Spock's Pickled Brain

This past Saturday Starbat and I joined the masses and journeyed to the Tampa Bay Comic Con. Thousands of fantastic geeks, sensational costumes, great panels and entertainment, and of course tons of ridiculously awesome loot. Last year I was only able to go for the Friday events, but this time we were able to get into the thick of it. Getting there at about 10:30am, it was surprisingly short lines even without buying tickets in advance. I think the only difficult line we encountered was getting coffee. We started off with the Mortal Combat and Street Fighter crossover event, where iconic characters like Johnny Cage, Ryu, Katana, and Chun-Li faced off in choreographed fights. It was a tiny space for it, but with well-practiced moves, great cosplay, and few wacky sound effects it worked really well. Later we were able to go a favorite from last year, the improv comedy show Penguin Knife Fight. It's never the same show twice, and the cast is certainly quick and funny on the dra...

Another small but critical piece of Iden Versio's gear is the gray leg or "ejection" harness. Like the belt, it's not quite off-the-rack rebel pilot gear. It's similar but not the same. So I set about making this as another project for the Iden Versio build. There are four webbing straps, two that are obvious that wrap around the thighs and then two smaller pieces that attach those straps to the belt. Reference Image Materials -2inch gray nylon webbing (3-4 yards) -4 large silver rectangular slide buckles -Velcro squares or snaps Tools -Lighter/matches -Scissors -Needle/thread 1. Gather the materials This is a project even simpler than the belt, but the key ingredient I was missing for awhile was the 2 inch nylon webbing. For whatever reason I couldn't find it in the local fabric store, and couldn't find a suitable equivalent in the tow straps and whatnot at the hardware store. You can always buy from online sources, but I don...

Another piece of the Iden Versio costume is the belt. Although not hard or expensive to make, it's unique enough to require some thought. Not quite a rebel pilot or stormtrooper belt, it incorporates a bit of both. Besides the belt itself, there is the E-11 blaster holster, two "dropboxes", a leather back pouch, and space for the leg harness to attach. Some of it is hidden under the arm-knotted flight suit, but in these reference images there's enough to determine the basic elements of the belt. Inspiration/Reference Images Materials -Basic black 2inch "quick-release" belt -Two basic smartphone cases -Silver metallic spray paint -Black spray paint (matte or satin) -Clear coat enamel spray paint -Black "leather" upholstery fabric -Large rectangular silver slide buckle Tools -Scissors -Hot glue gun -Needle/thread -Rivet/hole punch tool 1. Gather the materials For this project I picked up parts from lots of places. From t...

Another basic part of the Iden Versio costume or any other rebel pilot are the leg flares and flare holder. It's the gray/olive band holding 8 silver "flares" on the left leg of Rebellion pilots in New Hope , Empire Strikes Back , and Return of the Jedi . There's a great tutorial using olive nylon webbing by Gil Guemes aka JediXXL at Rebel Legion , but since I couldn't find suitable webbing I adapted this for using basic fabric instead. Inspiration Materials -Olive green heavy fabric -3/4 inch diameter wooden dowel -Silver spray paint -Clear coat spray enamel -Snaps (or Velcro) Tools -Hacksaw -Sandpaper -Needle/thread -Snap tool 1. Gather the materials First I had to locate just the right fabric. The original Gil Guemes tutorial recommended using olive green 2-inch wide nylon webbing at the basis for the flare holder. Unfortunately I could find none in local craft or hardware stores. Instead I roamed a fabric store looking for ju...