p00k1333's 2014 Halloween Costume Contest Entry - Stargate Jaffa

How far will you go to please your GF?

One of my best friends has a Halloween party every year with a costume contest. My GF said we needed to do Stargate: she would be Captain Carter (already had most of her costume, with tweaks suggested by Stitch) and I could be a Jaffa warrior.

I get to wear armor? Oh, Hell YEAH!

And thus began this ongoing journey. The party is Nov. 1st. Since I began, my friend's wife found another costume contest the week before, so with a week shaved off my build time, I'm a little rushed. Foam seemed the way to go, and I felt confident after reading enough threads and watching Evil Ted's vids on Youtube.
This is the goal with the skullcap instead of the big helmet.


I started with the belt buckle. One of the simplest pieces, and I learned a bit better how to work with foam.


The collar. This took a while to get the pattern where I felt comfortable with it. After a lot of research, I got the line pattern cut in with Dremel and soldering iron. Then I coated it with black plastidip, and drybrushed with gunmetal and silver. Gold and silver accents added with a small brush.


Chest and back plates are the same, so pattern, glue, and paint.


Picked up some used combat boots and drybrushed them with gunmetal and silver.


Gauntlets. The hardest part was figuring out the line patterns from screen caps and auction pics.


Shin / boot uppers. Had to do a little high-heat shaping for the bottom part.


The chainmail suit was supposed to be easy. After far too many problems trying to work with one of the fabric printing companies, I wound up doing it by hand. Still working on it, too.


Skirt, vest, and skullcap. I can do real chainmail too, I just wanted something closer to what was onscreen, without having to wear knitted wool. Yeah, I'll look more like Master Bra'tac than Teal'c.


Made a few of these from fabric paint to glue to my forehead with spirit gum. I'll test one this weekend.


And that's my progress so far. I'll update as often as I can, but being pressed for time ...

And I had to be totally stupid and decide I needed a Ma'tok staff weapon.

This is awesome mate

You ROCK! Do you think you'll finish in time?

I really, really, really don't know. It'll be tight. I'm short on sleep and working hard!
Excelsior!

Question, I've been told by several sourced you surface closed cell foam with plastidip. You mention painting it....I thought plastidip, being a tool protectant would resist chemicals....do you have to use a special paint?

Nope. Most rattle can and acrylics work just fine over Plasti-Dip.

Wow. You have wizard-like abilities to whip all that together in such a short time.
I think the Jaffa costume details are killer.
Great work and excellent reproductions.

Work has eaten up all my spare time this week - no progress on the costume. I spent my lunch hours on the staff though!

Wow I love this! All looks spot on, Stargate SG1 is one of my fav tv shows! I plan on making one next year sometime.

Good luck!!

WOW, you sir, never cease to amaze me! Amazing work as always! Can't wait to see it all together!!!

Got to test this thingie - drawn on a plastic bag with fabric paint, allowed to dry, and applied with spirit gum. Stayed on pretty well for over two hours and stayed flexible with no peeling.

And got the Ma'tok done. Not 100% correct, but it'll do for now.

Glued lots of little cardboard bits for detail.


Used Duplicolor purple with an undercoat of Rustoleum glow-in-the-dark paint - can't wait to get it under a black light!


Patina fingers!


Ma'tok!


Closeup of the Naquadah cell

Going to the first contest Friday night! Only one more night to complete this project, but after a whole lot of stress, I think I'm gonna make it!

A couple of other pieces I did during this build. I guess I lost some time while doing them, but they were for some very good friends. I had a very productive month so far.

The Fairy Godmother wand and Rumplestiltskin's dagger from 'Once Upon A Time."

Behold! The shirt and pants of insanity! Each ring took two passes with metallic fabric paint. Yeah.

Also, bad news: I received word today that the local big costume contest on Friday evening has been cancelled. No smiles in Mudville. No reason or notice given either - we found out by chance when another couple tried to get reservations.

And, good news: We found another local contest. Since this build was originally for a small private party, my friends and I wanted to get more than one use from our costumes. I think I have them interested in ComicCon New Orleans too.

I'll have pics of the full suit soon!

Great job. Truly mind-blowing. That staff weapon looks great.

p00k1333 said:

Behold! The shirt and pants of insanity! Each ring took two passes with metallic fabric paint. Yeah.

Also, bad news: I received word today that the local big costume contest on Friday evening has been cancelled. No smiles in Mudville. No reason or notice given either - we found out by chance when another couple tried to get reservations.

And, good news: We found another local contest. Since this build was originally for a small private party, my friends and I wanted to get more than one use from our costumes. I think I have them interested in ComicCon New Orleans too.

I'll have pics of the full suit soon!

Click to expand...

Ia that a particular fabric and then drybrush with paint? If so, where do you get the fabric?

Woauh, that's some amazing hard work!!

hamsalad said:

Ia that a particular fabric and then drybrush with paint? If so, where do you get the fabric?

Click to expand...

The fabric was something I dug up on the discount rack at the local fabric store. It's a medium weight fabric with a large weave, almost like burlap, but much, much softer. I wanted something that wasn't heavy and could breathe, because I knew I'd be covering a lot of it with fabric paint. I used a stencil made from cardstock with tape around it to make turned-up edges.


I lightly dusted the stencil with silver spray paint to transfer the design to the fabric, repeating the design across the shirt and pants. The turned up edges reduce overspray (an old airbrushing trick). I made one pass with the fabric paint, which soaked in as it dried, and another as a sort of highlight at the tops of the curves, which dried on top. It created a nice bumpy texture that kinda feels like chainmail.


Chainmail purists will note the links run horizontal instead of vertical, as real chainmail does. I was trying to replicate (a bad word in the Stargate universe) the heavy knitted wool that was used on the show. The knitted lines run horizontal.



My original intention was to get the fabric printed, and then sew the suit together. I ordered a set of fabric swatches from Fabric On Demand. After two weeks, I emailed them to find out why I never got a shipping notice, and got no reply. After three weeks, I opened a dispute with PayPal and got my money back. I had lost three weeks on the build and was reluctant to give another company the chance to do the same, so I did it myself. I do not recommend it - it took freakin' forever!

Finished pics!
Not the best quality, but I should have someone next weekend who can take better ones.