My not-so-budget Jack Sparrow build

[Mojo_Turbo]

everything looks great, keep going.... dang your compass is going to look better than mine!

That's the same wasitcoat back fabric I bought from Joanne's I still have not gotten around to finish THAT project and my boots are 10 days away....

I'm not going to list my individual costs, but it's been a $1,493.89 ride!

the race is on!

 

[Risu]

Yea, that's about what I spent on my Indy. It is a fun journey, but it adds up. I'm still not done with my boots either, been too down on that particular project to work on it again. I might give it another go on the weekend.

 

[TheNickFox]

HOLY MODDED COMPASSES, BATMAN!

That looks gorgeous! I have to say, I've been considering scratch-building a compass for a while now simply because the modded ones always look slightly plasticky.

I may have to give modding a go now that I see how well it can be done. Wow!

And if you don't feel like finishing the boots, just wear some nice bright red high heels with the costume. (Now if the image of Jack Sparrow in sensible heels doesn't light a fire under you to finish them, nothing will :lol )

-Nick

 

[Capn_Jack_Savvy]

Risu! What type of paints are you using on your compass mate?

Hey are you joining us at DL on October 8th? You are in LB savvy?

 

[Risu]

Hahaha. I definitely will finish the boots. I didn't come this far to fail on the footwear. But with other pieces to work on at the same time, I'm opting to work on things that don't make me rage first, then deal with that upper when I absolutely have to.

Compass update: dial now painted gold, looks pretty decent, much better than the Indy idol I painted with the same stuff a year ago. A gloss black base and 1200 grit sandpaper really do make the difference. I've also finished all the black side panels and as soon as they're dry I'll be painting all the bottom edge ivory parts, followed by the corners. The top edge of the bottom half will have to wait for last, because I have to fill the seam and permanently assemble that half beforehand. For the wash and the clear coat I'll just have to very carefully mask off the disk.

EDIT: Whoops, missed that last post. Yes, I am gong to be there, that's my deadline for the costume. Been growing out the beard for 3 weeks already. My boss will be coming along as well in his own custom pirate outfit. Hoping to run into you there. Is there going to be a meet up of some kind?

The paints I'm using: Krylon grey primer, krylon gloss black and Montana Gold gold chrome for the dial, krylon satin black for the top dome, Galeria acrylics for the black, white, and burnt umber, and Folk Art navy acrylic for the inside of the dome.

 

[Risu]

To say that the color remover had an adverse affect on the back linen would be an understatement. It completely cleaned off the stripes and made it a pale yellow in less than 30 seconds. I think dying is also out of the question, I think it's time to accept my limits.

Also, I tried spraying bleach cleaner onto the aubergine fabric and rubbing it in and it had no effect. How is that possible? Shouldn't something have happened? If I get a tiny drop of bleach on a t-shirt when I'm doing laundry it turns white. The percentage of bleach in this cleaner must be almost completely negligible, I could probably drink the stuff. :unsure

 

[The-Clayster]

That back fabric looked fine to me before, so why not just leave it? How much of it was ruined?

 

[Risu]

I went right ahead and dunked it all in. I barely had any color remover in the pot, I was completely unprepared for the results. Next time I might just try a tiny bit of bleach instead, just to give it a worn in look.

I snapped some pics of the end results of the bleach on the front fabric. I need you veterans' opinions on it. It looks extremely purple in real life, and I know that his waistcoat looked bluer on camera than in real life, but I doubt it was to this degree. I'll post up the pics later though, because I have a lot of reading to do before class.

 

[Risu]

OK, so here are a couple of pictures with the bleached swatch on top.

It's definitely too purple to pass off in real life, but my experience with dying natural fabrics (silk, wool, and linen) have all ended up with black fabric. The stuff takes the dye WAY too well. So what's your opinion? If I bleach all the fabric like that to make it that lighter purple, should I then drop the whole yard and a half into a dye bath with only like, a half a tea spoon of royal blue? I once dyed a swatch of wool tweed in a 4 gallon pot with a third of a pack of green powder and it turned it completely black, will the same thing happen?

 

[swifty]

looking at the good work your making of this fella is making me miss may jack costume i think after i've finished my had hatter i will defo be starting to get this one made up again !!!

 

[Risu]

So anybody want to chime in with their opinion of the purple fabric? I've never actually seen a Jack in person, so I don't know how purple is accurate/acceptable. This feels, much like my breeches when I first started messing with them, very Joker. Anybody with experience dying linen have any suggestions as far as water to dye to fabric ratios?

 

[Risu]

OK, I think I'm giving up on that purple stuff. I found some light slate blue linen today at a different store that I'm hoping I'll be able to dye to the correct color. I'm not happy to say that so far I've invested about $60 in dye for this costume, most of which was a complete waste.

Anyways, here are a couple of compass update photos.

I've been widening the walls of the top half with balsa wood strips. I can only do two a day because the JB Weld has to cure overnight before I can sand them flush with the plastic and I don't want to risk putting any torsion on them, so I'm only sanding them lengthwise. Next I have to cut a round template from styrene and use it as a guide to carve the outline of the ivory ring around the compass dial. I'm just glad there's only one curved piece on this thing. Hand filing the brass ring mount is proving to be really difficult as well, it's a little too small to grip it easily. Making progress, though.

 

[swifty]

its looking good that !!! looks like you have put quite a bit of time into it so far keep up the good works and grate updates !!

 

[BRRogers]

Hey Risu, are you modding a compass or are you scratch building?

(Context of question: I'm thinking about scratch building my own compass, and I'm wondering if you know where the pattern/schematic/plans are available?)

 

[Risu]

Mine is modded from a Disney store compass, I don't have the tools to scratch build one. However, if I was going to, I'd just use Pulseriflefan's extremely awesome build thread for reference.

 

[Risu]

Got the lines carved on the lid and the dome spray painted for smoothness. Also painted in the white ring on the face. Doesn't look very good, but I'm not really a great painter. I'll take what I can get. Also finished hand filing the ring mount and got all of that put back together. It's not permanently attached until I can age the ring.

I've finished up the inside of the lid except for the piece of leather, which I have o dig out, can't remember exactly where I put it. I couldn't find any really good pictures of the star pattern, so I just dotted in a constellation and some extra stars.

No pictures for the rest of my progress, but I remade my waistcoat pattern, hoping to have a good test vest by the end of the night and not have to make any further adjustments. I also just ordered some Ring Snuggies off of ebay to make my left hand rings fit and some Grimas gold and silver tooth enamel, which might not get here in time for Disneyland, but I'm hoping it will.

 

[Amadscientist]

I love this thread!

Keep at it!

 

[saiofwrath]

Re: Jack Sparrow on a budget

I can't remember if I said this earlier on in the thread or not, but 'budget' is kind of a fluctuating term. For some people a budget costume is a $30 bundle of polyester in a bag from a local Spirit store, for others (myself included) it's any costume that costs considerably less than the costumes I've gone all out on. Just for the heck of it, and because I have plenty of time on my hands at the moment, I'll do that itemized price list.

Yordreem wig: $320
Paulette linen shirt: $68
Jas Townsend breeches: $90 with replaced buttons
Waistcoat pattern and materials: $40 including SA buttons that were actually cheaper than the next best option locally.
Boots and suede leather: $70
Belt buckles: $70
Belt leather/dye, etc: $15
Ikea sash: $30 (thanks again Tsuyosa)
Hat leather: $50 (and I actually already had it on hand anyways)
Compass: $25 (thanks again Mojo)
Pelts: $5
Rings and other hand materials: $60

Total: $843

To get this look:

Mazie wig: $300 ('loose hair' 100% human hair, dreads synthetic)
Paulette shirt: $68
TopNotch vest and pants: $150
UndeadMonkey's palm glove: $35 (I think)
Rings: $10 MR
wrist wrap: $15 eBay
Belts (Empire buckles, custom belt leather): ~ $130
Empire sash: ~$40 if I remember correctly
CABoots boots: $300
LadyCotoure hat: $250
Compass: $10
Wig accessories + pelts + belt charms from SwagArts (<3 Jill, wonderful to work with): $180
Yordreem coat: $450
Toy sword: $20
Toy pistol: $15

Total: ~ $2003, give or take because my memory isn't exact on everything. Needless to say, this is my Mark II version...I unfortunately went with Empire on almost everything to begin with and I am ashamed to admit, put my initial run for Jack at about another $1000 in the hole.

On another note: Your stuff is coming along great. And I know I talked before about going through dealers and all, but there's nothing to put down when those who can sew can do the work themselves. Looks like you're using your reference pictures wisely and doing your distressing appropriately, keep up the great work!

 

[Risu]

Thanks, it's always good to know the experts like what I'm doing. I really like your hat, I hope I can get mine to look that good. I doubt I'll have time to finish it before Disneyland, but should have it done before Halloween no problem.

By the way, does anybody know how to properly tie the lace that holds the compass on the belt? I've only seen one up close picture of it and it looks like it's got a bunch of knots in it, but I can't really tell for sure.

For fun, a picture of my second 'test vest', still has some kind of problem because the 'collar' points still won't spread apart properly like his do.

 

[juli888]

I too would like on the moon
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