How to give costume a permanent dirty/weathered/battle-worn look?

Graphic Jordan

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone had any good experience giving a costume a dirty/worn/weather/battle-worn look that's permanent, meaning it can survive the wash and maintain that look.

I'm looking to give my TFA cap costume a battle-worn look, and I want something that will hold up in the wash.

Any ideas, thoughts, etc are welcomed. :)

Jordan
 
I’ve seen many techniques for this. You’ll have to look up the “how” part, but I’ll give you a list of things you could search for, based on a weathering workshop I attended, which was run by a theatre costume company.

Bleach in a spray bottle – you’ll get varied results based on whether you mix it with water, time you let it set before rinsing, whether you rinse or not, etc

Clean dirt – this is an SFX makeup product that is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s real dirt, but without the natural micro-organisms and bacteria present in dirt you pick up off the ground. It’s only permanent if you use a lot and leave it for a while before washing, though. Just like regular dirt, it can be washed away.

Sandpaper

Sand barrel – a barrel or bucket with a lid filled with sand, stick the costume in, and then roll it around, run up and down the street with it, etc

Car – not kidding. Put it on the ground and then run over it a few times with a car. Usually done on heavy fabrics, like canvas, fatigues, etc

Fire – be really careful, but they talked about how the character was supposed to have jumped through a fire or something, so they had to map out where the shirt should be burned, and then literally set it on fire while trying not to burn the entire thing

Tea wash

Dirty water

Last note: A very interesting video I saw in a film costume exhibit showed how the costume department created a frosted effect on a parka for a movie set in Alaska/the arctic. They used melted wax, applied with a paintbrush. Cool eh?
 
How solid are your seams?
The last time, I needed a quick weathering, used a canvas sack, put in a couple of handfuls of gravel and some sand then left in a washing machine and then dryer for a few hours.
For the dirtying, rubbed with a charcoal brickette and the dirt in the bag from the vacuum cleaner.
 
You can use spray paint.
Lay your item on the ground and stand over it. Spray a light mist over it then rub it in with a paper towel. I use gray primer, brown and black with a few spots of burgundy and green.
 
dry brush with fabric paints. but you need to get it right the first time. no mistakes.
 
97 cents for a can of black spray paint. start far enough away to where it barely hits. that gives a nice worn, dirty look. grey could be used for dusty, i just broke through a wall look. also, if you mix up some black paint and water, stand far back and fling it at the costume. not super controlled, but it works and looks pretty good.
 
I use this spray upholstery fabric paint all the time:
81P9KJ0rvRL_SL1500_.jpg

Simply Spray
It comes in a bunch of different colors like brown, gray, and black. It is also permanent. It does make your fabric slightly stiff, but I would imagine it would be softer after washing.

I get it from craft stores, but it seems to be fairly easy to find online if you can't find locally.
 
Yep, Black, Brown, and Beige Spray Paint. We also used a little fire and some sandpaper.
They are perfectly washable and look great.
 
A cheese grater works great as do those sandpaper-covered foam blocks. Shoe polish (the waxy stuff in the tin, not the liquid stuff!), works better than spray paint to get shiny, dirty areas of wear like the knees of pants and the elbows of shirts. Just use a little at a time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top