Laugh it up Fuzzball - Chewbacca Build

brkat02

New Member
A while back my lovely wife Gaby asked me," why haven’t you ever made a Chewy costume? You’re already so tall (I’m 6’4”), it would be perfect for you." My retort was well I imagine all that hair has got to be hot as hell, and until I can find a way to stay cool I will not even think of a cosplay like that.

Fast forward to August this year, I’m looking around YouTube, and the Easy Cool Vest pops up in my recommended list

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5B0O4l_F3s


so naturally in the back of my head the wheels started turning.

October 2016
Mid October my wife started having some stomach pains, not to bad but enough that she went to the doctor. Come to find out she has a gall stone. The first doctor said it was a size of a marble, the second doctor seemed a little more pressing about having surgery sooner rather than later. Long story short she’s fine and after five days in the Hospital her gall stone was actually the size of a plum! I tell you that story to tell you this, while in the hospital I spent most of my “free” time researching how to build a Wookie.

While in the hospital I must have read James’ build log all the way through twice (http://wookiecostuming.wordpress.com/). It was a great starting point and it lead me to the Rebel Legion forums (I wish you could join the forums before your first costume is approved. I’d love to be able to search the forum, or contact people with questions.)

October 31, 2016
Placed my first order of supplies today. Gaby was discharged from the hospital this afternoon, I love hospitals, the doctor said she was good to go home at 9 am, at 4 pm we can finally leave… so in my state of patiently waiting to leave the hospital I made the mistake of getting on Amazon…
I ordered:
8 yards of 7mm Polyester Hex Mesh - Black Fabric - http://a.co/fTf7FWh
3 yards of Double Fold Quilt Binding 7/8"X3yd
And my A latch hook

November 3, 2016
Stopped by Hobby lobby on the way home from work today, Picked up the only pajama pattern I could find that incudes big & Tall sizes (Simplicity 1505a). image2.JPG

November 4, 2016
Mesh material is scheduled for delivery tomorrow, so I started cutting out the pattern tonight. I usually wear my shirts a little big, but chose to make the shirt and pants a 3xl, they should fit, and will use less hair (at least that’s my hope).
Ordered my hair today. I started with the following:
From www.MIhairdistribution.com (this was the cheapest place I found)
60- #27
10 - #4
5 - #4/27 blend (wanted to see if I could use this as a transition between the two colors
And from BNGhair.com
15 - #44 (this was the only place I could find the grey hair)

November 11, 2016
Realized today that I needed two more colors of hair #6 and #8, unfortunately I don’t need enough to warrant ordering the $100minimum from MIhair, so I decided to try my luck at a few local wig shops, I did find the # 6, but will probably have to order the # 8 from BNG. I plan on blending the #6 & #8 with the #27 to give me a better brown for the main color. There is a great tutorial on blending hair colors on YouTube at https://youtu.be/LhurY25FB2k

Finally found time to cut out the mesh, and sew together the pants, in all honestly, I should have gone with the 4xl instead of the 3xl. They are a little tighter than I’d like but at least they are not going to be furry skinny jeans.
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I’ve been researching how to straighten the synthetic hair. I was trying to avoid having to buy a hair dryer (Gaby would probably not be too happy with me if I burned hers up…)
I tried the dip it in hot water and let it dry method, it sort of worked, but it was a bit of a pain to do. So I tested out a small section using Gaby’s straightener, and it worked beautifully on low heat. So off to Walmart I went to pick up a straightener of my own (again don’t want to **** off the wife :D).
here's some pics of me trying to straighten the hair in the bathroom sink with water I heated up on the stove....
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let it soak for a bit
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drip dry

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let it dry
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November 13, 2016
Having to order some more of the Double Fold quilt binding to finish up the mesh shirt, but before I start adding hair to the legs, I wanted to get my platforms built first to see how that will work. I spent part of the day planning a hinged platform to give me a realistic ankle in the costume, but then decided to go with a static version to start with. If I don’t like it , I can modify it later.

Tried blending the # 6 with the #27 once I cut it to length and straightened it. I will say this, don’t try to blend too much at once, and you may want to wait to work with the hair until you are ready to add it to your suit. I am thinking about starting a spare hair bag for when I have to add hair to the latex mask.Guess it really depends on how much hair I have left after finishing the suit.

I'll try to update as often as I can, and will try to get better at taking WIP pics.
 
I can't wait to see the rest of you WIP pictures. This is on my bucket list of costumes to make. However I am only 5ft6 so stilts are a must.
 
Haven't gotten much done, practiced straightening hair, and added a little extra room to the crotch of the pants... Mainly I've been working on my lifts. I started with two pieces of scrap 3/4 inch plywood that I cut down. One to a little bit larger than my foot and the base is the size of my foot plus 1/3 in both length and width.I was shooting for a really sturdy base to keep me from rolling and ankle. My initial thought was to use 2x6 scraps to support my weight. but when I stepped on the platform with just the front and back supports, I could tell it was not going to hold up. so I added a third 2x6 and it held, but felt like it was going to fold forward or backwards with out adding extra supports between, and since it weighed in at just under 8 pounds I didn't want to add more wood to the mix.
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So I made a quick trip to the depot and picked up some threaded pipe and ends. Originally I was planning on using at least a one inch pipe, but my wallet said NO, so I settled on a 1/2 inch pipe thinking this will hold my weight. Got home threw it all together, and yes, even at only 5 lbs per foot, it held my weight but there was no way it was going to hold up to the stress of walking...
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At this point i was a bit discouraged, but went back to the forums, because I knew i had seen someone who made stilts out of pipes, and I wanted to see what size pipe he used... so after searching through almost every thread on the rebel legion, I found the image I was looking for. it was just a comment on someone elses thread, but he had used 2 inch pvc pipe... at last I made another trip the home depot. and came up with this.
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I used 3 inch pvc pipe, and right now I have them cut to give me an extra 12 inches of height, as is they are just about 7 pounds and the more I think about it, I believe I'm going to cut them down to either 6 or 8 inches, to make my final height with mask between 7'2 and 7'4. Once I get my rubber toes in I will shape the bottom piece of plywood to give it more of a foot shape, then I add some styrofoam insulation to fill in the gap.

When I get back from Thanksgiving I need to sew a new Santa suit for Christmas but then I should be able to start adding hair to the pants.
 
Excellent start! You've taken a bad situation and turned it into something positive. Keep up the good work and take lots of pictures!
 
Finally getting back to it. Long story short, Found a new job, lost old job before new job started, spent most of December in Mexico. Started new job (finally) and have been studying for the CPA exam... ok so that covers the last 4 months haha.

Over Christmas Jason over at the Wookie Workshop offered a run of his wookie head kits, so even though I was technically out of work I went a head and ordered one. anyways it has finally come in and I've made a little progress with it. I've gotten the eyes cut out, painted the gums, attached the jaw, teeth, and strap to hold it to my head. I ordered the Templar airsoft mask from amazon, because I liked the 5 point strap system it had. I was betting based on the pics on amazon that you could unscrew the straps from the mask and luckily you could. right now I only have 3 of the straps attached, because the natural place to attach the lower two straps is the lower jaw, and I'm concerned they may interfere with the opening and closing of the jaw. the last picture you can see I've run some fishing lead wires through the nasal cavity and attached it to a bicycle brake line to make the upper lip snarl. I'll work on runnng the cables on the inside of the skull this weekend and see how well all this will work. Then I can attach the mesh for the back of the head, and add the latex to the skull and finally start adding hair.

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Subscribing! Awesome work so far man! Looking to start my own build, I greatly appreciate the resources and insight you've provided!
 
Thanks, I found him on Facebook, the wookie workshop, someone on one of the many threads mentioned him, and I've been following his page for a while.
 
following this build, great start so far. hope to see more of your progress. motivation for me to get back to working on mine haha
 
I keep finding excuses not to work on Chewy, The sheer size of this project and the thought of having hair everywhere scared me a bit, but I finally forced myself to start adding hair to the pants
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This was my first two knots of hair.
After I finished about three complete rows of hair I put it on to see how it was looking and absolutely hated it. First I started the first row of hair on the very bottom of the pants, which meant the hair hung down between 10-12 inches. Secondly I had way to much hair in each knot, I guess subconsciously I was thinking the more hair the more coverage. And finally I only left two holes between rows of hair so it was starting to look like chewy had been stung by a bee.
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After taking the previous pictures I decided to try and remove the knots I had done, split each of the larger clumps of hair into two or three (and even sometimes four) separate strands and re attach them to the other leg.
Thank goodness I didn’t use glue on each knot.
I took the hair off 60 knots at a time, why 60? Because the package of bobby-pins I bought had 60 :) then I would split the hair and re-tie it to the other leg.
After splitting the three rows I had previously attached I had enough hair to cover the front of one leg from seam to seam.... told you I used too much hair to start with.


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Here is how I’m adding the hair. First I cut the #27 in half and then take a 1/4 of the #6 giving me a 2:1 ratio. I blend it( probably not as much as I should) but I’m liking the way it looks so far. Then I pull a small section of hair off the bunch and starting at the inseam I use the latch hook to add the hair to the mesh, I pull the hair tight even though the knot doesn’t stay tight( but I’ll get to my solution for that in a second) then I rinse and repeat until I have about 5 or 6 knots done. At this point I heat up the straightener and lightly straighten the hair I just added. Even on its lowest setting it can melt the hair if I squeeze to hard. I’ll continue this process till I reach the seam on the outside of the leg. I then move up about 4 or five inches of the leg and start over.


Now the first night when I realized I had wasted almost a day I mentioned to my wife that I was glad I didn’t use glue on the knots... she just nodded and pretended to know what I was talking about. And two days later after reading a thread on the rebel forum about to glue or not glue, I brought it up to her again. I said you know I probably should use glue on this hair to keep it from all pulling out when I need to tame my Wookiee. This time I got more of a puzzled look from her and she asked what I meant. So after explaining how other Wookiees add a drop of glue to each knot to keep them from coming undone, she said why don’t you just use hair extension links, and showed me a few you tube videos on how they work. So off the Amazon I went to order some more stuff for Chewy. They are pretty easy to put on unless your clump of hair is too big, in which case I untie and split the hair again... and the bottle of 1000 that I ordered didn’t weigh very much at all so I think this may work great for me.

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Yesurprise 1000 Silicone Micro Link Rings 5mm Lined Beads for Hair Extensions Tool Dark Blonde https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BIV4754/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_YHgIAbA960S7N


I haven’t done much with the head or feet yet, I can’t figure out how to attach the mesh hood to the back of the skull, and keep changing my mind on how to make my “stilts”. So if any one has any pointers or tips I’d appreciate any help I can get. I’ll post more progress pics as I get more of the pants done, and start on the shirt (which I still need to sew together).



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You don’t understand how much respect I have for chewie builders. The time involved in stitching all that hair... wow


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks guys, and grimsheeper, I'll take a look at your blog tonight, just got back from a long weekend in Mexico and I'm not really in the mood to latchhook tonight...
 
Got some more hooking done, boy that sounds bad. And I worked on shaping the first foot. Caught my finger on the razor blade, so after a few minutes taping up my finger I add d the first round of duct tape. Only to realize I needed to add another layer to the bottom to keep the toes off the ground and added another layer to the top to get me closer to 7 ft. I’ve picked the shoes I want to wear just need to get a pair from academy and break them in before adding them
to the feet
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Got some more hooking done, boy that sounds bad. And I worked on shaping the first foot. Caught my finger on the razor blade, so after a few minutes taping up my finger I add d the first round of duct tape. Only to realize I needed to add another layer to the bottom to keep the toes off the ground and added another layer to the top to get me closer to 7 ft. I’ve picked the shoes I want to wear just need to get a pair from academy and break them in before adding them
to the feet
I’m no expert, but to me those are not wookie feet. I know many many wookie builders use them and many have been approved with them but I think they’re wrong. Chewie’s feet look more like big human feet with “chubby” toes, just like a Sasquash feet, very human like. Here are 2 photos to illustrate.

This is Peter Mayhew sitting down while shooting ESB.
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This is Joonas Suotamo with Prince Harry on the set of TLJ
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You can see there is a big thumb toe, and the fingers go progressively smaller, very human-like, nothing like dog or bear paws.

And the nails are also a bit wider a flatter like human nails, although they are roughly almond shaped and do not touch the ground.
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I know it’s lot more work. But that’s my honest opinion. Anyway, it’s all part of the show. Keep up the good work!
 
I agree with you and one day in the future I may change these out, but for now they were the only ones I could
find available when I had the extra cash to spend.
They look more like the feet used for revenge of the sith 903741F7-16C4-4610-A205-DECA6F7BFEF9.jpg

anyways today I had the day off so I finished sewing the shirt, and built a pvc mannequin to hold the shirt while I latch hook it, in the future I may upgrade it to be the official stand for chewy, but I think I’d rather a real mannequin for that...17B4327D-54F5-4CE3-867D-832A0324770A.jpeg3D68764D-25DA-4D53-8ACC-8467E663F711.jpegE56E5989-B5A0-4650-A838-0CB85BD5854C.jpeg6C192ADD-CF14-4C26-82AE-24761BAAA31A.jpegB9A03FFB-373E-448C-A48A-034F13524733.jpeg
I love using those little clip things, I saw Adam Savage using them on one of his one day builds and quickly ordered some from amazon. The only downside compared to pins that I found today was I couldn’t be lazy and just run the seam through the sewing machine without removing them.... like I’d do with pins...
 
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