Darth vaders codpiece?

[kiwican]

I think the Gates foundation has started a small breeding program with the hopes of introducing them back into the wild

[CaptQuirk]

Here is the thing about costumers and sfx people, to add to my "upholstery grade Naugahyde" statement. Even on a big budget film, there are lots of places the money needs to go, and effects people are left short funded. So, it is not unusual, that the original was made from scavenged pleather from a sofa or la z boy recliner. They used a tape recorder for the mech stuff on his chest. That cod piece certainly was not leather though.

[TheGoodSamaritan]

 

10 hours ago, CaptQuirk said:

Here is the thing about costumers and sfx people, to add to my "upholstery grade Naugahyde" statement. Even on a big budget film, there are lots of places the money needs to go, and effects people are left short funded. So, it is not unusual, that the original was made from scavenged pleather from a sofa or la z boy recliner. They used a tape recorder for the mech stuff on his chest. That cod piece certainly was not leather though.

The budget for the first film was very small. 8000 dollars for vaders complete suit. That is nothing. The second movie (which is the costume I'm trying to make) had a lot more since the first movie was such a success.

So are you saying that the cod piece is not leather? Really? Then what the hell is it? Is naugahyde not real leather?

Did you see this picture: http://s6.photobucket.com/user/starwarscollector/media/PropReplicaForum/ESBPromotieposter.jpg.html

 

 

Edited February 22, 2017 by TheGoodSamaritan

[TheGoodSamaritan]

Googled naugahyde. It's pleather. I thought it was some kind of animal haha :D

[TheGoodSamaritan]

Here is a Picture of the backside:

Are you sure this is naugahyde?

[CaptQuirk]

It's hard to tell from these pics, but I'd be willing to bet it isn't leather. But, since they were kind enough to stick a label in it, track them down and ask.

6 hours ago, TheGoodSamaritan said:

Googled naugahyde. It's pleather. I thought it was some kind of animal haha :D

Sorry, I'm like that though... always leave them scratching their heads

[fredk]

I would use 1 to 1.5 mm upholstery leather for this.

Sewing; place two shaped parts grain to grain, sew edges with a saddle stich, turn inside out, pad out with wadding. Fold over and glue the strap lengths

Can't see signs of stiching around that bit on the front. For that I'd cut out the shape on the main piece and glue the insert in place on the inside, pad it out a bit with wadding, then glue a thin lining leather, eg pigskin, over that wadding and the insert part. Assemble as above.

If the original was leather and the insert on the front was sewn; I suppose it was done by cutting out the area, leaving an edge to fold inwards, the insert and welt were sewn to that edge [grain to grain], folding the sewn part against the inside of the front panel. That would keep the stiching hidden

[Mattsbagger]

6 hours ago, TheGoodSamaritan said:

Googled naugahyde. It's pleather. I thought it was some kind of animal haha :D

Vegan leather.hehe

[fredk]

Maybe the original is Wookiee hide?

[billybopp]

The "herd of naugas" joke is an oldie but very much still a goodie!    Marketing departments started actually advertising naugahyde as a "feature" in the 70's - before that it was just vinyl.   I suspect the change came about to set newer more durable vinyl products apart from earlier products that became brittle after a few years.  

Vinyl is pretty useful even for leatherworkers.  It's a great cheap material that behaves much like leather, and can be used to make mockups for stuff.  

I'm pretty sure the original is at least partly vinyl.  If you look at the piping around the center piece you can see a bit of very light color peeking through.  Since garment leather is usually mostly struck through, we wouldn't see that.  The inner liner does look like it might be leather, however, since that does look right for chrome tan (a bluish color).  

I'd also guess that there's some sort of bag stiffener behind the main front piece to help keep that curve.  There's also some sort of stuffing material there to give it thickness, particularly around the bottom edge and behind the center piece to give it fullness.  The piping around the center piece has either no cord or very thin cord.  Outer piece, piping and center piece are probably glued and sewn from the back side.  Front and straps appear to be a single piece of leather, so could take some creative design to get the straps folded over as in the picture.  (forgive the comments about a codpiece with stiffener and stuffing please - I know it's hard to believe that a bad-ass like Vader might need stuffing and stiffening - but then again he had a lot of medical problems - I guess the force can't do everything).  

Even if the original is pleather, there's no reason why you can't make yours from real leather!  Goat is pretty nice to work with in garment weights, but others are fine too.  The surface finishes on garment leathers can vary greatly, so your best bet would be to look at some in person to find the texture that you want.  I have some that is so smooth and shiny that it looks like vinyl, and other with various surface textures and amounts of gloss.   

Oh.  And just to make y'all jealous - I got meet James Earl Jones a couple of years ago when he did a play on Broadway.  His voice is even more amazing in person, and presence on stage is phenomenal.

Bill