Jedi Temple Guard WIP - Approved!

[rogue9607 (Nick)]

Thanks all. The spray foam has worked reasonably well, but it's not perfect. It was cheap and easy to obtain, so it met my requirements for this build, though I'd probably go with something easier to work in the future.

The foam had a tendency to collapse unevenly over time. I'd put down a nice smooth piece at the end of the day only to come back to a lumpy surface in the morning.

Anyway... I'm happy with the progress I'm making. I flattened the front a bit more this morning. Since I'd read that Bondo can eat foam, I sprayed the piece with primer to create a barrier. At least that was the theory. I coated the helmet with a first layer of Bondo and I didn't notice deterioration of the foam.

The texture/gaps of the foam made it hard to get a smooth coat on the first pass. Tomorrow I'll sand this coat down to get a better idea of where I need more Bondo, and hopefully I'll be pretty close with the shape.

I wore the pictured mask while working with the Bondo and was amazed how well it worked. I couldn't smell a thing while wearing it but was overwhelmed with the lingering fumes when I took it off after finishing.


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[Blue Banshee Leader (Alex Buirch)]

Nice progress.
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[Master Vos (Tim)]

Very nice, really looking forward to seeing more of this build!
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[rogue9607 (Nick)]

So right after my last post, I was sidetracked with a saber build for a Christmas present (http://www.rebellegion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=53386&sid=0b5f9dc25c3e583e7523fa1a942cff1f) and then the Disney marathon. I'm back working on the mask again and it's taking shape nicely. I keep putting the fabric on to give the feel of the hood. Here's the current progress along with some other progress shots (mostly because I couldn't remember what I'd posted last.


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[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

wow....really inspiring!!
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[Magnius ()]

love hte progress on the mask!!
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[rogue9607 (Nick)]

I'm getting closer on the mask and it's starting to feel like the temple guard. Before I continued smoothing it out, I wanted to quickly sketch the pattern for the gold detail to see how the proportions looked.

In looking at it closely, I've found a few things to shape before continuing with the finishing. I need to pull the eyes in about 1/8" and narrow them another 1/8". I extended the chin a bit at one point, but now it feels a bit too long. I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it up to the line, but I'll get as close as I can. I also need to block out the cheek section a bit more. Considering what it's taken to get to this point, those changes shouldn't be too bad.

I also feel the the helmet feels a bit too deep. I'll have the opportunity to tweak that later though and it'll really be limited by how deep my head is.

I draped a quick muslin hood to get a feel for how the mask would look. The hood will certainly need more adjustment, but I'll want to work with a final mask to get the fit right.

Please let me know if you see other items to adjust since this is certainly the time to make them.


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[rogue9607 (Nick)]

I couldn't help myself... I just had to tweak the fit of the hood a bit to get a good comparison photo.


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[Anakin Skywalker ()]

it looks really good!
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"All who gain power are afraid to lose it."
"The whole thing stank, but our noses had been out in the cold for too long..."

[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

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[Lora Skywalker ()]

It looks amazing, but you did want nitpick, so here goes.

Disclaimer: it's based purely on the comparison pic above, not on any other source material.

Okay, there appears to be a slight dimple under the eye considering the shadow there. And the jawline seem to go up a bit. Otherwise I don't think I have anything new to comment on. I hope it was the kind of feedback you was looking for.

(Also: Awesome!)
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[rogue9607 (Nick)]

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback. I hadn't noticed the shadow under the eye until you pointed it out. I went through all my reference images, and it seems present in all of them. Either it's a shadow in every view, or it's just part of the shading/coloring of the mask. I'm leaning towards the latter, but I'm not certain. There are a couple of shots from the side where I'd expect to see the dimple, but I don't.

It does raise another question of if I should incorporate that shading into the mask. Part of thinks I should similar to the shading on animated clones, but a bigger part of me thinks I shouldn't since it would be nearly impossible to continue that for the fabric pieces.

I think my jaw will be a bit closer to the reference once I make the planned adjustment. Also, the guard in the screen image is looking slightly down compared to my helmet propped on top of a suit form.

And yes, this is the type of feedback I'm looking for. I'd much rather make changes in the shaping/patterning stages than the final product.
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[PernillaPalpatine (Lisa Klassen)]

Another amazing job, Nick! I agree with Lora's critique. If sculpting the eye dimple doesn't work, just incorporate some paint shading. The mask has a nice organic feeling that will lend itself to paint subtleties.

So what problems were you having with the fabric? I'm really good at sewing and am an expert at dyeing fabric, so I would love to help.

Also a random Pepakura question- do you put the fiber cloth on the inside or outside of the piece when fiber glassing? My dad used to make surfboards and we always did both sides.

Keep up the good work!

[rogue9607 (Nick)]

Thanks! My fabric issues mostly involve the translation of computer animation into real textiles. Trying to balance considerations for color, drape, texture, breathability, etc. It's all a big jumble in my mind with a multiple lines of reasoning. Let me see if I can put it into a coherent post...

Color: Depending on the scene/lighting, the colors come off more greys or tans, or something inbetween. I think I'm favoring the two images from starwars.com that seem removed from any scene lighting:



These are rather subtle color differences which would either require a fabric supplier with a large variety of colors of the same fabric, or dying. I would like to make this such that it would be repeatable in the future since several others have expressed interest in the costume. Best case would be a set order that would be stocked indefinitely, but that's far from guaranteed (ignoring dye lot differences). If I were to dye the fabric, I could get a batch going that would match, but could be difficult getting two batches to match. Also, the type of fabric could make dying difficult/impossible.

Fabric Type: My first thought for this was to look at the traditional Jedi tunic fabrics. Raw silk seemed decent (Qui-Gonn's tunic), though would require dying from what I found.

In browsing, a microsuede would seem to be a good match for the visual texture, and I found some colors that seem near perfect (haven't gotten the samples yet). I'm really not sure how breathable it would be, though I'm certain this costume will be hot regardless. I'm also uncertain on the feel. I've never thought of the temple guard a cuddly/fuzzy.

I've thought of linens or lightweight wool, but haven't gone down that path too far.

There's also the consideration of how any of these materials would hadle the drape of the hood. I'm hoping the tabards/shoulders will be okay with interfacing.

I think those are the majority of the considerations floating around. I'm going to order some samples of the microsuede to compare to the raw silk I already have.

Thanks for the help!

On the Pepakura question, you only fiberglass the inside of the piece so that the detail on the outside is maintained. The outside will have resin, and then you can use something like Bondo auto body filler to smooth/shape as necessary.
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[PernillaPalpatine (Lisa Klassen)]

You may want to check out linen too. I use it in my Roman costuming a lot and once it has been washed it has a great hand and weight and drapes well. Plus it's easy to dye. One way to get uniform color would be to go with a dyable fabric in an easy to obtain color, say white, do some dye tests and keep a record of the ratios of the dye you use, what temp you heat the water etc. I do this with my red linen tunics-I buy natural colored linen and use two different Procion dyes to get a close match to the historical madder red. I like the idea of raw silk too.

As for what type of fabric you can dye- anything natural, most types of polyester and some other synthetics. Jacquard makes a great polyester dye called iDye Poly and also great silk dyes. Procion dyes work well on wool and linen. The most important thing to remember about dyeing is to match the fiber to the right dye. And Rit is okay but it is made as a one-size-fits-all dye so it will do all right in most cases, but not spectacular. My favorite place to get dye is Dharma Trading Co. I've never tried dyeing Microsuede, but my other forays into polyester dyeing have been great.

Thanks for the Pep help. Let my know if you have more questions. Looking at the pics again, I have some linen in that color. Let me take a pic of it for you. It was a steal at $3.99/yard for 60" wide. I might be able to get some more. Too bad you're not close to L.A. I have tons of good wool/silk/linen places in the downtown I could refer you to!