As an update to the original post, here's some late breaking news...
The Pants Belt
I received the belt from Zemsky's and this is THE belt from the costume. For about $12, this was one of the easiest and least expensive costume parts to date.
The Blaster Belt
I also received Matt's blaster belt. Beautifully dyed, great leather, nicely milled parts, no sharp edges and so comfortable! The blaster itself fits like a glove in the holster! I'm nearly over kicking myself for not going to Matt in the first place.
And speaking of gloves, I also picked up a pair of chestnut-colored Damascus D302s from Amazon! Yes, Amazon! I had seen on one of the costume sites that Han also wore a pair of short leather gloves. Here's the link.
The Shirt, Pants and Jacket
Andrea had made me an additional shirt, tunic and cloak for the second Ranger outfit; this time in varying shades of brown. She was also sweet enough to add some theatrical-quality mudstains to the bottom of the cloak using a concoction of acrylic paint and other secret ingredients. I put the entire costume on last night and it's so comfortable!
I'm near the top of the queue now for the Han Solo items. We're going for the Empire Strikes Back outfit of light black jacket, white shirt and brown pants with gold bloodstripes, as opposed to the Star Wars version of black vest, white shirt and blue pants with red bloodstripes.
I came across some interesting "history" on the Corellian bloodstripes:
Bloodstripes were a Corellian award represented by a 3cm-wide broken stripe of piping that was sewn along the outer seams of a pair of trousers. There were two levels of bloodstripes that could be awarded, each distinguished by its color. The Second-level bloodstripe was gold and, although rarely given out, was the more common of the two awards. The First-level bloodstripe was red, and was usually awarded posthumously because of the exceptionally heroic and often fatal deeds required to earn it. Most bloodstripes were earned for courage under fire, and the recipient was often recognized for simply being a human in the right place at the right time, enduring unusual hardships. The wearer was by no means a superhero. Han Solo was one of the few examples of a living Corellian who earned First-level bloodstripes. He earned his Second-level bloodstripes for rescuing Chewbacca, but he never revealed the deed for which he was awarded the First-level bloodstripes. He preferred to wear the yellow stripes, so as not to receive inquiries on them.
During the exploration era on Corellia, several bands of pirates were known to attack sailing ships carrying precious cargo from exotic countries. Many sailors perished by the swords of these pirates who would board cargo ships by the hundreds. Over time, the pirates made it a habit to clean their swords on the sides of their trousers to boast the number of men they had killed. The longer the row of red stripes on a pirate's pant leg, the more dangerous and experienced he was. Years later,it became a custom to sew in these "blood stripes" to help classify the rank of each pirate.
In more modern times, as Corellia became inter-galactically known for it's history of swashbucklers, these "blood stripes" were carried on as a tradition in the Navy. During the dark times, when the Empire took charge over Corellia, ranks were removed from the standard military uniform and were only used at Naval Academies. Over time, a new generation of pirates emerged, attacking Imperial supply ships of all sorts. Following in the tradition of their predecessors, they donned the classic "blood stripes" on their trousers.
I'm so glad I decided to cut my losses with Kathy Pillsbury and have Andrea do the outfit. By the way, I'm planning on having an attorney friend of mine produce a "demand letter" to get my deposit back and I will be filing a police report with the LAPD.
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