"Official" Zam holster is FINISHED! New picture!! 2/24

Well, here is the prototype Zam holster that I just finished! All it needs are the 2 black snaps ans the "correct" purplish-brown dye.
At first, I engraved all of the lines on the holster, later noticing that there is a whole new layer on top, right where all the detail begins. So I cut and mounted a second piece, engraved into that, and added the strips.
Any questions or comments, please let me know. I want to make my first Zam piece, the perfect piece for all of you Zammers out there!

Preliminary list:

1. Sandgirl
2. Qui-Gon_Ludo
3. MonCal
4. MaulMaus
5. Dark Trooper
6. Zam I Am
7. seventhz777z x2


Next up, the helmet, then maybe the shin/foot armor!

Dallas has a thread around here about the blaster he is making. I am pretty sure he gave some dimensions in there.

I made mine a little too small I guess...

-cris

ah yes- here it is...

http://tdh.prop-planet.com/viewtopic...=3238&forum=10

-cris

Groovy, so the gun's about 6.5" in height, and about 10" in length.

Yet another thing Andy is excited to see you do. As am I.

Yeah, as if I haven't put enought stuff on my plate to do!
Royal Guard
Imp officer
Tusken
R2
Vader stuff
Jango stuff
*secret*
*even more secret*

Now Zam..

Let's see, right now, my little work table has a
Tusken head
Vader body suit
*Very secret* (and it's NOT going to be easy)
Jango pouches
Zam holster

Can I add anything else??
It's all just a juggling act.

Well, the pattern is finished! All I need to do is go home, and cut one out!
Would it be the consensus that it is brown with hints of purple? With the exception of the flap that snaps around the belt?
It seems it me that most of it is purplish, but the little detailed section , with the little strips of leather accross, is brown, with little hints of purple around the strips.
What I'll probably do is just cut out the pattern, and glue it all together. That way you guys can see exactly how it will look. Then I'll worry about the colors. Probably best to wait until I have the correct pantone color jumpsuit material before I start mixing leather dyes.

Very nice. May I suggest that you only try a brown dye first, as the "pinkness" of that type of leather sometimes affects the end color of a piece. Apply a sparing dose, and let it cure completely. In the proper light, it may have your sought after purpleness. If that fails, try a purple eyeshadow applied with a cotton ball and buffed.

Again, very nice work.

Excellent work Toby!

I guess I should've mentioned price.
I'm estimating a finished holster will go for about $30 plus shipping.
If there's someone really anal about authenticity, I could also add the little black eyelet inside the holster. Doesn't look like it's used for anything. Perhaps it was initially designed to have the holster tie around her leg as well?
I'm still waiting for feedback on the color of the holster, as well as the sample to jumpsuit.
Might be about 3 weeks or so until I start sending these out. Until then, I'd like to start a list of interested names so I can start to gather the leather and cut and glue most of them.
The only thing I need to add to the holster in the picture is the extra covering of leather on the flap, which I will do on the finished versions.

Toby, don't you have to use the right gun to wet-form the leather around so the blaster fits properly? If so, we might be in for one. We can save on shipping and pick it up when we see you for Transworld.

Nah, no need for wet forming on this thing. It's the same kind of idea as a trooper blaster. Provided that I have the correct gun measurements, it should just slide right in, and have enough slack to hold it in place. If it's too large, the seam at the back of the gun could be glued down a little further.

not to nit pick... but the panel - where the 2 black snap backs are - should be leather side out - NOT suede side out.

You can do that by flipping that piece of leather over the top to the inside of the holster (away from the body) and gluing it rather than to the outside (towards the body). Both will create the belt loop.

Dustin Crops Boy wrote:
not to nit pick... but the panel - where the 2 black snap backs are - should be leather side out - NOT suede side out.

I know, that's what I meant when I said I had to glue a second piece of leather down on top of the loop area.
I'm being just as picky.

sith_camaro wrote:
I know, that's what I meant when I said I had to glue a second piece of leather down on top of the loop area.
I'm being just as picky.

ahh - i missed that part :o

Very nice job man!! Looks excellent!

Looks great!!!

Are you going to sell them all dyed?

Yep, all dyed. As soon as I have a body suit sample that I can base the color on.

sith_camaro wrote:
If there's someone really anal about authenticity, I could also add the little black eyelet inside the holster. Doesn't look like it's used for anything. Perhaps it was initially designed to have the holster tie around her leg as well?

I'm not super anal about authenticity, but, if you have those eyelets and it's not too much trouble, I'd like some on mine.

Awesome job sith_camaro!!!!!!

I'd be interested too... but I'd also like the grommets/eyelets... whatever those things are!

Please keep us posted on the details!

Hey just some detailing that you might want to consider, By the way, I thought both those black gromlets were used to hold the holster onto the belt. Am I wrong? There are two lines on the holster before the top layer ends. I have highlighted what I mean.
http://www.printroom.com/ViewAlbum.a...lbum_id=130096

Ah yes, good eye. I'll have to add the second set of lines.

check out pic DSC04349, I think that the edge width might be a tad less thick. Do you know what i mean? I might be wrong cause of the angle the shot was taken, but you might wanna trim the left edge a tad? I would draw on more pics, but gotta go shopping...If you want, i will post later.

i assumed the two "grommets" are actually the backs of black snaps - that simply hold the flap together.

I finally realized what sith camaro meant by that "added" eyelet. I think that I started a chain reaction of misinterpretation.
Sith_Camaro, you are going to have the two black grommlets and 1 eyelet for us finicky holster bearers, right? I think this is what he meant:
http://www.printroom.com/ViewAlbum.a...lbum_id=130096

The "grommets" are actually the backs of two black snaps. The other side of the snap is on the very top of the holster flap. It loops over the belt, and snaps to that area right above the opening.
I'm guessing since there's an eyelet at the top of the opening there, there may quite possibly be a second, lower on the backside of the holster. There's no way for us to see, but I might add a second one, just for locis'd sake.
The "smooth side" that you see is there to cover the suede side of the leather.
Basically, the holster body is one large piece of leather, folded over on the front side. When you do this, you have the suede side showing where you see the "grommets" (snaps), they glued a second piece to make that area look a little cleaner.
I'll make a second, more final, prototype, this will have everything that should be on there. Before I glue another one together, I want to be able to dye the leather so the rubber cement won't seal any of the leather surface away from the dye. Maybe another 2 weeks or so. Again, just waiting for that jumpsuit sample, to have a physical color to compare it to. I'm going to have to do some dye mixing to get the right shade of purple.

Ya, sorry this bodysuit prototype is taking so long, the darned dyeing company may have held us up another three business days. Dag nabbit.
But, in anycase, I thought it was just a dark brown leather with some purple paint tones on the very edges of the strips and where the glue is. Therefore, I didnt think that purp dye was needed. Then again, I have never dyed leather, so I dont know how just brown coloring would look. Or, if purple dye is actually needed then. So I may not know what the h-e- double hockey sticks that I'm talking about...

Hi everybody. Been lurking around for a while.

Sith_Camaro:

Some comments:

Looks good. Need to take a look at the following things:

1. Dye before you glue. Otherwise, the glue that gets pushed out onto the exposed surface will not allow the dye to take.
2. It gets narrower at the bottom than you have it.
3. I do not know how you could possibly get this close enough without a gun to size it to. And wetforming the holster is a must. This it what gets the pistol to go back into the same spot everytime as opposed to pushing it in and allowing slop to take it where it will. I've made Aurra's holsters (Much more complicated) and Zam's and I can tell you that they need to be wetformed.
4. I remember noting that if I ever remade the holster, the horizontal detail straps appeared to pierce the holster more like straps than gluements.
5. The back edge is sewn.

Here's the holster I made before Dallas took the book of photos in Aussieland:



And here is my Aurra Sing (with holster pair):



So I'm not just a hack.

Dan (The Wookie)

I don't know much about wetforming. Is that why wookie strips look more smooth on the edges than the MOM pics? And, does the main body of the holster really need wetforming? Does that just make the holster have a smoother look? What does wetforming actually do as opposed to just glueing the thing together?

No. I glued my pieces together except for the sewn edge. Leather is a very versatile material. If you get it drenching wet and the pull it onto a form, when the material dries, it will hold the form. Hence, you wet the holster down, shove the gun in and let the beast dry. When you finish, there is a nice internal pocket for the pistol. If you've ever ice skated, the reason bought skates fit better than rentals is that when you wear them a few times, they wetform to your feet (provided they are leather innards).

Holsters that are made for a particular purpose, such as a police holster, will be made so that they slop fit (usually). A handmade holster will nearly always be wetformed to the gun.

So, ya cut the pattern, put the ridges in, you wetform it, then dye it, then glue the strips on and the rest of the sucker together, eh? Pretty neat.

Yeah, wetforming is pretty cool. I did the same for my Jango holsters, and my Padme pouches:


Unfortunatley, I don't have a Zam gun. But I did get the diameter of the tip of the gun. So I can take you're idea Zam, and use the piece of PVC pipe to simulate the gun then I make it.

What is that pic with that white stuff?

Those are my painted Padme arena battle pouches.
Well....not MINE, but a set I made for someone.

Oh! that's neat

If you do use the pvc idea, then you will get a better feeling about the pattern too. ie, the angle at the top of the holster. Oh, and the width on the trim on the side where everything gets glued together.

Anyone have a shot with her blaster in the holster? Wanted to know how tightly the blaster held with that igniter pin and trigger that sticks out.

I'd cut it all out, dye it, assemble it and then wetform it.

Al-rightie. Got a couple new tools today, and I sat down and re-vamped the decorated portion of the holster, AND put in that second outline that I had previously missed.
Don't mind the drips of dye on there...




And, if anyone really wants to get fancy, I could make some faux stitching in the grooves. It wouldn't be film accurate, but I just like this new little tool I bought!

Sith I would like it if you could dye my holster borwn and any color alterations to it I will do myself.

Yeah, Sith C- I don't think the pantone color of the body suit has anything to do with the color of the holster. To me, it's all painted purple where the glue spots are, not dyed. I think it's all dyed brown. I have been zoomming in like crazy. Purple reflections and purple paint is what I see. I don't think purple is in the dye.

OK, that'll make it all the easier!
I'll still have to find a good mix of purple of dye for when I start making skirts!

tru dat tru dat,
Oh, got some more critiques... sorry I am such a costume nazi-- but you will find that once you shove that pvc pipe down the holster, you will come up with similar results anyway. Unfortunately, it changes the pattern a tad.
http://www.geocities.com/zamwiam/Cri...?1045931938809
Tell me if this is doable. If so, then please add me on your list. And Gromlets and extra "eye" , and just brown dye, and no faux stitching please I think my hubby can handle the purple weathering. Tanks!

I'm inclined to agree with zam i am. Not to discount your work at all but these little modifications would be great!

thanks,
Cal

***Updates***
I put together a semi-100% finished holster. I'll need thinner leather for the upper flap. Two layers of the thick veg tanned leather make it very stiff! I'd say that I can start making these for everyone next week, but I used up all of my brown dye (not thinking that I would need it for these holsters :p ).

Looking sharp, Toby!

Sweet Toby! Looks great to me.

Impressive, most impressive!!

It looks great

Were you planning on making a couple of the adjustments that zam i am mentioned in her link a few posts up? Also, did you decide to wet form ?

Very Nice!

Great work there!

That new holster is still a semi-finished piece. About 95% there. I didn't wet form it yet, but when I do, I was just thinking of putting the pipe, to form it, after it's assembled.

Count me in on the holster too. I am interested in Two of them! looks great!

Any news on this item?

Still backed up on Boba belts.
Soon, soon.

What type of leather tool did you use for those lines on the very edges of the holsters? And, are those snaps easy to put on, or do you need to have a special applicator tool?

Gosh, I'm not sure, offhand, what you call the tool.
The snaps are pretty easy to put on. You'll just need a tool to hammer the hole into the leather, because a regular hand ponch won't reach.

what does the tool look like?

Here you go:
SADDLEMAKERS GROOVER

Just look under stitching tools, on the leather factory website.

Awww!!! That is awsome!!! I definately want one! E-mail me with the details: whitequeen2e1@sbcglobal.net
Would love to put that on the side of my wheelchair to show it off...but I know the cops would pick me up (if not shoot me) heh, heh. Heck, they stopped my sis and I for having beer cans on us (that we were picking up for recycling).