My Descent Into Nerdness: February 2016

Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 1 - Stand and Pattern
Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 2 - Making Tails
Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 3 - Covering Them in Latex
Latex Covered Foam Lekku Guide Page 4 - Custom Ear Pieces

While waiting for my armor I ran into so many people with lekku at C2E2 and on the internet. And I couldn't help but want to have a pair of lekku myself to dress up with. Being a Twi'lek would be pretty cool. Costume ideas are endless. You can repaint them, be a custom Sith Twi'lek or be a custom Jedi Twi'lek, or be numerous characters. So many options!

So began my quest for a set of lekku.

To begin with: Twi'lekPam on Etsy is undoubtably the best around. She is super nice and they sell for about 150 dollars. I have personally talked to people and they recommend her. She is quite a celebrity when it comes to lekku. Link to her store

But since I just laid down $700 for armor, I need a cheaper option. And its kinda fun to make your own stuff. So the next option was either cloth or foam. I wasn't too impressed with cloth because it doesn't look like skin. Foam it is then!

One foam lekku tutorial is by Sam - A Tale of Two Lekku
I liked what she did and I started the same way.

#1 - Making a Head Model and lekku base

I began by buying some half-inch thick foam at JoAnn's Fabric store. I want long lekku so I got a 50 inch piece of it. It's lovely and green. Don't forget to use coupons at JoAnn's!

Step one: make yourself a head to work on
I found that the model heads in craft stores are too small for even my small head. You can make a plaster head of your own or go the cheap route and make a duck tape head. The process is pretty simple: buy saran wrap and duct tape, and talk your friend/hubby to tape your head while you watch TV. You may also need to convince them you aren't insane. Have them wrap plastic-wrap over your head first, two layers. Leave an opening for your nose. Next have them use duct tape. Go over it three times to make the dead stiff. Then have friend/hubby cut a small bit up the back (while trying not to cut your hair) and slowly slide the head off. Patch up the slit and you have a weird robot head just your size.

My hubby wouldn't cut it off till he put eyes on it. Angry eyes too. If I had to do it again I would use colored duct tape for fun. Note about hair: I plan to make two small buns or ponytails for my hair to be in when I wear the lekku. (my hair will be stuffed into each lekku when I wear it) so I left my hair down and didn't put it in a bun for the head model.

Step two: make yourself a pattern for you lekku base

I looked at several online tutorials and one mentioned using a diaper-shaped pattern for the head. So I decided to be a bit more scientific and I made some measurements and used those. I ended up with the pattern below. I used a scrap piece of cloth and, yes, I know I didn't cute both sides the same but my scap was too small, but I made it work. I would say the right side of my picture is the accurate side and I used it to cut my foam. One measurement I did not include in the picture is that I took a piece of paper, rolled it up, and put it on my head model and decided where my lekku should be placed, then I measured that distance from 1 inch above where my eyebrow would be. That way I knew where to put the lekku openings in my pattern.

The blue text tell that I took piece of foam, marked 12 inches on it and used it to draw part of a circle where the lekku would be. Then I fit it to my head. And it fit almost perfectly!

I purposely left extra foam on the back just in case I cut my pattern too short. I used pins to hold the foam together. I did not use tape! I think it would tear the foam when removed.

The lekku openings.

A side view, with my too-long back. Which I promptly trimmed up.

And it looks just like a diaper - just like the Sam said!

All trimmed up and glued. I used a low-heat glue gun. A high heat will melt the foam. I found it pretty easy to glue, but you had to pinch the foam together till the glue cooled or it split apart. I glued in small stages and now it holds quite well.