It's been a few months since I last sat down to compile all of my Zam Wesell cosplay updates, so I have a lot to share today. Since my previous update in April, I've made the cummerbund and hanging beads. I've also received my armor pieces, blaster pieces, and started working on the armor elements.

Making the Cummerbund

This piece alone was the most difficult piece of the costume I've had to make thus far. The cummerbund is a belt-like ribbed leather piece that covers the bottom of her vest and top of the skirt. It features four channels that are filled to have some dimension, with stitches in between each channel. It's laced up with speed hooks on the back and at the front right hip, which requires the cummerbund to be made in two pieces. My first attempt at this cummerbund wasn't a terrible try, but I had a very difficult time filling the channels and figuring out how to enclose each end of the cummerbund similar to the way the movie costume appears. After many weeks of fighting with it, I figured out that I needed to pull quilting batting through the channels with some flexible wire to make them full, but not too stiff. Then I folded the ends inward and left them unstitched, using the speed hooks alone to close the ends. I ended up having to buy three sets of speed hooks from various companies until I found a set that was high quality and wouldn't rip through the leather. I'm very glad this piece is done!

I also purchased some glass beads and strung them up to create the detail that hangs from the left side of her belt.

The Armor

Thankfully going into this costume build, I knew that I had a friend who could make the armor pieces for me. I would, of course, need to finish and assemble them, but getting this much of a head start on all of those elements was a huge help. My armor parts arrived in July, consisting of the forearms, lower legs, helmet, greeblies, hand plates, and pretty much any other hard part I needed.

I started working on the armor by cleaning up any imperfections in the cast parts, filling them with Bondo, and prepping them to be painted. It took a few weeks for my aluminum paint to arrive, so the next step for a lot of these pieces will be coming soon as they get painted again.

You can see in the photos above and below how much the lower leg armor changed from how I received them to how they look primed. Definitely a lot better from where I started! I also picked up a pair of purple leather gloves recently that I think will work out for this costume. They are a little darker than I'd prefer, but I think I can lighten them just a touch to work for what I need.

The last armor-related pieces I've worked on lately are a few hand-painted greeblies. Below you can see comparison shots of the pieces from the actual screen-used costume vs. the ones I painted. 

The Blaster

I was really hoping to get a machined aluminum blaster to use for this costume, but it's been difficult to find someone willing to make it for me. In the meantime, I've decided to go with a 3D printed version instead. I'm planning on painting this to look like aluminum with the Alclad II Chrome laquer paint. The nozzle on the end of my blaster print isn't entirely accurate, so I hope to get that remodeled before assembling and painting the whole thing. Below is a photo of the pieces I currently have along with the paint I plan to use.

Those are about all of the updates I have at the moment. I plan to start painting the armor pieces and assemble them together in the next few weeks. I look forward to sharing the next entry of The Clawdite Chronicles with you soon!