Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy
applying the methods of progressive historic reenacting to the Galaxy Far, Far Away
This ‘water tester’—which I guess fits in with the Erso character’s disguise as a ‘dirt farmer’?—is comprised simply of two items, one of which we have seen already! Continue reading “Artifact ID: Galen Erso water test kit”
One of my eventual goals for my NRAC impression is to attend an event and publicly ‘interpret’ a collection of in-universe artifacts from the Star Wars galaxy in first-person. While I’m always on the lookout for such items, it is especially fun when one comes along that seems tailor-made for this purpose.
Continue reading “Project: The Jedi Path – an exercise in distressing”
Yet again, keeping up a flow of regular postings becomes difficult due to various project delays and bottlenecks, but rest assured, I have not been idle in the hiatus! I have two 3D printed commissions on their way, picked up a new skill that I can use to create ‘primitive’ cultural artifacts, and I spent a large chunk of my Spring Break hard at work on a new vest for my archeologist impression, and I am very pleased with the results.
Continue reading “NRAC: Building the Outer Persona – Tracker Vest”
With the holidays behind us, I have recognized a pattern in my kit’s evolution over the last few years. Although I always have several projects in the Work-In-Progress phase, it seems I like to set aside a bit of time around the New Year to create something special:
(image originally published in WotC’s Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds (2004), artwork by Langdon Foss.)
This image is a great ‘slice of life’ for children on an agricultural backwater—sort of a Star Wars Norman Rockwell scene: who hasn’t been a youngling ‘flying’ toy spaceships around while making PEW-PEW sounds? But what’s more important is how especially valuable this image is for the rare look it gives us at GFFA commoners’ fashion. Here are a few pertinent tidbits I’ve teased out:
Continue reading “Image Analysis: Garqi Agricultural Academy”
(Part 1 of the Wookiee shield project here)
With wroshyr trees a little hard to come by in this galaxy (likewise quality hardwood lumber in the 10”x4”x8’ range), I’m keeping the woodworking on hold until I can acquire an ideal piece of wood (paying in terms of time by choosing ‘I want it Good’ and ‘I want it cheap’ from the Designer’s Paradox). However, the Wookiee battle shield also includes some metal (‘bronzium’) elements which I thought I could try my hand at fabricating in the meantime. This gave me another reason to play around with sculpting wax, and I continue to enjoy working with this material. When I take my time to get a piece sculpted and cleaned up, I am extremely pleased with the feeling of having made a real prototype.
(Apologies for my delay in postings of late…with winter holidays arrived I now have a few weeks’ reprieve from school-matters, which I intend to use to finish up some posts and projects for this site).
Last winter, as I reskinned my Swedish milsurp hat, I was left with a few quibbles. (I find it’s helpful to write down these thoughts for just this very reason, so that I know what needs tweaking should I decide to revisit the project down the road):
“Were I to undertake this project again, I would’ve done a few things differently:
-using a heavier khaki material–like the plentiful scraps I had leftover from my donut helmet (uncovered only after I had finished this project!)
-only using two layers of wool for the flaps, instead of three.
-better copying the shape of the curvy panels that are added to the flaps.
-making the rear ribbed panel shorter (to better match the original artwork), while extending the neck coverage and shortening up the flaps a bit.”
As the weather has been getting cooler, I’ve been having to wear my flap hat more often, and as I’ve also been integrating more and more Star Wars style into my daily wardrobe, I finally felt that the vaguely-close-enough-ness of my hat just wasn’t accurate (or hardcore) enough.
And so, after pondering on what would be involved, I decided to go ahead and tackle the Pfilbee Jhorn Hat, Mark II.
^ The look we’re going for^
In my continuing quest to subtly apply a Star Wars commoner’s aesthetic to my everyday wardrobe, I consistently make at least a weekly pass through my local secondhand shop to look for garments which have GFFA modification potential. As someone who also puts a lot of focus on having a wardrobe that not only looks good but also is practical for outdoor use (i.e. I try to avoid slow-drying cotton and melty synthetics as much as possible) I have been searching for a good Star Wars-y jacket that looks the part but isn’t plain unlined cotton or light linen.
Thankfully, I’ve had some good hunting of late; so when a fine 100% wool ladies’ blazer ($6) made by PENDLETON came up the other day, I quickly snatched it up with an eye for modification.
Continue reading “Project: Modding a Jacket”
As I was leafing through my Star Wars Visual Dictionary—after looking up one thing I usually wind up flipping a few pages to see if anything new jumps out—a few months ago, I came across a particularly un-Star Wars-y looking knife: a Twi’lek dagger with a ‘Taulek -style handle’:
Not only are there no extraneous greeblies, this would appear to not even be intended to be a vibroblade—just a run-of-the-mill, stabby, fighting knife along the lines of a Sykes-Fairbairn. This makes it the perfect candidate for authentic replication, as it requires no hand-waving or suspension of disbelief to explain. Continue reading “Project: Twi’lek dagger (part 1)”
In his Getting Started In Living History series, Master Jon Townsend suggests that the small items carried on one’s person are a great way to add depth to a living history impression, as well as create a more intimate connection to your persona. Reenactors refer to these items collectively as ‘pocket trash’, and can be anything from a love letter from the homefront, empty brass and small change, to an interesting rock or a pocket compass.
Continue reading “Whittling & galactic ‘pocket trash’ – R4 Astromech”
Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy 
