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Lekku Tutorial

Lekku Tutorial

 

Hey guys! Player Two here with a quick and easy way to make lekku that won't break the bank and are extremely light weight, perfect for longer lekku at conventions. :) A big thank you to Robert Appleton of the London Rogues for making the lekku for the Darth Talon costume I am shooing with Superhero Photography by Adam Jay, while teaching me in the process. Hope this helps you future Twi'leks!

The Cap:
1) Always start with a mold. This allows you to accurately fit the head piece to your head. For my mold, a Styrofoam head and model clay was used. My mold consisted of the skull cap and tail stubs.
2) Once the mold has dried, cover it with fun foam. Fun foam is a thin foam that is easily modifiable when introduced to heat. Connect edges with heat or a glue gun if you prefer and tape in place. Remove the mold.


The Tails:
3) Using more modelling clay or plasticine, mold a piece that looks like a Mac and Cheese noodle. This will be the area where the lekku bend outward from the cap itself.
4) Once the mold has dried, cover this with the fun foam. Remove mold once foam has set and attach this to the head cap.


5) Take a long piece of fun foam and roll it into a long point. These will be the longer parts of your head-tails. Attach to head piece using tape temporarily.


6) STOP! This would be a good time to do a fitting of your lekku, to allow for changes to be made in cap size, tail length and tail positioning as well. In my fitting, we had to adjust the head cap itself, I have a large head; we altered the length of the tails; and we shaped the tails, using heat, to flow away from the body. You won't be able to get over how light they are!!
7) Fashion the long tails of the lekku to the head cap that you have created after fitting them the way you want.


Filling in the seams:
Using a wood filler, fill in the seams of the lekku. Let the wood filler dry then sand down the rough edges. Be careful and don't over sand and ruin your foam base.


Covering the foam:
8) The next step (after another fitting) is to paint you lekku with liquid rubber. You can find liquid rubber at any local hardware store, as it is used in roofing.
9) You may have to do 2 coats to make sure that the liquid rubber is evenly spread across the lekku.
**NOTE: Do not use any rollers or brushes that you would like to re-use. Liquid rubber is designed to stick to shingles and will not come off. Be extremely cautious when using this product!!! :) **


Painting your lekku:
10) Depending on which twi'lek you are doing, the colour of the lekku varies. I was making lekku for Darth Talon so we painted the lekku a deep red.


Adding finishing touches:
11) To finish off the cap seam of my lekku, a pleather band was added to surround the cap itself. Ears were then added, using plastic casing and painted to match the lekku themselves.


12) For those who are not familiar with Darth Talon, black tattoos cover her entire body and lekku. To finish off my lekku, tattoos were painted on using black acrylic paint and thin paint brushes.


You're done! Your lekku are now ready to wear!

Keep an eye out for Darth Talon xx

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March 02 2013



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