Using outdoor fabric spray paint on dye-resistant nomex?

SpaceTrucker

New Member
Doing my first ever cosplay build, and I've got an Alien 1979 Ellen Ripley jumpsuit that I'm really proud of. For the verisimilitude I took actual military crewman's coveralls and made changes to the paneling/added accurate compression lacing on the back/added weathered patches. However, after two acid dye baths in boiling water with many times more dye than was technically called for, I still haven't been able to shift its original olive green color very far towards blue. It actually looks similar to her suit in promotional stills, but the color grading of the movie turned it a stark navy blue, which is very unlike real military coveralls.

Rust-Oleum makes a fabric spray paint for outdoor cushions that indicates it works best with polyester (another synthetic material), and boasts "ultimate UV & weather resistance/long-lasting color/ultra soft feel" etc, and the navy blue can seemed to work well enough when applied to a test scrap. Has anybody here used outdoor fabric spray paint on synthetic clothes, and if so, how did it hold up?
 
You really have to be careful trying to match what you see in a pic/film and what the suit really looks like in real life.
The suit was green:

1695211139745.png


Other publicity/costumes variations done for Ridley are another story altogether:eek:_O;)

1695211223719.png


Keep it olive and if you want to put a little wear & tear on it, use some sand paper (collar/sleeves/pocket) and lightly sand the corners of those.
 
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I was really debating on the importance of matching to the diegesis of screen color vs true prop accuracy, I'm sure that's a well-worn discussion here. I'm happy with the suit as-is and I might make a post about the process here when I get the chance.
 
Back
Top