superjedi
Sr Hunter
Hi all you intrepid TDHers!
Wanted to share a couple pics of a newly completed project. In addition to costuming, I really enjoy having "geeky" stuff I can wear whenever I want. My collection of sci-fi t-shirts grows monthly, and although they're mostly Star Wars related, I enjoy some other franchises, too.
Another big fav is Alien. The first film scared the poop outta me when I first saw it back in '79 and I've rewatched it many times.
I've always loved the authentic, rumpled look of the costumes worn by the crew of the Nostromo, and the fact that they are mostly pieced together from real-world military gear is interesting. The primary jackets worn by Capt. Dallas and First Officer Kane were based on RAF MK III flight jackets, and Ripley's flight suit was a nearly stock Russian piece.
I can't afford to track down a period-correct MK III jacket, but I did have this military-esque jacket I bought from The Gap a few years back. It was originally a sort of faded khaki/olive color and I've been wanting to do something sci-fi to it for a while.
I began by looking at some threads over on RPF and Propsummit where the color of the original jackets were discussed. Most folks came to the conclusion that the jackets used on screen were a shade called purple taupe, an odd brown with tones of purple. I experimented with a few bottles of liquid RIT dye and came up with a mix that looked pretty close. I wound up using 2 bottles of dark brown with 1 bottle of purple.
I dyed the jacket in my washing machine (yes, I had my wife's permission
) and I thought it came out looking really good.
Here I am wearing it a little while ago.
Of course, clothing stores don't sell stuf all "Aliened up" off the rack, so I had to add some other touches as well. The patches came from a couple of different sources. The Nostromo shoulder patches were made by a very talented member of the Propsummit website, which is a fount of knowledge regarding all things Blade Runner and Alien. There have been runs of these patches for ages by places like Intergalactic Trading, but these are just incredibly accurate. He also produced the Weylan-Yutani wings above the breast pocket.
In the pic above, you can see the fourth patch I added to balance out the wings on the opposite side. It represents the American Tricentennial and in the Alien universe, all spaceship crew who were on the company payroll during the year 2076 wear this emblem on their gear. There's also a slightly different design which represents the British flag as well. I have that patch, too, but didn't want to clutter the jacket too much. Those "Tri" patches were made by UK maker Blue Tiger Trading. They're really nice!
Here's another shot with my Nostromo t-shirt.
The capper for this project is a set of heat-transfer lettering, also made by a Propsummit member. The letters were researched by Karl T. and Stephen L. (RPF and Propsummit) by examining one of the screen-used jackets! So it don't get much closer than that! I hadn't seen heat transfers quite like these before. They look just like stuff that's made on a vinyl cutter, and the carrier sheet is actually clear plastic. I laid them out carefully on the back of the jacket, and ironed them on.
So the only thing now is to see how many odd looks I get when I wear this bad boy around town!
Thanks for looking.
Eric
Wanted to share a couple pics of a newly completed project. In addition to costuming, I really enjoy having "geeky" stuff I can wear whenever I want. My collection of sci-fi t-shirts grows monthly, and although they're mostly Star Wars related, I enjoy some other franchises, too.
Another big fav is Alien. The first film scared the poop outta me when I first saw it back in '79 and I've rewatched it many times.
I've always loved the authentic, rumpled look of the costumes worn by the crew of the Nostromo, and the fact that they are mostly pieced together from real-world military gear is interesting. The primary jackets worn by Capt. Dallas and First Officer Kane were based on RAF MK III flight jackets, and Ripley's flight suit was a nearly stock Russian piece.
I can't afford to track down a period-correct MK III jacket, but I did have this military-esque jacket I bought from The Gap a few years back. It was originally a sort of faded khaki/olive color and I've been wanting to do something sci-fi to it for a while.
I began by looking at some threads over on RPF and Propsummit where the color of the original jackets were discussed. Most folks came to the conclusion that the jackets used on screen were a shade called purple taupe, an odd brown with tones of purple. I experimented with a few bottles of liquid RIT dye and came up with a mix that looked pretty close. I wound up using 2 bottles of dark brown with 1 bottle of purple.
I dyed the jacket in my washing machine (yes, I had my wife's permission
) and I thought it came out looking really good.Here I am wearing it a little while ago.
Of course, clothing stores don't sell stuf all "Aliened up" off the rack, so I had to add some other touches as well. The patches came from a couple of different sources. The Nostromo shoulder patches were made by a very talented member of the Propsummit website, which is a fount of knowledge regarding all things Blade Runner and Alien. There have been runs of these patches for ages by places like Intergalactic Trading, but these are just incredibly accurate. He also produced the Weylan-Yutani wings above the breast pocket.
In the pic above, you can see the fourth patch I added to balance out the wings on the opposite side. It represents the American Tricentennial and in the Alien universe, all spaceship crew who were on the company payroll during the year 2076 wear this emblem on their gear. There's also a slightly different design which represents the British flag as well. I have that patch, too, but didn't want to clutter the jacket too much. Those "Tri" patches were made by UK maker Blue Tiger Trading. They're really nice!
Here's another shot with my Nostromo t-shirt.
The capper for this project is a set of heat-transfer lettering, also made by a Propsummit member. The letters were researched by Karl T. and Stephen L. (RPF and Propsummit) by examining one of the screen-used jackets! So it don't get much closer than that! I hadn't seen heat transfers quite like these before. They look just like stuff that's made on a vinyl cutter, and the carrier sheet is actually clear plastic. I laid them out carefully on the back of the jacket, and ironed them on.
So the only thing now is to see how many odd looks I get when I wear this bad boy around town!
Thanks for looking.
Eric
