spidermanna
New Member
Most people who build Boba Fett costumes buy the boots and I can understand why as they are a pain to 3D print, and even more of a pain to make yourself. However, speaking from experience, in terms of this build there were three truly distinct feelings of elation I got: One was when the Armor was painted and I pulled off the masking; the second was when I was done making the gloves because that process succccckkkkked but now it was over! The third, and probably the most rewarding was the shoes. Making these was amazing—so amazing I decided I would start making all my costumed shoes from this point on (if they couldn’t be cheaply sourced from Savers or a thrift store. Long story short, making footwear is very rewarding, but a pain in the @$$...
In the past, I have made costume shoes from other shoes, and only on one occasion which was to make Ripley’s Reebok bug stompers for her Aliens costume in 2017, but we used a pair of existing shoes and dressed them up with foam and straps and whatnot. These had to be made from scratch, so I started by casting a pair of shoes in plaster. That was a plaster disaster so I did it again, but this time I made a casting of my own feet with medical plaster bandage I got off Amazon (it’s the stuff they use to make casts). Its extremely messy, so don’t do it on the kitchen floor (this is outside on the deck). Also, better to have someone else apply the plaster bandage so you can sit perfectly straight up. I didn’t and one foot was different than the other (in the end, I only needed one casting of one foot. Make sure to overlap the bandages about 3 times to ensure it is good and stiff. Also make sure to wear really long socks, unless you don’t mind parting painfully with your leg hair. (Might have been a better idea to rub Vaseline in the socks to be honest…). Once dry, have someone cut them vertically down the back with heavy scissors.
Once removed, I replastered the back of the mold and plastered up the top, turned it upside down, and filled it with Plaster of Paris. Make sure the bottom (pad of the foot is smoothed flat. Recommend adding the plaster in layers vs all at once to reduce stress on the mold. Once dry, remove/destroy the plaster cast and behold your nasty feet. From the pads (soles), I made templates for upcoming shoe parts.
As mentioned, I only needed one so I took my right foot casting (I kept the left and used it a couple years later to make boots for my Dread Pirate Roberts costume) and took a for sale sign to make the Boba Fett boot template complete with bizarre toe shape. I think they originally used Italian sports shoes or something…weird.
However, I still made castings of both because I still didn’t know what I was doing at the time…
Do not add the bondo or start shaping the plaster until the cast is 100% completely dried solid—that might take a couple days. Once it is, cover in bondo (as mentioned) and shape.
Unfortunately, I didn’t capture the next step but it is pretty easy. When the plaster and bondo is completely dry, cover it completely with masking tape. Then use a sharpy marker to draw all the pattern lines. Used a razor blade to slice them off the cast. Then, lay the shapes of masking tape on pieces of cardstock and trace out. Then make another one but this time add about 1/4-3/8” around all the edges and about 3” added to the bottom—you will need that to glue to the soles and stitch down. I bought some faux suede fabric from micheals in gray cuz I thought it was about as close as I could get. Unfortunately, I’ve never found it since. You can see the pattern lines of the two patterns (with and without seam allowance) traced on the fabric. I used a black faux suede for the front of the boots (boots, shoes—whichever)…
I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. Two things—first, the black sides are very wide elastic I got off Amazon. Without it, the boots were not going on or coming off my feet (make sure it stretches horizontally and not vertically). Second, I have to make those black line accents that go in between each layer…
To make these, I took about a 2” section of black vinyl, folded it in half and stitched it together about ¼” from the fold. Then I made cuts (as shown about one every centimeter (or 3/8”—I don’t know, I didn’t measure it). Before stitching the inside and outsides together, I ran a shoelace through each one ( had to make like 8 of them) but they are easier to work with without the laces in (shown later). In retrospect, I should have made them smaller and out of a more stretchy material—maybe next time…
When stitching the shoe parts together, I just folded the fabric along the pattern lines, taped them down with double-sided tape we got from Dollar Tree and then taped the black tube accent to that. Then stitched it very, very close to the edges. Unlike sewing normal clothes where everything is inside out and sewed together, with these its all on the outsides.
See, sewn on the outsides…which actually makes it easier. For the inside of the shoe, I couldn’t come up with a better idea so I just made an exact replica of the outer shoe but without the black accent tube lace thingees, and stitched them together inside out (coming up…). You can see the laces poking out of the top...
Feeding the shoelaces through—hey, it’s the best I could come up with. These are those useless plastic welding sticks from Harbor Freight. They don't work!! (at least not for me!)
The back of the shoes where the two sides come together are also stitched together on the inside. The rest is outside…I love these clips. Way better then pins as you never get stuck with them…
And that is what unfinished boot/shoes look like on a messy dining room table (technically it’s a dining room—its more of a daily overflow room at this point…) Notice the hoseclamps and masking tape. The masking tape is to point out where the bottom of the shoe is. Hint—don’t use masking tape—use fabric marker—its less likely to stick to the shoe glue as I learned later…
Couldn't resist trying on my new Boba Fett-inspired slippers! I should have come up with something better than vinyl for the accents--too many crinkles. Dammit!! I was going to make another pair, but JoAnns never had that faux suede fabric again so I am stuck. At least they work...
This is the ‘Last’ I made to form the boots—yes they are called ‘Lasts’ and cobblers use them to cobble shoes together, but mine is reversable so I can use it to make either foot. Clever, eh? I think so. The shoe goes over the last and the bottom edge lines up with the bottom of the masking tape. At that point, the hose clamp goes on the roundy bit on top to hold it in place. Its not a bespoke leather shoe so it doesn’t have to be exactly the same shape as my foot—mainly concerned with the flat bit on the bottom… (the butter was not used for any of these builds, other than to make the bread more delicious!)
Put a piece of leather in the shape of the inner sole, then pull, trim, and glue, and trim again until the edges are folded under. The holes in the back are to unscrew the last so it comes out easier (probably would have cam out without having to drill the holes—notice how one I made big holes and for the other, I didn’t bother… I wish I had taken more pictures of this process as its both rewarding and kind of intense since it where I learned that leaving the tape on the shoe and saturating the fabric with contact cement is not a good thing as the tape has to be scraped off...
Download your favorite show (Top Gear (old)/Grand Tour) and start binge watching cuz you may be here for a while. I ordered cheap shoe making tools off Amazon and some heavy duty thread (which still tended to break). The awl that they gave me was crap—would have been better off with a nail and the thread hook tended to cut away at the thread which is why it kept breaking. I was more careful with the second boot and had less issues. BTW, this is another piece of leather which is glued to the bottom of the shoe and then stitched on for additional punishment to your fingers…
But you will be rewarded…
Now comes the fun part—the soles. I could find any on Amazon—only some light duty tread that I added later. The soles are made of EVA foam—I figure if they are strong enough to work in gymnasiums and aerobics studios they are more than strong enough for me to stand around a convention center (and so far they have been). I used two power tools—a router to make the shapes based on an MDF template (yes, a sharpened exacto knife would have done the same thing) and a drum sander, because I have one, and they are awesome! I used it to make the beveled heal since the back of the shoe is higher than the front. I don’t think I took a pic of that.
This what it looked like before being glued together or shaped on the router with the MDF template
Because I like to overdue things and these were no different, I made special mounts in the fronts for the spiky bits to screw into. I mean, they would otherwise be screwing into EVA foam—they’d be ripped out before I got out of the parking lot. The nuts are glued in… If you look at the sole of the right pic, you can see the MDF form I used to shape everything. I double-taped the sole down and used a flush-trim bit to make everything flush and smooth. Overkill, but it works. Makes it easier to work with while its still attached to the form as well...
The inner part of the cavity is filled with EVA foam whereas the outer bit with the nut is filled in with 2-part polyurethane (wouldn’t be one of my builds if I didn’t have poly in it somewhere).
And there is my non-Rubber Sole—pretty proud of that (would have prefered it be rubber though). There is a very thin rubber sole on the bottom which you can barely see—it’s the sort of jaggedy bit along the bottom front edge. Its just glued down. I went through a LOT of contact cement making this—probably explains the brain damage…
Once glued together, you get this…
The spikey bits were made from a dowel rod turned in a lathe, cast in poly, and glued to that hard plastic toe mount. These break, a lot. Some people use aluminum to make more durable ones but I took a different approach…
I angle-grinded some 10-penny nails in a wood lathe (it doesn’t know the difference) and welded them into this vampiric monstrosity…Looks like something Mecha-Dracula would wear...
Gotta admit, that looks cool as hell! However, I value my hardwood floors and I am sure the convention centers don’t want to have to replace the carpets in their atriums so I opted for plastic ones which are glued together (vs welded) and learning to lift my feet!…also the spikes are way too long!
Broke my heart having to weather these but they couldn’t stay nice forever. Again, all just acrylics (black and brown)
And that’s that. So much goes into make boots and shoes it wore me out just illustrating it. Took lots a pics and probably didn't do justice to how much goes into making these from scratch, even badly like I did. Even with all of that, it is an extremely rewarding experience which I would recommend to anyone who wants to make their own stuff...probably won't be making any tennis shoes any time soon--leave that to the folks overseas...
Feel free to post any comments or questions (it really helps feed my inner need for attention). Thanks for reading…
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