Although I can pat myself on the back for being creative, resourceful and patient, there are definitely times when it would be NICE to call one person up and have everything taken care of.Sort of like a personal shopping assistant for costume design.
This is NOT the private investigator story I talked about previously, but it is during the same time period when I was quite disillusioned with Reg and was experimenting with other vendors.
The story does have a happy ending, although I've come through the process with some bittersweet learnings.
I had always enjoyed Star Wars more than Star Trek. Part of it was that in the Trek universe, you get presented with a problem and everything is tickedy boo in 60 minutes. Star Wars was always a little darker, a little more unsure, a little more, well, nefarious. At least that was the case for Eps 4-6. Of the new prequels, I fell asleep during Ep1, kept looking at my watch in Ep2 and felt a sense of relief when the Ep3 credits rolled by.
Han Solo was my favorite character in the sagas and I figured that it shouldn't be too hard to get a Han Solo outfit. (Famous last words, as you'll see...) I sat down and watched "The Empire Strikes Back" and I figured out what I had and what I would need for an appropriate outfit...
- blaster
- blaster belt and holster
- blaster belt accessories
- white shirt
- brown pants with gold bloodstripe
- dark gray or light black jacket
- pants belt with two rows of perforations
- boots (which I had already from Joey)
The Blaster
I searched for the blaster on ebay, and I was not going to spend over $700 for a genuine broomhandle Mauser with all of the pieces machined onto it. Nor was I going to get one of the old toy plastic jobs. Yes, I could vinyl-dye it, but I was looking for a "ready to wear" (or "ready to blast") item at this point. I eventually found a beautiful replica available from Brian's Toys. Nicely balanced and looked great in the hand. About $220.The Blaster Belt Accessories
Searching through Google had gotten me some promising leads on the other items. One of these was the blaster belt accessories from Corellian Exports. Vincent and Junie Sanchez are a pleasure to work with. I got some resin pieces from them and had the most fun time putting together my droid caller, and finishing it with Testor hobby paints. Testor makes these incredible "metal flake" aerosol paints. Spray it on, wait a while and rub vigorously. You get a near perfect metalized finish!!
Vincent had a link on this page to a person who did blaster belts. Did I contact this person? No. Stupid. Stupid. STUPID! I wanted someone who could make the belt and the costume. Did I contact Andrea? No again. At this point I should have put my head between a door and its frame and slammed repeatedly until I knocked some sense into myself.
The Asteroid Field
I came across Kathy Pillsbury on ebay (id of katarra8) who, according to her "About Me" bio:
I have been making costumes for friends and customers since 1977 [since Star Wars!] but I have been making costumes for 35+ years. I have been a member of the SCA [medieval costumes], a civil war re-enactor [Victorian age costumes & corsetry], and I enjoy Regency dancing [& costumes!] I attended my first science fiction convention in 1977 and have never stopped going! I have won numerous awards at the conventions for my reproductions of costumes from various shows and also for the workmanship and attention to detail. I am an experienced pattern-maker with an eye to details!This was great! Very high positive feedbacks (+2000) I emailed her and she said she could do everything except the blaster. I asked about a sample of the leather. I got it. This was late August of 2006. I sent her a deposit and I was told I would have my outfit in about 6 weeks.
Except it didn't take 6 weeks. When I called her after 6 weeks, I was promised "the next week". Then it was "the Monday after Thanksgiving". Then she stopped returning emails and vmails. After the first 6 weeks went by, I was kicking myself every day for not going to Andrea.
Whenever I finally did manage to call and reach Kathy, it was the same, old, tired excuse - "I'm so busy right now, I'm trying to get everyone's pieces out!" - Yes, and the dog ate your patterns, too.
It turned out that Corey also knew of Kathy professionally, and when I told him of the travails with this outfit, he launched into a stream of invective that was as colorful as it was refreshing. Corey can cuss a blue streak and while it didn't do anything to ameliorate the situation, I did feel better. Corey knew someone who ordered a substantial amount of items from her, and promised to reach out to this person to try and get her off her butt.
And I'm planning on suing the witch.
JJ forged a complete set of plate armor in six months - and that was because he had other works in progress. Corey finished the muscle suit in four weeks. Andrea - well, Andrea works like the dickens and at times I blink and the stuff is done and in the mail. There's no excuse for a fabric costume to take this long.
The Endor Moon
I'm out my deposit, but I've learned my lesson. Things are getting back on track:The Shirt, Pants and Jacket
Are all being done by Andrea. I'm not in a rush for the items, so we're shooting for completion as a birthday gift to myself. I have to get her a little bijou or something since I feel that I cheated on her... (I got her a book off her Amazon wish list ...)
The Pants Belt
Vincent was nice enough to point me in the right direction to get a belt. The original was a Dickies belt and I ordered one through the Zemsky's online catalog.
The Blaster Belt
I contacted Matt Poitras of MP Productions (the original person on Vincent's site listed for blaster belts) and I'll be getting this in 3-4 weeks.
