duck
Active Member
At the risk of seeming like a double-dipping attention wh*re (which I suppose I am!), the PMs and reactions I got from 2 posts in that "Hardest Star Wars Costume" thread made me think I should make a new thread, showing how my Chewie was made. The thing to keep in mind is that this costume was pretty much made in 3 months under a deadline for our Halloween Parade last Fall at a cost of about $300, including the bandolier/pouch and bowcaster. My local Rebel Legion Base (Alderaan Base) as well as our local baddies, the 501st NEG, were scrambling to build a full scale landspeeder and motorized Dewback at the same time, and most of the former and some of the latter were being built in my garage, so the pace was frantic and sloppy.
The first phase of Chewie was a frizzled frizzy poofy hairball monstrosity, because I didn't have time to groom it prior to the event (actually finished the latch-hooking in the parking lot that morning). And the mask had hair attached with silicone caulking to save time the night before.
Later he was able to be MASSIVELY groomed (I thinned out almost 40% of the hair, a full trashbag full), then the whole face was ripped off and done proper with handpunching the hair into the mask... but not groomed because, surprise, we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us to get to the NYComicon and I left it to the last minute to redo the hair. Thus, I met Peter Mayhew looking like a friggin' Shar Pei. I felt shame.
Eventually, the mask was groomed and I began to think, "Hey, this just might work!" Then I finally had the hair in a place where I could commence matting and straightening the crimped look out of it. Unfortunately, I found that while a little work with a hair dryer got that crimped look out, it also reduced the volume of the hair to exposed TONS of bald patches. When standing straight, you don't see it, but bent arms or a slight breeze reveal way too much mesh underneath.
So as of right now, the bald patches are being worked on, I'm working on new gloves and adding some coverage to the back of the mask, but it's in what I like to think is the B+ version. I can troop in it and see pics and not groan. He's the most fun costume and people go absolutely ape-snot over him (chicks just dig the wookiees) and I can't imagine ever trooping in anything else, especially since I have who I consider the best Solo going (my buddy Chris) in my Base and we just work so awesome together. I stay in character and he translates for me, it's a blast.
Hope you enjoy the pics and this answers a few questions. Thanks!
Here's what my workshop looked like making the mask:
Here's a foot shot with the hair plugs starting:
The skull at the early stages. Low tech, all the way! Obviously, the spacing for the teeth was just drawn on to get an idea of where they will go. The jaw was very flexible, but I had problems after the skin was attached:
Prior to that last pic, I clayed up the face and cast it so I have a mold for the Dragon Skin (silicone based latex), then stripped it down. Here's the sculpt, but I re-did it. The lower jaw was too big and round and Kevin Youkilis-esque (Red Sox first base man). Very Ron Perleman:
And the first height tests (with the mask before the skull was finished). I brought down the forehead considerably since these pics, but it's hard because by all accounts, Stuart Freeberg's original mask added exactly 4 extra inches to the top of Mayhew's head ... that's HUGE! I was just worried about looking like a bobble head doll, especially since I did not go the full 8 feet, only 7'2":
The bandolier:
The bowcaster started as this:
and ended like this:
the revised skull, teeth added, but no gums or inner palate or tongue yet:
And the skull with the skin on it :
This absurd pic was 48 hours before the parade:
and the mask at 2:30AM later that night:
The next morning:
did 16 hours of this:
And ended up with this:
And here's how it ended... a movie theater parking lot after 2 hours of sleep:
No problem, we had plenty of time ... the parade didn't start for another 45 minutes
Arriving in the parking lot in style:
A few weeks later, groomed into this:
And here's the evolution of the costume from the initial build, through grooming a a face lift. What a difference 6 and a half months makes:
Then I ripped off the face and hand-punched the hair, but didn't groom it. This is the SAME EXACT MASK, nothing changed except a haircut and some styling:
The same suit, after grooming and styling:
And basically, this is what he looks like today:
Thanks for looking at my thread!
The first phase of Chewie was a frizzled frizzy poofy hairball monstrosity, because I didn't have time to groom it prior to the event (actually finished the latch-hooking in the parking lot that morning). And the mask had hair attached with silicone caulking to save time the night before.
Later he was able to be MASSIVELY groomed (I thinned out almost 40% of the hair, a full trashbag full), then the whole face was ripped off and done proper with handpunching the hair into the mask... but not groomed because, surprise, we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us to get to the NYComicon and I left it to the last minute to redo the hair. Thus, I met Peter Mayhew looking like a friggin' Shar Pei. I felt shame.
Eventually, the mask was groomed and I began to think, "Hey, this just might work!" Then I finally had the hair in a place where I could commence matting and straightening the crimped look out of it. Unfortunately, I found that while a little work with a hair dryer got that crimped look out, it also reduced the volume of the hair to exposed TONS of bald patches. When standing straight, you don't see it, but bent arms or a slight breeze reveal way too much mesh underneath.
So as of right now, the bald patches are being worked on, I'm working on new gloves and adding some coverage to the back of the mask, but it's in what I like to think is the B+ version. I can troop in it and see pics and not groan. He's the most fun costume and people go absolutely ape-snot over him (chicks just dig the wookiees) and I can't imagine ever trooping in anything else, especially since I have who I consider the best Solo going (my buddy Chris) in my Base and we just work so awesome together. I stay in character and he translates for me, it's a blast.
Hope you enjoy the pics and this answers a few questions. Thanks!
Here's what my workshop looked like making the mask:
Here's a foot shot with the hair plugs starting:
The skull at the early stages. Low tech, all the way! Obviously, the spacing for the teeth was just drawn on to get an idea of where they will go. The jaw was very flexible, but I had problems after the skin was attached:
Prior to that last pic, I clayed up the face and cast it so I have a mold for the Dragon Skin (silicone based latex), then stripped it down. Here's the sculpt, but I re-did it. The lower jaw was too big and round and Kevin Youkilis-esque (Red Sox first base man). Very Ron Perleman:
And the first height tests (with the mask before the skull was finished). I brought down the forehead considerably since these pics, but it's hard because by all accounts, Stuart Freeberg's original mask added exactly 4 extra inches to the top of Mayhew's head ... that's HUGE! I was just worried about looking like a bobble head doll, especially since I did not go the full 8 feet, only 7'2":
The bandolier:
The bowcaster started as this:
and ended like this:
the revised skull, teeth added, but no gums or inner palate or tongue yet:
And the skull with the skin on it :
This absurd pic was 48 hours before the parade:
and the mask at 2:30AM later that night:
The next morning:
did 16 hours of this:
And ended up with this:
And here's how it ended... a movie theater parking lot after 2 hours of sleep:
No problem, we had plenty of time ... the parade didn't start for another 45 minutes
Arriving in the parking lot in style:
A few weeks later, groomed into this:
And here's the evolution of the costume from the initial build, through grooming a a face lift. What a difference 6 and a half months makes:
Then I ripped off the face and hand-punched the hair, but didn't groom it. This is the SAME EXACT MASK, nothing changed except a haircut and some styling:
The same suit, after grooming and styling:
And basically, this is what he looks like today:
Thanks for looking at my thread!
