Club Obi Wan

Following Todd's Costumes tutorial, I distressed my WPG bag to get rid of the dark green color, which was my only complaint about the bag. On the picture of the bag open you can see the color difference as the inside of the bag is still fairly dark...

This bag looks great! Very good work Tom
regards
darth

Great-looking bag Tom!

Looking good mate

TAZ

Great job on the WPG repro bag.

Oh yes. That's the stuff.

The basic trick was Comet with bleach and a good, stiff brush - after soaking it and wrinkling it up, I just kept scrubbing the cleaner into the fabric, especially around the edges. It's definitely a little more screen accurate than the original forest green color...

Wow. Looks great!

I'm planning to do that this weekend with my WPG bag. I've already printed out the instructions from Todd's site. Just need to pick up a steel brush or equivalent.

Good job of getting the color out! I think you did a great job of recreating how much fade/wear it gets that way.

Now that you got the original color OUT...time to get some darker colors (years worth of grime/dirt) IN. Or you could let it happen naturally now - since you are close enough.

I noticed on issued MKVIIs it isn't just how much color came out, but how much darker shadows got IN over time. Nothing like marker or paint, really, but darker browns and such mottling the fabric.

J

Todd's tutorial also instructs to bury the bag in dirt after using the bleach mixture. I'm sure that would add the "darkening" effect.

Maybe use a mix of water and potting soil, get it nice and muddy, then brush the mix onto the bag at various places and rub it down with an old cloth.

Potting soil is a good idea...but only in certain areas. Wouldn't want to darken the whole thing EVENLY!

I saw an article in the paper last week talking about trendy jeans (you know the kind that look ripped up and dirty, yet are new) and it said you can get that dirt effect by spraying tea on them with a spray bottle. This trick might work on the mkvii.

Serial Hero wrote:I saw an article in the paper last week talking about trendy jeans (you know the kind that look ripped up and dirty, yet are new) and it said you can get that dirt effect by spraying tea on them with a spray bottle. This trick might work on the mkvii.

I wonder how coffee would look.

Serial Hero wrote:I saw an article in the paper last week talking about trendy jeans (you know the kind that look ripped up and dirty, yet are new) and it said you can get that dirt effect by spraying tea on them with a spray bottle. This trick might work on the mkvii.

That does ring a bell. I forgot about that trick. Tea stains. Thanks!

Hmmm, should I go regular or decaf? If I go the coffee way there are all sorts of coffee regions we could go for to be "authentic" - South American, African, etc... I guess if Belloq carried a MkVII he would go with a French Roast?
Seriously, I considered the burying idea but where my house is built used to be tomato field, so it has very rich, black soil - a little too dark I think to look naturally "soiled..."

If you want it 'naturally soiled', just let that cute tyke in your avatar wear it as a diaper for a while...

...sorry, got kids, can't help thinking that way.

for the bag I used todds method has well and I think burying it in nice tan dirt adds the trick perfect after burying it to let it dry, now that I've pulled it out it has a nice light brown look to it in certain lights and angles. tan dirt is the way to go. a wet freshly distressed bag soaks up alot of brown from the sand turning the bleached spots a nice greenish-khaki I live in el paso in the chiuhahua desert so nice tan dirt is plentiful down here.