"Dune" Still Suits - Seeking Info

stmike73

New Member
A couple of friends and I are doing some research on still suits from the 1984 Dune. With some luck we'll have a Dune costuming group at Dragon Con 2012. I've been to a number of cons including attending Dragon Con since 2006 and I've only seen one person costuming a still suit. That would be the guy I ran into at the Marriott this year at about 4am. It looked good so if anyone knows him or he's on here please chime in.



I was wondering if anyone here had attempted this and could possible provide some additional insight.

Thanks.
 
Big fan of the Lynch "Dune" and always wanted my own. I remember seeing a screen used suit for sale in a comic shop in Orlando 15 years ago and that was the ONLY time I've seen one.
Good luck with your research.
 
Can you tell us a little about how you made it what materials used, what did you use for the nose "plug". your suit looks great by the way good job.
 
Sure thing and thank you!

First off, my very good friend Don Corbitt did all the sewing. I did the design and the tube system.

The reference pictures from the making of the costumes for production were invaluable! If you haven't seen that already, definitely check it out.

Okay... so our design is a little different, but follows the same basic concept.

It's a cotton fabric black unitard as the base that we added a zipper to... I suppose you could use a front zipper unitard, but you'd have to sew a flap of the same black material behind the zipper eventually... I would think... and it might be harder to hide the zipper later.

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Then we made lots of foam covered sections. We'd cut the foam in the shape we wanted and then encase the foam in a "burrito" of fabric. Typically in sets of two, mirror opposites.

Then we started placing them on the unitard where we wanted them and sewed them on.

For the vertical rib section, we used this stuff that's supposed to go around car interior liner (at least I think that's what it was).

And this may come as a shock to some people, but this is NON-FUNCTIONAL suit. So the crotch is a separate piece that is velcroed in place so I can go to the bathroom...

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The water return tubes are surgical tubing painted matte black.

The clip on the end was the hard part. After trying many things, I final decided on a nose clip like swimmers use. I bend it a little more and cut the surgical tubing to fit around it. Then with elastic string, I tied it to the surgical tubing. Then instead of it going on the outside of your nose, you stick it in your nose. Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but neither is a stormtrooper and I wear that!

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It hangs from ear via elastic string that is tied around a pinched piece of the surgical tubing (you have to work with it to get it just right). It needs to hang slightly, but not pull the clip out of your nose.

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Then... the part that some people don't believe me on, I painted the whole thing with flat black latex enamel house paint. Seriously. And MANY MANY coats. The problem is that the fabric and foam soak up the paint like a vacuum. However, if you apply a base, let it dry and then apply again, eventually it stops soaking it up. What you get is a very nice "rubbery leather" look that the suits in the movies had. It's pretty clear that this is similar to the process that the original designers used on the movie suits.

I then added velcro to the zipper seam, which as you can see in this picture, is oversized slightly. That's so you can stick the seam together and hide the zipper. Velcro lining the inside of each side of the "overlap" allows me to keep it closed enough to where the zipper is hidden.

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The boots are motorcycle boots from Joe Rocket (I ride a Suzuki) covered by leather spatz I got off ebay.

Finally, I took it outside and threw dirt on it... then I rubbed cinnamon into it and viola.... I look like I've been wandering the sands of Akkrais.

This year, I finally found a crysknife that's of nice quality.... so my outfit will be complete.

I hope that answers some questions.

My flickr set can be found here. I took these pictures earlier today.

I can take more of any part you'd like to see in more detail or answer any further questions you might have. Just let me know.

Cheers,
David

PS. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to get a Dune group together one year for D*C. I've got an idea I want to do next year for a thumper. :)
 
That is great. Im glad to see some of the ideas i was thinking about doing seem to work well. as soon as i can get caught up with all of my other projects I'll start one of these.
 
i saw this suit at DC this year...had a nice chat with David and will be building my own Still Suit this year. i'd be happy to have a DUNE contingent. i too grabbed a Crysknife, and i would like to make my Still suit one of Fedaykin...with those great red shoulders.

i'll be borrowing a few of these techniques and putting them to good use.

my question is: did you buy the leotard or build that as well?
 
Sorry for the delay with the reply. Didn't realize. I'm very active with the 501st lately.

Anyway, the leotard is a full body cotton that was modified with a zipper up the front. I recommend this because you can then fit the zipper to your purposes better (and sewing a zipper isn't that hard).

You might notice that the zipper goes pretty much all the way down, which is definitely helpful. I guess spandex/lyrca would work as well, but it's hardly necessary as once you have all the other pieces done, the suit will be damn form fitting. And cotton is easier to work with.

I've started a thread for getting a group for this year's D*C: http://www.therpf.com/f24/dune-group-d-c-2013-interest-160242/#post2761035
 
hello my name is doc, im from seattle, been living in japan now 4 years. i teach english, but have many side thoughts and projects, always thinking how to increase my income.
my whole life ive been obsessed with this movie, and havent liked the other versions. this was it for me. i know how to sew, and i would be very interested in recreating an exact dublicate of the original, first for me, then i would like to mass produce, maybe 1 per month. I would like to do this for profit, and perhaps each suit i build after the first, i would like to sell as a custom order. this group would be essential for sharing info, and keeping the spirit alive so to speak, who is with me?
 
Greetings other fans like me of the cult and legendary movie DUNE!
DUNE for me had marked my youth and has a beginner in the costume industry i have this project of making a Fremen ''Stillsuit'' from DUNE movie! SO I talk about this project to a LOT of people in my community and suddenly another props maker told me about this website : DUNE stillsuit Base hope it helps you guyz..... ^^
 
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