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).
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.
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 ).
here's some pics of me trying to straighten the hair in the bathroom sink with water I heated up on the stove....
let it soak for a bit
drip dry
let it dry
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.
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).
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.
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 ).
here's some pics of me trying to straighten the hair in the bathroom sink with water I heated up on the stove....
let it soak for a bit
drip dry
let it dry
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.