To me it was the costume Leia kicked butt in
So after the influx of amazing high resolution photos of this costume that have come through in the last few years I finally took plasticine and tools in hand and created the costume I have loved all these years
And it only drove me a little insane
The Making:
Resin/solid parts:
I started wondering how on earth I was going to mold and cast the bikini top and boot cover portions first. I knew I could make flat back molds of most pieces and use timing and patience to then shape them around forms.
I took far too long pondering this so just started sculpting anyway
I was very lucky that this mannequin was for sale at a store that was closing down. It is an idealised version of me and so has been the base of a number of projects (including the support for my Witchblade costume).
I then started sculpting the other parts:
And then making a silicon mold with plaster jacket for each piece:
I wound up resculpting several times and eventually did everything bar the bikini top as a flat back.
I tested some pieces and tried shaping after curing with heat. It worked but wasn't permanent. It was then I realised I would have to cast in the morning and shape over forms in the afternoon.
Ah yes. This was resin 1- West systems. Yes. QUite a steep learning curve with that one in terms of learning about container sizes and volumes to be mixed at a time. Whoosh! Smoke but luckily not flames at one stage
The centre of the hair pieces were too thick for the West system so cured very quickly and went rigid before I could shape them. I managed to get a copy though that I like. Though when the weather is warmer again I will recast them from my newer resin
I made a few test pieces and as this was over a few months I found more photos to show more details I hadn't seen so I redid a few more parts
Including the bikini. 
I also tried the skirt plates in bondo over a support as I could quickly shape it. It worked but was too heavy.
The boot decorations were also eventually sculpted flat and shaped over a form. Here is one cured and shaped before filling and painting:
Meanwhile the bikini top was sculpted have the silicon mold made and the plaster jacket:
With still no idea how to cast from it! With a flat back you can pour the sticky resin in and leave it to settle, with a shaped open mold you can't.
I did purchase some Trowel On urethane resin (resin 2!) to test and it worked but was too brittle for the straps. I noticed in some images of the original that they had the same trouble, in fact there are shims riveted to the sides and back of the straps as extra support.
Being a little bit of a reformed physicist I was a bit wary of using wire in the support or rivitting shims. They create weak points, I toyed with gluing the broken urethane bikini top to a styrene base (one giant shim if you like) in case my next cunning plan (Baldricks need not apply) did not work.
I meanwhile used up the rest of the Trowel On on the skirt plates.
I decided to shell out for resin the third (3!) and tested the powers of Ados and filler and matting to support the skirt plates. It worked! And with the filler it created a pastes that could be laid up vertically and not drip or slouch
So taking this into consideration I decided the bikini top could perhaps be fibreglassed instead of being just resin. The matting after all helps is support and helps with reducing weight.
I am very pleased to say it did indeed work and it perhaps the lightest and strongest bikini out there
It was a *little* fiddly I admit getting the matting in and I had to fill a few bubbles that were created as the matting lifted while I was working with it.Fabric pieces:
I also found an ideal fabric for the skirts. This is a stretch silk charmeuse but a charmeuse with a very matt finish rather than glossy. It was however a mushroom brown so I overdyed with violet to get what I believe to be the original colour:
The skirt colous shows up differently under different lighting conditions. I do know how certain lights make shades more blue (flash) or more yellow and working backwards from there tried to get a colour that would react the same under all those conditions. I'm glad to say mine does
Except it confuses people who see it in person because they are used to the muted publicity photos I have to admit a love for my boots
I went a little crazy and made them so they did not look like a make over To the point I used shoe dye stripper to unstick the edges of the sole from the bottom of my shoes and inserted the fabric using a blade. This also intailed sheering off the backing of the faux suede as it was a jacket weight fabric.
Props:
I also made the Vibro Axe, this time from a mix a parts and scratch building:
