Doomkitten
Hunter
So the braids..
My costume has been rocking some pretty substandard braids for a while, and since I’ve updated and drastically improved everything I thought I should do the same to the braids. (Honestly nobody in the 501st ever cared as long as the colors were correct… which even then mine weren’t exactly)
Ive seen a lot of people buying and selling braids, which is great! And Woodman was the place to go. But times change, and it seems that there is a gap in the “soft parts” availability. So I’ve been working on building my own soft parts (gloves, vest, braids, I don’t think I’ll ever try the flight suit, because that’s a lot of research and my sewing skills of that caliber are just not there.)
That all being said I thought I would post, the steps I took to complete the braids (for a total of 18$ with enough extra to make 5-6 sets of braids should I want to try again.)
In this I used Rafal’s measurements from this.
Everything is in MM and Americans don’t know what that means. But alas there is the internet.
I then went to a local “discount beauty supply” they had a surplus sale and were selling extensions of all sizes for 1.00$
I grabbed a bunch of the nearest proximity to the length needed to make it a bit easier overall.
I know EVERY major city in America has a similar store, and if all else fails there is discount online stores for comparable prices (3-5$ from what I found before I went to this store)
Before starting I rinsed each extension set in my sink with apple cider vinegar and warm water. I learned this from a YouTube tutorial. There is an alkaline on synthetic hair, also the wet hair is easier separate to size than out of the package dry hair.
Then I found a workspace and laid out a piece of tape marked with the measurements Rafal created
it looked like this.
After this photo I also made a vertical one with denotations for where the ties would be and the length of the ends.
The black braid was the full extent of the extensions so I had to separate them (the grey and blonde I separated still attached to the rubber band of the extension set.)
So after I separated them I used a small rubber band at the ends to keep them nice and together with less worry about the loose strands getting all tangled.
Then using tension at the back of my drafting table I braided them (braiding is easy, and there are TONS of videos of different ways to do it. I’m not sure if in the 70s they used a specific method, but I imagine they just did it the normal way)
::Note:: on several reverence photos I have seen that (especially) the thicker blonde braid has some uneven twists in the braiding, you can achieve this by twisting the strand in the other direction and changing from looping over the center braid to under it for that braid. It pushes it out to the side a bit more and skews it. Then just continue back to the way you have been doing it.
Ultimately it looks like this.
The thickness was achieved doing a little test with some clips from the brown hair, since I didn’t need all of it. It is 15mm pretty evenly throughout
Another note, give your self about another inch or so over the correct size when cutting your braids, you lose length while braiding so if you measure EXACTLY before you braid, you will ultimately fall short.
Then I just repeated the steps with the blonde and grey/silver
For tying off the ends, first I used some fishing line and a bowline knot. (I suppose any knot would work, but I didn’t want to keep the fishing line there forever.
I tied the know right above where the wraps would start.
This part I am unsure of, (really all of this I am unsure of)
I read on the forums that commonly used was an embroidery thread. Which is great and all for color. But equally hobby lobby has a wide variety of colors of “waxed Brazilian cord”
The wax coating binds the synthetic hair together so well! And is hella easy to tie!
I used a basic hook knot (a beginner fishing knot) because it’s easy and allows you to hide the ends pretty well. (Again I don’t know if any tie off ends were visible in the reference photos )
I also didn’t strive to make the knots hella clean, I feel like, the character himself didn’t really portray “clean and perfect”
Anyways, at the end of it all I attached the length of brown hair to the other end of the black with a few simple ties, then attached that with more sturdy tie to the other end of the loop, of the black braids. Then used a bit of fishing line and black cord to secure everything together.
Using a bit of Got 2 B hair glue and wax, I smoothed out the loose ends.
Later I will probably take a curling iron to the silver to get that whole curly-cue thing everyone loves.
The end.
My costume has been rocking some pretty substandard braids for a while, and since I’ve updated and drastically improved everything I thought I should do the same to the braids. (Honestly nobody in the 501st ever cared as long as the colors were correct… which even then mine weren’t exactly)
Ive seen a lot of people buying and selling braids, which is great! And Woodman was the place to go. But times change, and it seems that there is a gap in the “soft parts” availability. So I’ve been working on building my own soft parts (gloves, vest, braids, I don’t think I’ll ever try the flight suit, because that’s a lot of research and my sewing skills of that caliber are just not there.)
That all being said I thought I would post, the steps I took to complete the braids (for a total of 18$ with enough extra to make 5-6 sets of braids should I want to try again.)
In this I used Rafal’s measurements from this.
Everything is in MM and Americans don’t know what that means. But alas there is the internet.
I then went to a local “discount beauty supply” they had a surplus sale and were selling extensions of all sizes for 1.00$
I grabbed a bunch of the nearest proximity to the length needed to make it a bit easier overall.
I know EVERY major city in America has a similar store, and if all else fails there is discount online stores for comparable prices (3-5$ from what I found before I went to this store)
Before starting I rinsed each extension set in my sink with apple cider vinegar and warm water. I learned this from a YouTube tutorial. There is an alkaline on synthetic hair, also the wet hair is easier separate to size than out of the package dry hair.
Then I found a workspace and laid out a piece of tape marked with the measurements Rafal created
it looked like this.After this photo I also made a vertical one with denotations for where the ties would be and the length of the ends.
The black braid was the full extent of the extensions so I had to separate them (the grey and blonde I separated still attached to the rubber band of the extension set.)
So after I separated them I used a small rubber band at the ends to keep them nice and together with less worry about the loose strands getting all tangled.
Then using tension at the back of my drafting table I braided them (braiding is easy, and there are TONS of videos of different ways to do it. I’m not sure if in the 70s they used a specific method, but I imagine they just did it the normal way)
::Note:: on several reverence photos I have seen that (especially) the thicker blonde braid has some uneven twists in the braiding, you can achieve this by twisting the strand in the other direction and changing from looping over the center braid to under it for that braid. It pushes it out to the side a bit more and skews it. Then just continue back to the way you have been doing it.
Ultimately it looks like this.
The thickness was achieved doing a little test with some clips from the brown hair, since I didn’t need all of it. It is 15mm pretty evenly throughoutAnother note, give your self about another inch or so over the correct size when cutting your braids, you lose length while braiding so if you measure EXACTLY before you braid, you will ultimately fall short.
Then I just repeated the steps with the blonde and grey/silver
For tying off the ends, first I used some fishing line and a bowline knot. (I suppose any knot would work, but I didn’t want to keep the fishing line there forever.
I tied the know right above where the wraps would start.
This part I am unsure of, (really all of this I am unsure of)
I read on the forums that commonly used was an embroidery thread. Which is great and all for color. But equally hobby lobby has a wide variety of colors of “waxed Brazilian cord”
The wax coating binds the synthetic hair together so well! And is hella easy to tie!
I used a basic hook knot (a beginner fishing knot) because it’s easy and allows you to hide the ends pretty well. (Again I don’t know if any tie off ends were visible in the reference photos )
I also didn’t strive to make the knots hella clean, I feel like, the character himself didn’t really portray “clean and perfect”
Anyways, at the end of it all I attached the length of brown hair to the other end of the black with a few simple ties, then attached that with more sturdy tie to the other end of the loop, of the black braids. Then used a bit of fishing line and black cord to secure everything together.
Using a bit of Got 2 B hair glue and wax, I smoothed out the loose ends.
Later I will probably take a curling iron to the silver to get that whole curly-cue thing everyone loves.
The end.
