I want to make a ROTJ Boba costume and I want to be 501st worthy, I know there is a dedicated website for the 501st but none knows Boba like thedentedhelmet. I think it's supposed to be a slightly blueish gray but I have seen straight up khaki colored and I have seen obviously blue. I like the darker blue look personally but I want 501st approval and I am having trouble finding how dark I can go while still being 501st approved. I am making it myself and I am on a budget, plus the time it will take me to sew it all will be immense. I've tried searches and I'm coming up short, Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
Flight Suit Correct color for ROTJ Boba flight suit.
- Thread starter Rekr
- Start date
DeathProof
Active Hunter
The correct colour, and as per the 501st CRL is a "light grey with blue hue." The blue hue was a recent addition to the level 3 standard so if you have just a light grey that is still acceptable. As for the names of dyes to use, unfortunately I'm no help there 
Toolguy did a great job dying his flightsuit - I'd check out his thread.
Toolguy did a great job dying his flightsuit - I'd check out his thread.
2 tablespoons of RIT pearl grey with a teaspoon of royal blue in 3-4 gallons of water should be a pretty good mix for ESB. Maybe a little less than a half teaspoon for ROTJ, start off with 1/4 tsp first then add more until you think the mix is right. If the grey is too dark replace one to one dye with clean water. Be sure to have some strips of the fabric the suit is made of to test the color before you put the suit in.
T
toolguy301
Guest
Here is what I did for dying my flight suit. This was one of the most stressful things I did on my build cause I wasn't sure how this was going to come out. I found with the wrong mixes you can have very bad results, so I strongly recommend experimenting on smaller pieces of cloth prior to doing this & repeat the process so that you get the same results. I spent days playing around trying to get something I liked.
Use RIT Dye
Used 30 gallon plastic tote (3/4 full of water) approximately 20 gallons of hot water.
Wet the suit before putting it in the dye I just used cold water don't soak it just get it damp, helps the color take & absorb evenly.
First color:
Used RIT Dyes formula for Silver Cloud #186 modified (if you want a scaled down version for tests I have that as well)
Mixed the dye solution in a separate container & dump it into the tote & mix it well before putting your suit into the tote to soak.
9 cups of boiling water
2 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoons of Evening Blue (liquid)
2 tablespoons + 1 1/2 teaspoons of Taupe (liquid)
1 tablespoon of Black (liquid) this was added from the recipe from RIT. I found that this added to it during my experiments.
Let soak for about 30 to 40 minutes
Rinse (did this in the bath tub)
Dunked it in a bleach bath (1/8 cup in 20 gallons of water) don't let it stay too long I found bleach takes hold quick
Ran through rinse cycle in the washing machine just water
Let it air dry overnight.
This yielded a very pale light blue.
Next color was way more simple:
Pearl Gray (Entire box) mixed with 4 cups of boiling water
Added to 20 gallons of hot water
Soak for 15 to 20 minutes ( I let mine get pretty gray)
Rinse (did this in the bath tub)
Dunked it in a bleach bath (1/8 cup in 20 gallons of water) don't let it stay too long I found bleach takes hold quick
Ran through rinse cycle in the washing machine just water
Let it air dry overnight.
This gave the light gray coloring, but the seams still have the blue hue. For the weathering I used a combination of acrylic fabric paints air brush & some spray paints. Using browns, grays, & black. I wet the suit & applied a very diluted acrylic paints to the suit which allowed the paint to absorb into the fabric & give a natural look. Then air brushed & spray can to hit the larger areas. In different lighting it gives a different appearance in color.
This is what I did & I was happy with the results. Again I stress doing tests on small pieces of cloth to get a feel for how the dye process works. I just went to the fabric store & bought similar fabric to my suit. If you mix something wrong it can have bad results so do some tests. Do this at your own risk. Be very careful with the amount of bleach a little goes a long way.
If you have any questions please let me know. Like I stated I spent a lot of time trying things till I got comfortable with the results even to the point of duplicating the same results. Also the difference in the look between wet & dry is very noticeable as well as lighting.
Here are some photos in my progress thread from my build:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?t=48239&p=625527&viewfull=1#post625527
Here is a photo taken at at troop on the same day inside & outside to show how lighting affects the coloring.
I hope this helps some.
Use RIT Dye
Used 30 gallon plastic tote (3/4 full of water) approximately 20 gallons of hot water.
Wet the suit before putting it in the dye I just used cold water don't soak it just get it damp, helps the color take & absorb evenly.
First color:
Used RIT Dyes formula for Silver Cloud #186 modified (if you want a scaled down version for tests I have that as well)
Mixed the dye solution in a separate container & dump it into the tote & mix it well before putting your suit into the tote to soak.
9 cups of boiling water
2 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoons of Evening Blue (liquid)
2 tablespoons + 1 1/2 teaspoons of Taupe (liquid)
1 tablespoon of Black (liquid) this was added from the recipe from RIT. I found that this added to it during my experiments.
Let soak for about 30 to 40 minutes
Rinse (did this in the bath tub)
Dunked it in a bleach bath (1/8 cup in 20 gallons of water) don't let it stay too long I found bleach takes hold quick
Ran through rinse cycle in the washing machine just water
Let it air dry overnight.
This yielded a very pale light blue.
Next color was way more simple:
Pearl Gray (Entire box) mixed with 4 cups of boiling water
Added to 20 gallons of hot water
Soak for 15 to 20 minutes ( I let mine get pretty gray)
Rinse (did this in the bath tub)
Dunked it in a bleach bath (1/8 cup in 20 gallons of water) don't let it stay too long I found bleach takes hold quick
Ran through rinse cycle in the washing machine just water
Let it air dry overnight.
This gave the light gray coloring, but the seams still have the blue hue. For the weathering I used a combination of acrylic fabric paints air brush & some spray paints. Using browns, grays, & black. I wet the suit & applied a very diluted acrylic paints to the suit which allowed the paint to absorb into the fabric & give a natural look. Then air brushed & spray can to hit the larger areas. In different lighting it gives a different appearance in color.
This is what I did & I was happy with the results. Again I stress doing tests on small pieces of cloth to get a feel for how the dye process works. I just went to the fabric store & bought similar fabric to my suit. If you mix something wrong it can have bad results so do some tests. Do this at your own risk. Be very careful with the amount of bleach a little goes a long way.
If you have any questions please let me know. Like I stated I spent a lot of time trying things till I got comfortable with the results even to the point of duplicating the same results. Also the difference in the look between wet & dry is very noticeable as well as lighting.
Here are some photos in my progress thread from my build:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?t=48239&p=625527&viewfull=1#post625527
Here is a photo taken at at troop on the same day inside & outside to show how lighting affects the coloring.
I hope this helps some.
Aiakos
Active Hunter
I haven't started a thread yet but Im going to take more of a reflection approach on the build due to time constraints lol. When I read the dying technique you went with I started laughing. I had the hardest time dying the suit, a lady sees for us from Debbie. I had went with the same colors that you started with and it looked beautiful wet. The next day not the case. Here was the final product...
Ultimately after bleaching the suit and reapplying the color it made a world of difference! Thanks for the info Chris.
T
toolguy301
Guest
Looks great I like how it turned out & glad I could help. Now you need to get it dirty. Dying fabric stresses me out cause so many things can go wrong if mixed wrong. Glad to see you got good results.
Gregory
Active Hunter
I'm relatively new here, but I can share my experience. I made my own flightsuit from lightweight white cotton twill and dyed it using Rit Pearl Gray liquid. My suit weighed less than a pound dry, so I used 1/2 of an 8 oz. bottle in 3 gallons of just boiled water, and added about 1/2 cup of salt (all I had, should have been 1 cup for cotton).
I did this in a canning pot that holds about 5 gallons. It immediately turned quite dark gray and purplish and I was very concerned. I left it in for about an hour, stirring occasionally, and then took it out and rinsed it repeatedly, until the rinse water was clear, and then ran it through a wash cycle in a washing machine, and dried it on low.
The result is pretty good in my opinion, and as has been mentioned the warmth/coldness depends on indoor/outdoor lighting:
I did this in a canning pot that holds about 5 gallons. It immediately turned quite dark gray and purplish and I was very concerned. I left it in for about an hour, stirring occasionally, and then took it out and rinsed it repeatedly, until the rinse water was clear, and then ran it through a wash cycle in a washing machine, and dried it on low.
The result is pretty good in my opinion, and as has been mentioned the warmth/coldness depends on indoor/outdoor lighting:
I'm relatively new here, but I can share my experience. I made my own flightsuit from lightweight white cotton twill and dyed it using Rit Pearl Gray liquid. My suit weighed less than a pound dry, so I used 1/2 of an 8 oz. bottle in 3 gallons of just boiled water, and added about 1/2 cup of salt (all I had, should have been 1 cup for cotton).
I did this in a canning pot that holds about 5 gallons. It immediately turned quite dark gray and purplish and I was very concerned. I left it in for about an hour, stirring occasionally, and then took it out and rinsed it repeatedly, until the rinse water was clear, and then ran it through a wash cycle in a washing machine, and dried it on low.
The result is pretty good in my opinion, and as has been mentioned the warmth/coldness depends on indoor/outdoor lighting:
can you please post larger pics? would love to see more detail. thanks!
Last edited by a moderator:
Gregory
Active Hunter
Is this better? I think if you click on it, you can see a larger version. Sorry I didn't see your response sooner.
samwise1987
New Hunter
Just dyed my originally white flightsuit with thetoolguy's guide and it turned out fantastic definetly a great colour turn out
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