Tarfful in the making

And this is how baby Tarfful's are born!!

Wookiee Hair everywhere!!

Dammitttt I need a new Hoover!!

Day 22 - Suit DONE!!

My god.. What a lot I have learnt this last 3 weeks..

Suit is looking like a horny Yack in a L'oreal advert, messy but oh so shiny!!

Probably watched about 50hrs of TV latching this bad boy... Still lots to do, areas where you can see you need to add extra... 

Last section to do!!

Here is the final latch!!

I may transport it like this ;-)

I've so far opted for normal length latches on the ends of the hands as I cut an extra long mesh hand cover anyway

I've realised I need I add more grey to the shoulders they are a little thin..

And now for relax! I mean, I deserve it right??!

Helping with Tarfful

Helping a fellow wookiee with his tarfful build 

Suit trial fit!!

Wow, blown away at how far this has come in 3 weeks :-)

The filthy furry Wook is coming to town! 

Get your fur coats ladies, you've pulled!!!

These are my temporary stilts. I want to make new lens which are narrower.. Also there is far too much fur on this beast at the mo :-) but it's coming along.. Seriously cannot wait for that Bando to turn up!!

Mesh Suit Pattern

So the mesh suit layout was rather fiddly!

Things to take into consideration

Add extra length over the hands - approximately 8"
Re-enforce neck area because of weight of fur
Make suit top an informal shirt type
Make trousers with extra gusset for movement and crotch approx 8" lower than yours

 We marked it with red wool to show the layout of the brown or silver/grey fur..

Soon we realised we actually needed to start the fur 8" above those lines otherwise it would be covered over by the hair above it! Take note people!!!

Wookiee Hands

Update 20/6/14..

So the hairy handed monster top is nearly done.. Gotta put hair that is twice as long as normal on the hands.. So we're talking 32" strands doubled over when latched to 16".

This is the direction suggested , but I personally think it's too long.. This will be a WIP

Currently no where near the actual hands, so here's how it looks

Day 17 wookiee top looking good!!

Thanks to me dear ol' ma... 6 hands are better than 4!! We are nearly there on the top..check our them bingo wings.. I mean seriously chewy get to the gym!!

You will be able to see where the patterns line up now.

Day 15 - legs finished!!!

Finally finished! Legs complete... Will obviously need trimming , adjusting and filling in of the knees with extra fur at some point. :-)

Day 15 - Wookiee jumper!

So ice had my minions (my mum) working on the top!

He is getting a furry little fella!

Obviously hair is far too long at the moment but will be trimmed in the appropriate areas later..

Red lines dictate where the colours will show when finished.

Blue lines dictate where we need to start the colours. 

Remember when you have another hair over the top of what you've done it'll be hidden! You gotta think 8-9 inches ahead ;-)

No problem eh fellas?? 

Day 14 - Legs nearly done!

Legs just about finished!! Talk about the Beegees!! Check dem flares!

I just have some brown/blonde to add in at the top middle, front and back. When the feet are finished some fine tuning will be in order. DAMN I'm getting a move on now :-)

Id like to think I can slim those sexy legs down if I can find a decent stilt method with high heels? ;-)

Day 11.. Bandolier!!

So today I have ordered my bandolier from Mel Mattson from the Rebel Legion :-) can't wait!!

Chewbacca tools

Hackle : 

Hair :

Mesh :

Sculpey:

Day 10... More grey

That's it... Just more latch hooking..

When you get to this part, I hope you have an awesome wife and mother able to assist your latching. Cos this stuff takes forever!

Seriously I watched 5 films on Saturday and hooked all day!!

The grey is harder to blow dry, hackle and blend. It's thicker and a little more corse.. But still, it looks great when it's on!

Mixing 5:1 ratio of #44:#4, hackle it roughly so that you get highlights like this:

Making a draw card on the cheap!

So, hackling is the art of blending hair colours together. But how do you hold that hair after it's blended? Like a boss that's how. 

If you try and latch hook picking up pieces of hair from your newly blended pile , you get all sorts of strands interlocking and grabbing each other . It's a nightmare!! You have hair in your soup, and on your person. Seriously I'm talking 9" hairs hanging from your flies which are hard to explain to visitors!

So what you need is a hair drawing card . Essentially this is a rubber/flexible mat with teeth that allows you to clamp the hair down. This lets you pull hair from the sides without grabbing the rest and saves you the embarrassment of persuading the postman you don't have dread locks down there...

I spent £8 on some pet grooming brushes and a cheap door mat with a rubber back. To be honest they were a bit small but did fine.

I took the toothed side off 

I stuck them to a piece of rubber mat I cut out, and I made 2 of them to clamp together!

Simples!!

Hackling - more hair loss!!

So I created a device called a hackle.

I drilled holes in a piece of plastic, and stuck nails through them, the piece of plastic is then screwed to a block of wood! I used industrial velcro on the back to stick it to the carpet, and it works a treat!

Essentially this makes a giant comb. I use  this to rune the hair through to blend it. 

I think you need to run it through the ends first to take all the knots and kinks out (you lose a lot of hair!!)

Once that's done hold very tightly at one end and whip the other end through the hackle . I do this about 5-6 times before rotating it around. As you are holding one end really tight it isn't going to blend much until you let it go and swap over :-)

Before

Hackling

Finished result #27 on the left and #6 on the right - the centre is the blended one! Works nicely :-)

Day 8 - waist

So the waistline is approaching now.

You will notice the pattern at the top of the trousers has to match the top as it will be over the top of it

Day 7 - Legs...ongoing

More legs... And crotch !!

Day 6 - #44 old Wookiee grey!

Finally got round to he grey parts of the legs. My wife and I have been latching like droids this weekend And this is where we're at..

Day 5 - more leg

More leg being latched...

Day 4 - ankles

Ankles done all the way around now on both legs!

Furring the beast!

I am going to document the stages of latch hooking the fur to the suit, from strand one, right to the end!!

Yes, that's strand number 1...

It's gonna be a long year...

Started off using far too much hair here - as you can see i was doing roughly 1" diamond patterns, (2 holes diagonally and 4 holes vertically). I use about 1/3 of that amount of hair now. 

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