Two tiny Jawas

TK 3181 · Post by **TK 3181** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:51 am

For the Upcoming St. Patty's Day Parade, I am throwing together a couple of Jawa Costumes for my 7 year-old Twin Daughters. I thought I'd share some cuteness with the Garrison as TX-8633 and I go through this process. Last night I stayed up till around 1AM and completed the masks. The eyes are amber colored glass that I drilled an LED sized hole in and then set in a rubber grommet. I scratch built the lighting mechanism from Radio Shack parts. The masks are Mardi Gras masks with black craft felt hot glued to them and an industrial sized elastic strap riveted to replace the crappy string that was OEM on the masks. There is a flash pic and a slower shutter speed pic so you can see the glow better. What do you guys think?

More to come.....

Cmndr Falken · Post by **Cmndr Falken** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:38 am

You should check out the Krayt Clan Jawa mask section. Trenton is working on a system that doesn't have wires or the bulky battery pack.

TK 3181 · Post by **TK 3181** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:05 am

I will check that out. It's only 2 AA's in a small plastic case. I made the leads long enough to fit in their back pocket or be hung under their robes like a necklace.

Cmndr Falken · Post by **Cmndr Falken** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:09 am

I walked around the house with one of the new prototypes using radioshack GO-LEDS for about an hour and I was able to function very very well. we covered the hockey masks with dog screen then used swim suit lining under that. I makes it so that camera flashes diffuse and don't show your face (or eyes) underneath.

kbfett · Post by **kbfett** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:22 am

Brandon those look great!

TK 3181 · Post by **TK 3181** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:37 am

Thanks guys. Here's a pic of me checking fit on Isabella. The camera flash catches too much detail in the face. I still need to work up the bandoliers and add all the snaps and such. It's just safety pinned in this photo. It looks much better in person as the face is in shadow. I still have a LOT of work to do. More pics to come!

Cmndr Falken · Post by **Cmndr Falken** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:22 pm

to fix the flash showing through the material add dog screen underneath the eyes but above the base mask. It will deflect the light.

These are the GO_LED eyes that Trenton and I are working on.

Here is how I am doing the jawa masks that I am working on (there are tons of ways to do them this is just my way)

1. Start with an inexpensive base say a cheap hockey mask
http://www.spirithalloween.com/Masks_Te ... ockey-Mask

2. Lightly sand the mask to rough up the surface so that it will take paint, spray paint with black matte finish paint.

3. Cover mask with Dog screen using goop glue
You will have to buy a small roll of it but you can use it to do lots of mask or tusken eyes. I have been adding an extra flap that goes all the way over the head and is penned under the elastic strap (the piece of screen looks like an 8 inch wide black tongue shaped piece before applying it to the mask)

4. Using a band saw (or dremel) cut the front of the lens off the GO-LEDS (the band saw gave a clean cut if your rotate the edge of the lens into the band saw blade)
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... 2931368&cp

5. Lightly paint (dust) the lens with yellow (or orange) spraypaint.

6. Attach lens back to the GO-LED using goop

7. Attach LED assembly under open eye holes of mask. Use Hot Glue or GOOP to build up the outer edge so that when you look at the LED assembly they are on a level plane.

8. Using Swimsuit lining material cover entire mask. Cut two holes for the eyes to come through (make them small) and stretch the material around the eyes.
make material long enough to attach to back of the head. Use a large safety pen to secure all layers (elastic strap, dog screen, swimsuit material) behind the head.

This covers the mask and eyes. I also have pouch patterns to make bandolier pouches if you need it.
http://dagobahswamp.dyndns.org/public_h ... attern.pdf
This pattern is a half pouch pattern. Use can use chicago screws for the closure and rivets at the dot points to assemble it.
***edit*** to make kid size versions of the pouches print out the pattern at 66% of original size.

Tony

rebelbuttkicker · Post by **rebelbuttkicker** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:32 pm

Wow, that was simple?

TK 3181 · Post by **TK 3181** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:44 pm

This might sound pretty elementary, but what is "dog Screen"?

Cmndr Falken · Post by **Cmndr Falken** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:44 pm

In comparison to other costumes this is a very simple project and actually inexpensive.

Here is the cost break down for the entire Jawa costume

Leather for bandoliers $50.00 (can normally make 2-3 sets out of this much leather)
Textured fabric ~$1/yd $10.00 (you really wont need 10 yds per jawa)
Swimsuit lining $5/yd $5.00 (1 yd will probably do two jawas)
brown dye $4.00
GO-LEDS (4 pack) $5.00
shoes $20.00
Paint $5.00
Hockey mask (+s/h) $8.00
Dog Screen $25.00 (makes tons)
_______________________________________
Total Price $132.00 for one

If you are making multiple Jawas the price goes down significantly

Trooping with your 501st family $Priceless

****EDIT:forgot leather dye and applicators $10-$15****

Cmndr Falken · Post by **Cmndr Falken** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:49 pm

TK 3181 wrote:This might sound pretty elementary, but what is "dog Screen"?

Dog screen is a plastic mesh screen that can be found at hardware stores. It can be found with the normal screen materials. Dog screen is used for screen doors where animals would normally tear through the fabric of the screen. It looks alot like plastic canvas only its black and kinda flexible. If you have ever worn my tusken helmet and looked through the eye holes you will see that I have dog screen in the eyes so that people can't see into my tusken helmet.

TK1423 · Post by **TK1423** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:13 pm

Awesome job, Brandon! I am excited to see them next Saturday!

Cmndr Falken · Post by **Cmndr Falken** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:02 pm

Put another mask together tonight for a friend

here is a link to the pics

http://dagobahswamp.dyndns.org/public_h ... kprototype

Once the hood is in place it wont sparkle in the camera flash.

TK 3181 · Post by **TK 3181** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:23 am

I really like the look after the swimsuit material is applied. That looks good, Tony!

DarthBarbieDoll · Post by **DarthBarbieDoll** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:36 am

Very nice work Brandon. Your two girls will make very cute little jawas.