Rigid Soft Goods: Capes and such

The Willoughbian

Proletariat Art Threat
Jun 24, 2012
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Cleveland, Ohio
So, I have been asked to show how I made the cape/poncho that is on a figure of a Jedi I made.



Being that everyone here is so nice, sharing is the least I can do.
Welcome to my Workspace.


I'll be writing this as I make the figure, so, you won't get to see the finished product until I do.

Here's the stuff I use: Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish

This is some cloth that I pretreated. It keeps it from fraying and makes smaller pieces easier to handle.


This is the Figure I'll be using. The head fits nicely and it's one of the few figures I have that is taller than the Jedi I made, so, this will be my Mandalore. It's my opinion that the hottest Jedi in the galaxy would kick it with the coolest badass in the galaxy and few in the galaxy are cooler than Mandalore.

You see here that I have drawn the shape of my cape leaving extra to trim later.

So I have cut the shape I want and poked a hole for the neck. I try not tear the fabric too much when makeing the hole, but rather stretch. Then I soaked the cloth in the acrylic and water, then I wrung it out. I laid it flat on some paper and smoothed and blotted it with a wet sponge.


I cover the the figure in plastic wrap, so as not to get acrylic all over it.


I put the cape on the figure and arrange it the way I want, adding more liquid as needed. Don't be afraid to get it wet. Then I bound it LOOSELY with a pipe cleaner and let it dry.


Here it it is after a second coat and some tweaking. I trimmed the edges as well.


And with a wash of red paint


Not too bad. More paint will make it hold its shape better. I'll keep tweaking it as I go.

Now we're going to make a skirt for him.
Same deal as before, only this time I pretreated the material, so that I'll need to do less trimming after I shape it.


Then I hung it to dry. Once it is dry, you can iron it, if you want the cloth nice and smooth. Use a cool iron and don't burn the acrylic. A spray bottle of water will help with this. You should also lay a piece of clean cloth over the treated stuff to keep the iron off of it.


I cut the shape I wanted and poked a hole. I ended up cutting off the piece in hanging down from the middle. It looked better without it.


To do the initial shaping here, I just ran the pretreated material under some water to get it wet, put it over the lower half of the figure and let it dry.
 
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The Willoughbian

Proletariat Art Threat
Jun 24, 2012
781
2
18
Cleveland, Ohio
More color wash and shaping. I mixed the wash at about 1 part paint to 2 parts isopropyl alcohol. Dries a little faster this way. I did 3 coats of the wash, tweaking the shape each time.


Now, I'm ready to start painting the figure. I really recommend doing the soft goods before painting the figure. It's messy and any acrylic that gets on the figure should be scrubbed off before painting.


Here he is painted up and put together.

It still needs a lot more tweaking and touching up but still doesn't look too bad. Perhaps not the best likeness of Mandalore, but still comes off as a high ranking Mandalorian at least.

After fussing with the figure to my satisfaction, it's time for the finish shots.







The back tends to be the toughest part to get looking natural.




Well that's about it for this tutorial. If there any questions or comments, feel free.
 
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K-Tiger

All solutions are final.
Founder
Mar 14, 2011
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I do something similar with John Wayne towels and a glue/water bath. I wonder if I could use decoupage medium for this...
 

daremo

Officer III
Sep 12, 2011
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I keep forgetting about Liquitex products. I spent a ton of money on their product for art classes in college.

Great tutorial thus far. Would using a hair dryer help speed up the drying process? It works with the elmers/water mix that I use and saves a good amount of time.
 

The Willoughbian

Proletariat Art Threat
Jun 24, 2012
781
2
18
Cleveland, Ohio
Thanks for the comments. I'm honored to be of service. I will try and answer questions as best I can.

I do something similar with John Wayne towels and a glue/water bath. I wonder if I could use decoupage medium for this...

I have seen this method and it works well. I will say that the nice the about using acrylic is that it is not as sticky as glue and dilutes without a lot of mixing.

I keep forgetting about Liquitex products. I spent a ton of money on their product for art classes in college.

Great tutorial thus far. Would using a hair dryer help speed up the drying process? It works with the elmers/water mix that I use and saves a good amount of time.

I use Liquitex paint all the time. Very nice stuff to work with. I even sneak a bit onto figures sometimes.

I'm sure a hair dryer could be employed to aid in drying. My concern would be that the force of the wind from it would undo my shaping. My trick for speeding drying time is using alcohol to make the color washes instead of water.

I'll be doing the skirt/robe for him next. I'll be sure to take pics.
 
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G.I.*EDDIE

gobbles a LOT of cock
Founder
Mar 14, 2011
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S.E. Mich :(
You got me thinking about trying this out on tiny dio trash bags...have you tried gloss paint on cloth and does it still retain its gloss if so?
 

The Willoughbian

Proletariat Art Threat
Jun 24, 2012
781
2
18
Cleveland, Ohio
You got me thinking about trying this out on tiny dio trash bags...have you tried gloss paint on cloth and does it still retain its gloss if so?

Go heavier with the paint and it will "plastisize" the cloth, which will let you make it as glossy as you like. It still has a cloth-like texture, though. For trash bags I would probably use paper, just to get a smoother surface.