Firefly , Mal Reynolds questions.

[Risu]

I pulled an all-nighter and finished my suspenders. Nothing like hand stitching to eat up the hours.

Now I just have to get the pants the right color, add the stripes, finish the boot spats, and make my holster bucket. It sounds so easy...

 

[halowarmor]

Well I got a few more pics taken today. There are a few little things that have to be finished, like the brown stripe and the backs of the suspenders.

 

[jason1976]

I keep shaving when I costume, and here we have two hairy Mal's and they both look just fine. I actually think it adds to the costume.

 

[Risu]

I grew mine out for Jack Sparrow and now I'm keeping it around because I realized I can curl up my moustache, it's too awesome to let go.

Halowarmor, I might have missed it earlier on in the thread, where did you get your holster rig and your gun?

 

[halowarmor]

I got the rig and the gun both through "Browncoat Fashions". They didn't have any of the holster rigs listed in the store so I sent them an email, and they went ahead and made me a set. I think I got there last "firefly" gun (it is a Wilco Models version), but I may be wrong about that. I didn't expect it to come painted and "distressed" already but it did, and they did an awesome job!

 

[Risu]

I like the gun, it makes me really want to repaint mine, which is sort of a black/gunmetal. No brass/bronze look to it at all and the grips are smooth and look like plastic.

I finally finished gluing the tongue of the shoes in place, now I've got to pattern those spats.

 

[DuneSoldat]

Those shoes look great. I can't wait to see additional progress, thanks!

 

[halowarmor]

Jason1976 I just cut my hair for the first time in 1 year last Friday. They cut a whole 5" off!!

 

[Risu]

I remember when I cut all my hair off a couple years ago. 10" that time. It was fun while it lasted.

Made my first draft of my spat pattern. It has some flaws, but I'm working on them. It's hard to see how well it fits the shoe without holding it in place (also it's made of stretch vinyl, which is sort of similar to leather but doesn't hold it's shape well), I was really surprised considering how long it took me to get my Jack Sparrow boot pattern right. I guess that was good practice for this.

I've already taken out some excess on both bottom seams, added some width to the calf area, added 1/4" to the height at the ankle, and figured out placement of the ribs. I'm hoping the second draft will be a success.

 

[Risu]

Apologies for the double post, but can anybody tell me with absolute certainty whether or not there's a vertical seam on the top band of the spat? I know that the center front seam that starts at the bottom definitely stops at the top band, but it looks like there might be something else about 1/4" to the inside of that seam on the band itself. Is that a seam, a stitch line, or jpeg artifacts I'm seeing? It's definitely not as pronounced as the center seam. I have to hold on until I get an answer to this, because if there's no seam, I have to rework the top of my pattern before making the second draft.

 

[Risu]

Anybody? I'm kind of stuck here until I figure this thing out. Here are some pictures showing what I'm talking about:

 

[jason1976]

At a glance, it looks to me, like the piece of leather they used for the bottom part of the spat, seem and all went out up to the top, then they put that top band over top of that. In other words that line on the top band looks to me like there is a seem under it, but not a seem there in the top layer. (if that makes any since, it did in my head. :lol)

Either that. OR, because there is a seem on the bottom part of the spat, that would be a natural folding point for the boots when not on. So when Nathan is not wearing them, and they are just setting some were they may have folded along the seem on the bottom have, and that fold may have left a small outward crease on the top band.

Either way, it does not look like there is a seam there, on the top band. To many anyways.

 

[Risu]

The natural folding point idea explains the centered line, but not the off centered line. About 3/8" in from the center line there's another one. It doesn't look deep enough to be a seam and it's definitely not an outward crease. An inward crease wouldn't make any sense and it looks way too fine to be that anyway considering the leather type. If you look at the left boot in the first pic (Mal's left), from the side it looks like the raw edge of the leather. This makes me think that maybe it's just two pieces of leather glued together with a raw edge exposed. When looking at the overall pattern, that makes the most sense because if there was no seam on that band it would have to be perfectly cylindrical with no taper. That would make the rest of the pattern really awkward to compensate.

At the moment, I think the raw edge seam is the most likely. I really wish there was a decent shot of the back of the boots, though. (or heck, ANY picture, even blurry) I don't know if the back has the same type of seam, if it's off centered, or for all I know the back of the boot might have a leather spine.

 

[Risu]

I think my pattern is finalized, I'm just waiting on an ebay auction to end for some good liner leather. I also finished the ribs. Here are the ones for my right boot:

 

[Bronson BB]

You should note that those ribs curl up sharply to the rear of the boot.

 

[Risu]

How do you mean? The ribs are straight from what I can see and the tests I've done with the other set of these. They might appear to curve up faster in the back on account of the curve of the back seam being the way it is. I do think though that they aren't as big as I wanted them to be. I think I should make them 1/8" wider and from a thicker leather, so I have to go pick some up.

 

[E-Wan]

There is a sharp swing up towards the back of the boots - I'll try to grab a pic if Bronson doesn't beat me to it!

 

[Risu]

I get that it at least appears to swing up, but I really think that's just on account of the back seam protruding out to accommodate the calves. I did a test where I glued the ribs onto a piece of leather and wrapped them around my leg and because of the pattern they did appear to curve up in the back. I'd definitely like to see the pictures though, especially if they show off the back of the boots.

 

[E-Wan]

From one of Bronson's posts on FireflyProps.net:

 

[Risu]

Wow, so the top rib actually ends in the top band seam, not the back seam. OK, I guess I'll just have to soak my new ribs in warm water and bend them into shape. Thanks for the pic.