Mrs Brain Fart: [Star Wars] Kylo Ren

My husband is currently building his 3rd costume - Kylo Ren, here's copied from his build blog:

(Jan 2016)
So a new era of Star Wars has begun and what the hell, why not build a new cosy hey?

No doubt at some point I'll be building a new FO whitearmour trooper of some kind from TFA.... or even one of the new pilots, they look pretty cool. But, for now I thought I'd give Kylo a crack because I like the character (nothing wrong with a little tanty throwing here-and-there), he has soft parts mostly, can sew most of it myself (when I say 'myself' I really mean Lowina, using the sewing machine I bought her for her birthday Posted Image

, I like the all-black look (I am a Blackman after all), and because I have never really built a cosy of a 'main character' before.

So here goes.

BIG shout-out to Tom Campbell (TDK Props, check him out on Facebook) (Update April 2016: TDK has now teamed up with Corrie Mills to become 'TCM Industries', check them out on FB) who, although only just joined KFS late last year, has been a life saver and wealth of knowledge when it came to starting my Kylo build and coming up with lots of good ideas, tips and hints for doing things generally. He also does some sweet 3D printing. Cheers mate Posted Image

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So it all started in a city not so far away after chatting with TDK about being interested in building a Kylo and he called me one day and said there were some Black Series Kylo buckets in Toys'R'Us and asked 'would you like one?' and I said 'yes' and next thing you know I'm walking around the house staring at myself in the mirror wearing my new Kylo bucket.
Following suggestions on the Sith Lord Detachment (no idea why Kylo belongs to that detachment, but anyway...) and people in the Knights of Ren Facebook page (great source of info), there were a few mods that needed to happen to the bucket. Sealing up the join around the outside centre area, adding a new mesh style visor, repainting, plugging up some holes, drilling out some plastic bits, etc, etc....

Got the pleated tunic custom made from Xcoser in Hong Kong for a reasonable price, needs a couple small mods to it. I know what you're thinking, I should have been a model for men's shorts because damn son, those legs are sexy!.........

Belt buckle from.... you guessed it, TDK......

Heaps of patterns for the outer robes, etc from TDK.....

Fabric for the outer robe, hood, scarf.. will be picked up from a local vendor and then professionally dyed.....

March 2016....

FABRIC:
So, a small set back in fabric, but all good now. I did some research on the fabric I had previously wanted to get, and was told that due to the fabrics used to make it, it was not going to dye very easily. So I went on the hunt for something else and found something better.... thank god.

In the below pic, the top fabric is from Luke Dally, a bloke in the UK who went to a textile/fabric maker and got them to create a brand new weave/pattern for him based on accurate photos of Kylo's robes at the last Celebration. He's one of the only people who has done this and is now setting up shop in the US through a partner to better service the amount of orders he's getting.

In the bottom half of the below pic you can see the old fabric I was going to go with on the right (would obviously need to be dyed) and the new fabric I have found in blue on the left.

After making some calls I found a great fabric dyer in Ballarat that can dye the blue pattern into pure black, in bulk (11m). So I've booked a day/time to drive down there (road trip anyone?) and get that started.

GLOVES:
So my gloves from Endor Finders finally arrived. Originally I wasn'nt thrilled with the price... about AUS$80 shipped from the UK.... but having tried them on I'm pretty pleased. Fit perfectly and feel so smooth and silky to wear.

VOICE CHANGER:
I saw someone post a demo video on the Knights of Ren Facebook page and I thought the voice changer he was using sounded pretty good. I plan on hiding it under the scarf section. The model is named SXD-205A.

BOOTS:
I got some plain black 'captain's boots' off eBay and they arrived and fit well but, needs a fair bit of modifying to bring up to speed. I'm intending on heading to a local leather shop to get all the bits I need for the mods.