of the employees had a lot of costume makeup experience. She suggested that I use a wig cap underneath the bald cap. I also bought a thicker high-quality latex bald cap that was white to start with. I know the glatzan caps are the best, but it would be nice if I could get something reusable to work. She also said I needed to get some makeup primer from a cosmetics store, and use that as a base. If I did that, she said, the Ben Nye liquid would stick, and the cream would go on more evenly if I went that route.

 

So I have some experimenting to do - just haven't had the time to do it yet! Will post an update when I manage to figure out more on how to do this!

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Be patient and lots and lots of practice for bald caps. They are one of the hardest types of prosthetic makeup to do, and especially to do on yourself! Sounds like you have everything in order and are going about the steps the right way, they are just super difficult. Don't worry that your first try wasn't a huge success. It will take time and a few tries before you start to get the hang of it down.

 

Keep in mind that cream makeup over Latex can discolour a little and look "chalky" or splochy. If you get a good makeup primer to put down on the latex bald cap first then you should be fine. You can also use Castor Sealer to seal the latex before putting on the cream makeup. Also remember that most alcohol based makeups are designed to be some what transparent. Check to make sure you have one that is a full cover if you want to get drastic looks. Water based body paint is also a good option if you can get a good quality brand like Kryolan or Mehron in your area. I use the Mehron to make myself white for my Jarael costume and it's great. Just remember to use a good sealer afterwards so it doesn't rub or sweat off.

 

Let us know how your next attempt goes!

 

Cheers,

Nef

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Guest Boudicca

Hi - tried again this morning... unfortunately my attempt with the latex cap didn't go very far. I followed the instructions and cut a small slit for the ear, and tried to put my ear through it... and the whole thing ripped all the way back.

 

So since I already had my hair plastered back (thanks to a lot of Instant Freeze hair spray) I thought I'd try again with one of the Kryolan glatzan caps. Unfortunately the wig cap that I was sold, which showed up white on the picture, was actually black, which didn't help :P The good part was that I got the bald cap cut down a little better than last time, and made holes for the ears instead of trying to cut all the way down, which was my mistake last time.

 

Bald cap went down better and blended more smoothly. Put on the Pax, put primer on my face, and started with the makeup. Unfortunately that's where I ran into trouble again. The makeup went on my face better this time, but did not stick to the baldcap at all. And because applying the Pax had made the cap go from somewhat opaque to pretty much transparent, I needed good makeup coverage to cover my dark hair which showed through. I tried baby powder, tried Ben Nye cream and liquid and even some alcohol based stuff. Tried applying even more Pax, and the makeup just would not go on.

 

Here's a pic - best I could do although I think the lighting/reflection makes it seem more white that it actually was.

 

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I see you've recommended a couple other brands of makeup. Ben Nye is what's locally available but I will see if I can find the other brands you've mentioned online. Aside from trying other makeup brands, do you have any thoughts on what I could do differently to get the makeup to stick to the kryolan cap? I will try to buy another latex cap too and see if I can cut earholes without breaking it this time, but I do see that he kryolan fits better and blends well so I'd like to make that work if I can ..

 

Another potential stumbling block is that after spending an hour trying to get makeup to stick on the front/top of the cap, the bottom area of the cap by my check started to peel up.

 

I suspect this is because my face started to sweat, which happens a lot these days because SoCal has been experiencing unseasonable humidity. I know SweatStop has been recommended, but that product isn't available in the States. Does anyone know of something similar that might be available here?

 

Will keep trying (and hopefully my next attempt will be sooner than a month from now; there is a Down's syndrome troop in September that I'm shooting for) but any advice is welcome! Thank you!

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Guest Boudicca

I bought another latex bald cap. The instructions on the package (as opposed to the ones I followed from YouTube) say to make a U-shaped cut for the ear that goes all the way down. When I did that with the Kryolan bald cap on my first attempt in July, it stretched out and couldn't properly cover my hair. But perhaps I have to do it this way with the latex rather than cutting a hole or slit to avoid ripping the cap?

 

Another question re latex caps. I've been looking at some Maul tutorials and some people paint the latex cap the day before wearing it. I'd love to do that with Asajj. Would it be possible to use acrylic paint for the white, or even spray on acrylic? Last time the "white" bald cap I bought (the one that ripped) was actually more like "pale Caucasian" rather than true white. If I can spray paint or even brush on acrylic paint the next one that would save a ton of time and probably stay better than the makeup? What do you think, is this a good idea or a bad one?

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Guest Boudicca

Also, can latex caps be blended with acetone the way Kryolan caps can? Pardon all the questions but I'm really hoping to make the third time a charm :)

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Sorry I've been not around to answer questions for a while. There are some things in this tread I can add too, but I noticed they were written a long time ago and I'm not sure if my advise would be useful at this point or not (if you've already successfully made them).

 

I have no useful advice to add to bald cap application. I ended up shaving after my first attempt without a professional on hand. That might be a bit drastic, though it does make doing the costume easier. If you want to go that rout, I recommend getting some high quality wigs and/or get use to people staring. If you do however have additional questions about the shirt, belt, neck armor, etc. ask and I'll do my best to give useful advice.

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Guest Boudicca

Thanks for the follow-up! Unfortunately I can't shave my head due to my work (conservative dress code). I tried baldcap attempt #11 or 12 or so this weekend, I'm now getting it applied just fine, but my problem is still getting the makeup to adhere to the cap. I bought actual Pax online just before Halloween, and while it helps the makup adhere somewhat, it's still not enough to cover the area toward the front of my hairline where my dark hair shows through.

 

So this weekend, I finally broke down and grabbed some of our white acrylic hobby paint (Citadel brand) and a wet paintbrush to thin the paint a bit, and painted it over the Pax. I know others have said not to use acrylic paint, but after so many failed attempts it was either that or sell the rest of the costume. The acrylic actually, finally worked! And didn't crinkle or crack once it dried. But then I had a separate problem, which was that the cap was now whiter than my face. (I was using Mehron Star Blend cake makeup). So I put some Ben Nye white cream makeup over it - which doesn't typically apply evenly for me, even with primer - but after a lot of experimenting I got it to look pretty good.

 

So I finally got to the point where I could try to put on the black "tattoos." Used Ben Nye black cream and a thin triangular slice of sponge... and made a complete mess of it. I think I'm going to have to practice freehand drawing it on my hand with an eyeliner pencil, and then just draw them on the baldcap for more precision. As I've discovered, there's no real way to touch up over the black if the triangles come out sloppy.....

 

But hey, I'm getting closer, right...?

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Use a template. It is much easier then trying to free-hand. My husband designed them on the computer, printed them our, then cut them out with a utility knife. Then we used a wedge to apply the black. Let me know if you want me to find the template or you can make your own.

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Guest Boudicca

Good idea! I can make my own. Do you recommend just creating a template with the one triangle and moving it around, or creating a template with the four triangles together?

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I did the set of 4 together as one template. Then a set of 2 slightly smaller ones for the face. If you try to just do one single triangle you're more likely to smear the first ones you put on trying to do the latter ones and they might not be exactly parallel with each other. I've never tried it that way, but I could see it becoming a mess.

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