Other Bounty Hunter Asajj the bounty hunter WIP

[kahna]

So I have got it in my head that turning out a Bounty Hunter Asajj costume won't be super time consuming and would be a nice distraction while I slowly gather my Zam parts. My first big hurdle with it is getting the right fabric.

For reference, here is a close up of the fabric. This shot is a bit dark, but it's the best one that shows the fabric.



The fabric has a distinct vertical striped pattern as well as the geometric pattern. It's pretty obvious I'm not going to find anything like it straight off the shelf. I do have an idea of how to get the geometric pattern on the fabric. That part is fairly easy. It's the stripes I'm on the fence about. Are they pleats? Or stripes? I could do them as stripes pretty easy. I found a nice cotton fabric with "Seuss stripes" I could dye it to match the coloring pretty easily, then silk screen the pattern on top. I ordered a swatch to see if the proportions were correct. Now if it is pleats, ugh, doable but much more of a headache.

I just wanted to toss this around and see if anyone else had any ideas?

 

[xanthis02]

looks pleated you can see the design in the "stripes"

 

[kahna]

I was afraid of that. The coloring of the lines, dark with lighter edges, makes me think pleat, but there is no real interruption in the pattern. Even a very shallow pleat would cause more interruption to the pattern than what you see. Oh the joys of turning cartoons into reality.

 

[Novenas]

The fabric looks really stiff and quite thick. Maybe you could fold it and iron it in such a way (think origami but with fabric) that it would resemble the folds in her dress. It makes me think of using starch on napkins so that they hold their folds properly.

I also think you could easily paint the pattern on the fabric before pleating it. I hope this helps. I look forward to seeing your costume come together.

 

[kahna]

I have decided to attempt to pleat the fabric, using a fusible interface to stabilize both the fabric (I agree it looks stiff) and the pleats themselves. I am going to paint the pattern on after pleating it, since the pattern is not interrupted by the pleats themselves, but flows right along with them. I'm hoping this will create both the look of the lines and the flow of the pattern. I will have to have the tabards extend into the skirt. I think the best place for the seam is underneath the torso armor, down the sides of the skirt portion. The torso armor should hide most of the seam. I am pretty sure it has a tan piping around all the edges. Yay. . . Piping. . . After the last costume I worked on piping is not my friend.

I have a body suit pattern that I will modify to make into a shorts body suit. With an invisible zipper up the back. The neck piece will be separate, I think. Then figure out something for the stripped pattern on the sides. The ones that run perpendicular to stripes on the tabards. So much to still work out.

I have swatches of purple stretch fabric on the way for the leggings and glovelets. Now to figure out how to make armor from scratch. I can manage the torso and shoulder armor, but really want to find someone to make a 3d model of her lovely helmet. I, unfortunately, haven't got the skills to do something that complicated.

 

[Novenas]

Can you post a head to toe shot of Ventress in this garment?

 

[kahna]

And a good shot of the obi, which appears to go over the back tabards but under the front.



I have more, screenshots mostly, but they need cleaning up.

 

[Novenas]

Thank you for the pictures. That is going to be one awesome costume. I read that you are going to paint the design on after pleating. I almost thought it might be easier painting a flat piece of fabric rather than painting up and down pleats. Or are you worried about the pattern lining up properly during sewing? If you painted beforehand you could use a hand drawn stencil to outline your shape and then after all of your designs have been laid out, you could go back over it with a brush. You could probably even use fabric spray paint and a stencil. I think your idea to use fusible interface is awesome!!!

For or the shoulder pauldron, you may be able it get piece of ABS, HIPs or PVC cut it to shape and use a heat gun to give it a nice curve. You may also be able to do this with your other armor pieces too. I have also heard of people using Worbla with success.

 

[kahna]

I will be cutting the pattern out on a sheet of plastic, and stenciling it on. I am worried about how the pattern is going to line up after it's all pleated and sewn together. I think the stencil method will work even with the pleats. I'll be practicing before I do anything with the finished product. I'm off to the fabric store tomorrow to go pick out something. I already have the stretchy black fabric.

 

[Novenas]

I am looking forward to seeing what you find at the fabric store. Good luck!

 

[kahna]

My progress so far. I used a simple black cotton fabric, pleated it and hand painted the rosette things on there. It takes forever. I like the way the pleats add depth to it, even if you can't see it very well in the photo. If I was going to do it all over again though I would probably just have spoonflower make the fabric for me. I played around with their site a bit and uploaded two versions of the fabric, one with wider stripes than the other. I have a swatch being printed and I may adjust the colors based on what it looks like. It can be seen here http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/3047540.

 

[Novenas]

Ok, that spoonflower site is amazing!!! It kind of reminds me of 3D printing, but for fabric. I am going to have to check this site out further. Thank you for sharing.

 

[kahna]

I had WIP threads going on several forums so I got a bit lazy about updating this one. I thought you all might like to see the (almost) finished project. I did tweak the wraps a bit to darken them up and make them easier to deal with after taking this picture, and it doesn't show my painted hands or my awesome lightsabers. It should give you the general idea. I'll have nice pics after Dragon*Con. I don't want to put on the bald cap again until the con. It's gotta last me.

When it was all said and done it took me over 40 hours to hand paint the tabards, obi and skirt. Things went pretty quick after that. The armor is made of Worba and painted with acrylics. The helmet is pepakura with resin inside and an apoxy sculpt shell on the outside. The helmet took around 50 hours to complete. The rest of the armor took a long weekend from initial design to finished paint. The belt buckle is sculpted out of worbla and apoxy sculpt and the belt and straps are leather. The boxes are weather over craft foam cores and they are all weathered with acrylics. The bracers are worbla painted to look like weathered leather. The wraps are a white cotton knit that has been tea dyed and further stained with sprays of tea and coffee.



My awesome Woodchuck Lightsabers.


And some details...

Helmet, (I later painted the mouth grill gunmetal.)


Shoulder and torso armor. Weathering is drybrushed.


Neck. I used heavy stretch interfacing and a bit of left over boning to make it stand properly.

 

[GhostDarAvode]

wow! it came out great!
did you make the helmet yourself?
-Ghost

 

[xanthis02]

YAY she's aliveeeee costume is looking great

 

[kahna]

Fierfek did the 3d render and unfold of the helmet. I'm just this side of useless with computer sculpting. I did the physical work of putting it together. This was the second try, the first one made it half way through the gluing the paper together stage before I realized it was way too big and sized it down. My first real pepakura project. I weathered with a combo of masking fluid for the exposed "metal", broad black paint overspray type stuff to tone down the yellow and layered chalk pastels to dusty up the black. Pictures don't really capture the weathering, especially not the pastel work. The grill is craft foam, because it gave me sharper lines and a more stable solid front than paper. the ear details were sculpted out of craft foam and apoxy sculpt. Some WIP pics.

Before painting...


Ready for the black coat, the yellow was painted on by hand in acrylic, the black and silver were sprayed on.