Chewie WIP

[Rovas ()]

I thought it would be better to post the WIP photos in a new thread, rather than keep adding to the into.

Two of the tools required to make this suit are a Hackle and a Drawing board. I found some of these for sale on-line, but they were going to cost around $160-200. So after a trip to a DIY store, I made my own for less than $15.

I picked up a box of 220 3 1/2 " nails and ground the tip to a sharp point and drove them through a pine board that I had pre-drilled.




Primed and painted flat black.


The drawing board is made from rafter beam joiners and hot glued to cardboard.


This is the hair I am using. I can cut it into three sections and get the length I require. They are about $4 each.


This is how much one package covers. About 65 square inches.


The back/inside.


I am planning on doing at least one pack a day in the evening when I get home from work. I was not watching the time when I did the first one, but will for the next to get an idea of how long it will take to complete the suit.

Thats it for now. I will post again soon when there is more to see.
_________________
"I do what I have to do at work so you can do what you want to do at home"
Plo Koon 75%
Chewbacca 99% 'cause its never done...

[Ky-Wan Zann (Jason Gilchrist)]

Looking good so far
_________________


'Just because I don't like to fight. Doesn't mean I can't'

'They can be a great people Kal-El they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way'

'JASON' Detachment

[Shaak Ti (Erin)]

amazing!!! making a Chewie costume would test the patience of the greatest Jedi Master.

[Rovas ()]

So far the hardest part is keeping the dog from laying his head on the draw mat and trying to lick my hand.
_________________
"I do what I have to do at work so you can do what you want to do at home"
Plo Koon 75%
Chewbacca 99% 'cause its never done...

[DocBev (Nicky Blum)]

Boy, that sure looks familiar...
You'll be vacuuming that hair out of your rug for months.

Although we never used a Hackle or Drawing board, so I was surprised to read that those are required tools for building a wookiee suit.
_________________

Nicky "Doc_Bev" Blum
The Rebel Legion: Echo Base XO
501st Legion: Garrison Excelsior Events Coordinator
FanForce: The Rebellion

[Rovas ()]

Nicky, if you have any tips, please send them my way!!!!!
_________________
"I do what I have to do at work so you can do what you want to do at home"
Plo Koon 75%
Chewbacca 99% 'cause its never done...

[DocBev (Nicky Blum)]

You can email this wookiee:
http://www.garrisonexcelsior.com/forum/gallery2.php?g2_itemId=1544
at 501st@blums.net.

That pic ^ is when he debuted his suit at CIII so it's not all nice and scruffy looking yet.

Here's a more recent pic from the Where Science Meets Imagination Philly stop:
http://www.garrisonexcelsior.com/forum/gallery2.php?g2_itemId=45512

Looks like you're on the right track so far, but feel free to email Darren (aka knightshade) if you'd like to chat wookiee.
_________________

Nicky "Doc_Bev" Blum
The Rebel Legion: Echo Base XO
501st Legion: Garrison Excelsior Events Coordinator
FanForce: The Rebellion

[Rovas ()]

Thank you very much Nicky. I will fire off an email later tonight.
_________________
"I do what I have to do at work so you can do what you want to do at home"
Plo Koon 75%
Chewbacca 99% 'cause its never done...

[knightshade (Darren Blum)]

That does look quite familiar....

It looks like you've started down the path of using color #27 as well.

By the time that I started on the darker patches - I realized that I could mix colors together. For some areas I have a mix of Grey (#44?), dark brown #4 and brown #8.
I thought that the variation made it look much more realistic up close.
Look at many animals - not every strand of fur is exactly the same color.

In hind site - I wish that I had mixed some medium brown (#8 ) in with the color #27. I was guessing a ratio of roughly 4x #27 to 1x #8 (maybe a touch of #30 as well)

I had used a brush to mix multiple hair colors together - but that board with nails would have been MUCH easier.

What are you using the drawing board for?

[Rovas ()]

"In hind site - I wish that I had mixed some medium brown (#8 ) in with the color #27. I was guessing a ratio of roughly 4x #27 to 1x #8 (maybe a touch of #30 as well) "

That is great advice! I am going to pick these colors up this afternoon and play around with the mixing.

Here is where I got the idea of the hackle for mixing the hair and use of the drawing board.

[/url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxWs79J4pUY


The board allows me to just take a few strands with just one hand.



_________________
"I do what I have to do at work so you can do what you want to do at home"
Plo Koon 75%
Chewbacca 99% 'cause its never done...

[knightshade (Darren Blum)]

I see how your using the drawing board - and that might explain why your knotting seems to be going slower.

I started doing something like that (drawing hair from a pile) - and it was painfully slow to add hair to the suit.

By the time that I started to get "proficient" with attaching the hair, my process was the following:

My strands of hair were 16" in length.
I would mix colors together using a loose brush.

With practice I would take a handful of hair in my left hand...
At the center, loop it over my pointer finger and double both ends back into my palm. My lower 3 fingers would hold it in place.
(Picture making an imaginary gun with your fingers)

That done - I would be setup to tie ~50 knots or so.

The latch hook tool would be in my right hand,
I would put it through the netting,
With my left thumb I would advance a few hairs along my pointer finger from the bunch. I would then use the hook to grab the "roughly right" amount of hairs. Enough to pull a tight knot, but not enough to break. 8-14 hairs seemed to be a good amount.

I would use the hook to pull those strands of hair about half way out from my hand; then in latch-hook fashion draw it through the netting, and using the latch-hook tool grab/hook the hair and complete the knot (which drew the hair the rest of the way from my hand).

For the duration of tying that handful of hair - most of my movement was at the hand/wrist - and I could tie a single not in ~3 seconds and be immediately onto the next one. You could almost get to a point that you didn't have to watch what you were doing - everything could be done by touch/feel.

Hopefully that description makes some sense.

BTW - where are you picking up your hair?
My local Sally's no longer stocks any synthetics, so I'm needing a new vendor for maintenance.

[Rovas ()]

That makes perfect sense Darren. I will give that a try on the next batch.

I have been getting my hair from the shop below.

Images & Shades Cosmetics Ltd

http://www.imagesandshades.ca/index.php?CategoryID=2&page=1&SubCatID=8&BrandID=

If you have any trouble with the site, let me know and I will pick up what you need and send it to you.
_________________
"I do what I have to do at work so you can do what you want to do at home"
Plo Koon 75%
Chewbacca 99% 'cause its never done...

[GotWookiee (Matt Pfingsten)]

It's nice to see more and more people making Chewie suits. For a while it seemed like the group of us would never grow beyond the crowd that just wants to buy the Rubies suit.

If you need any advice, make sure to check out my Chewie Costuming Resources page, if you haven't already.

Once your suit is done, make sure you wear the suit and have someone brush through the hair with a large hair brush. You can also blend layers using a pair of thinning shears.

When you first wear your suit you will notice how smooth and fake the hair appears to be. The best advice I can offer for fixing that is to wad up the hair suit and stuff it in between your stilts when you pack it in your bin. This, along with your sweat, will give it the clumped, wavy look that the OT Chewie suit (and the ROTS suit to a lesser extent) has.

Don't be afraid to trim your suit, crumple it up, etc. One of things I have noticed about a lot of the National Fiber suits is that the wearers seem to be afraid to mess with their hair. Consequently most of the suits built from that material look smooth and fake to me, except for the ROTS suit and Bob Kohn's suit.

To clean the suit, febreeze is highly recommended. The original suits were cleaned by sprinkling baby powder into the suit, which absorbed the sweat and added a nice smell.

When in costume stay hydrated and make sure you have a handler. Get used to hearing the phrase "just one more picture."
_________________
The Wookiee formerly known as JediToren
Chewbacca Costuming Resources

[Rovas ()]

Thanks for the tips Matt. I am a member at you Yahoo group as well. (klmscott12). I agree your site is a great place for info. I will be picking you brain as well through this build, you can count on it!
_________________
"I do what I have to do at work so you can do what you want to do at home"
Plo Koon 75%
Chewbacca 99% 'cause its never done...

[Rovas ()]

As I have been busy with landscaping the backyard and work, I have not had a chance to do much on the suit for the last little bit. I did get some me time last night and sat down to work on the legs.
Front.


Back.


Left.


Right.


And YES stuffed animals were harmed in the making of this suit.

I am planning to finish the legs off by the end of this weekend and have the top done next week. If I can get all of that done, I might be able to finish the feet and gloves in time for the Pop Culture fair at the end of the month. If not it will be done for Pure Speculation and the Halloween-O-Rama.
_________________
"I do what I have to do at work so you can do what you want to do at home"
Plo Koon 75%
Chewbacca 99% 'cause its never done...