Author: A.H.

Event Debrief: 29 June 2017

In 2017, I was very glad to be invited back to the Frazier International History Museum for a second set of summer camp presentations.

Like last year, I would give a short talk on survival needs in the Galaxy, teach cordage with raffia, and then have Q&A time. This time around, however, I would present on different days to smaller groups. For this first session, my audience were 8-10 younglings in 4th-6th grade.
A year’s worth of research and refinements meant that I had a more detailed persona (Silo the on-the-run Jedi washout), and the event was highly successful thanks largely to my commitment to the First Person approach.
Continue reading “Event Debrief: 29 June 2017”

Event debrief: 21 January 2017

Venue: Louisville, KY – The Rally to Move Forward
This was a ‘sister event’ for the Women’s March in Washington, held on post-Trump’s-inauguration day.12117above
Myself and 3,000 other attendees braved the early morning chill to hear some inspiring speeches and music from local activists, groups, and politicians, and hobnob with other like-minded folks. Continue reading “Event debrief: 21 January 2017”

Event Debrief: 20 July 2016

As they (probably) say on Kamino, when it rains it pours! That’s right, my first two public GFFA reenacting events were back-to-back!

Venue: Frazier International History Museum‘s ‘Jedi, Wizards, and Time Lords!’ summer camp
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Compared to the day before, this event was Much more to my liking. I debuted my basic (then-unnamed) Agricultural Corps persona, and presented (in First Person!) to two groups of about 15 campers each. I gave a 15-20 minute talk on contents of a basic survival kit (i.e. Dave Canterbury’s ‘10 Cs’, translated into GFFA terms), taught the reverse-ply cordage-making technique with raffia palm fibers, and then had a few minutes for Q&A.
Continue reading “Event Debrief: 20 July 2016”

Event debrief: 19 July 2016

This is another feature that will be rolling out this year, which I’ve termed ‘debriefs’. These will be ‘after-action reports’ in which I break down public events I’ve attended in the name of ‘GFFA reenacting’. The first several will require a bit of backtracking, but we’ll get caught up quickly.

Venue: MCPL:
71916-1 Continue reading “Event debrief: 19 July 2016”

Artifact ID: blue milk cups

This is another one of those on-screen artifacts I had a really easy time identifying, because I grew up seeing identical cups in my mom’s kitchen drawer of plastic cups and bowls—except hers were a sort of seafoam-ish green:
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The cup that Luke drinks from is an actual vintage Tupperware cup, known as a “Sweet Saver” (product #640-8) meant for storing and pouring liquids like maple syrup or salad dressing.
These are often available and relatively inexpensive on eBay, or you may get lucky by combing your local thrift shop for vintage Tupperware.
Continue reading “Artifact ID: blue milk cups”

Image Analysis: Clone Wars Playtime

One feature I’ve been wanting to implement here is a series in which I take a close look at individual images, something along the lines of Townsend’s Sifting the Past blog. And here, I think, is the perfect example to start with!

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Artwork by Langdon Foss

This picture comes from Wizards of the Coast’s Galactic Campaign Guide (2003), p. 113. The book is a great source for our purposes, as it includes (among many other juicy details) an excellent section on species-specific naming conventions, and many similar world-building vignette scenes.

Looking at this image with an anthropologist’s discerning eye, several details leap out at me.
Continue reading “Image Analysis: Clone Wars Playtime”

Crafting the Coldweather Hat

After acquiring a Swedish winter cap for $10, I had originally planned to do just a few simple modifications—removing the superfluous rear buckle, replacing the fake fur of the flaps with wool, and then giving it a dunk in some brown RIT dye.20180215_203640
However, the more I looked at the Pfilbee Jhorn pictures, the more I felt that simply relying on the similar shapes of his hat and the Swedish one wouldn’t be enough to make this an authentic piece.
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Searching for winter headwear in the Galaxy

Hats of any type are comparatively rare in most Star Wars sources (especially when it comes to main characters), and hats for cold-weather scenarios are doubly rare. Since the main films only depict one cold-weather setting (Hoth in Episode V), we have an extremely limited pool from which to draw inspiration for cold-weather gear. As a result, most depictions tend to use variations on the Episode V ensembles, such as an obscure ‘cold weather gear’ Obi-Wan action figure based on Han Solo’s parka, or the Jedi Academy PC game, which outfits Jaden Korr for his mission to Hoth in the uniform of an Echo Base technician.

 

However, having proper GFFA cold-weather items is necessary if, like me, you don’t want to be limited to three-season excursions.
Continue reading “Searching for winter headwear in the Galaxy”

Building the Rebel persona: 5.1a – ‘Endor Donut’ Helmet

After finishing construction of my Rebel ‘swoop’ helmet last July, I started to feel that it might not be the best fit for a Rebel militiaman on Sulon, or more specifically, that it wasn’t the most practical choice.

Although there are a few other designs from EU sources, the Rebels’ only other proper helmet we know from the films is that worn by the Rebel strike team as seen in Episode VI, so by September I had begun weighing the pros and cons.
EDHs Continue reading “Building the Rebel persona: 5.1a – ‘Endor Donut’ Helmet”

Artifact ID: Boba Fett’s toy airspeeder

Boba's_airspeeder_modelAppearing (as far as I know) only in the Episode II Visual Dictionary (p. 43) (and of course, subsequent frequent reprints by DK), Boba Fett’s airspeeder model is one of those items where one just has to scratch their head and wonder. Continue reading “Artifact ID: Boba Fett’s toy airspeeder”