Anime Los Angeles 2

Workshops

Lightsaber Hilt Construction Notes now online.

We are really excited about our workshops on Saturday and sunday, including a ponytail wig project and a light saber prop workshop. Our most ambitious workshop this year is the Jedi Cloak workshop, where we will show you how to make and authentic Jedi Cloak to match the ones from the movies.

Lightsaber Workshop

[Art by Christina Patterson, 2006] The lightsaber is the weapon of a Jedi, an elegant armament of a more civilized time. In comparison, blasters are crude, inaccurate and loud affairs. To carry a lightsaber is an example of incredible skill and confidence, dexterity and attunement to the Force.

Our Jedi weaponsmasters "Obi-Shawn" Crosby and David Milano will show you how you can build your own lightsaber handle to hang on your belt, with no machine shop required! Constructing your own saber is an important part of every Jedi's training, so you'll want to be sure to attend. We'll have several examples of fan-built hilts to pass around, and some of the official licensed replicas and toys available to compare them to. We'll explain the various options you have to customize one of your very own. If you already have a work in progress, bring it!

During the 3-hour session, we will build several lightsabers, all different, to show you how you can put the pieces together to make your own. We'll explain where to find the big parts you need (at a hardware store and an automotive supply store), and hand out instruction sheets with photos showing what the parts look like that you might need. The four principal pieces are the "emitter" or beam end, the main shaft, the control box, and the pommel/end cap for the other end. We're not providing these pieces, because that's where you have the greatest opportunity to individualize your prop to your own character and personality.

For a $10 materials fee, we'll give you a bag of materials to use to decorate your own light saber, including at least one unique nurnie that none of the other bags have, and a belt clip for wearing your finished piece. With the shopping suggestions in the worksheet, you should be able to finish your project on your own for about another twenty dollars; or if you've already gone shopping for the main pieces, bring them and work on it with us!

If you don't have the time to sit through the whole session, you can drop in and just get the handouts; and pick up your bag of parts, if your name's on the list.

Jedi Cloak Workshop

Our most ambitious workshop at Anime Los Angeles 2 will be the Jedi Cloak Workshop. Sign-ups are limited; if you want to participate, read this whole message, then go to http://www.animelosangeles.org/anime-la/2006/bin/mail.cgi?workshops and send us a note saying you'd like to reserve a spot. (We can only fit so many work tables into the room...)

The workshop will be about three hours, probably in the morning. (We haven't confirmed whether it'll be Saturday or Sunday yet; stay tuned.) We'll give you the patterns to make an authentic Jedi cloak to match the ones from the movies. We'll show you how to cut out your fabric, and tell you how to finish it at home. You'll learn how to take care of the pleats at the back of the neck, and various other tricks and tips to complete your own custom-made cloak.

JEDI CLOAK WORKSHOP MATERIALS LIST:

+ Fabric (amount and preparation, see below)
+ Dressmaker's chalk (for marking fabric)
+ Long straight edge (large T-square, yardstick, meter stick, etc.)
+ Flexible dressmaker's tape measure (to measure person)
+ If possible, locking contractor's tape measure, 6 ft. or more (the hardware store variety that rolls up into the little metal box)
+ Good quality sewing (fabric cutting) scissors
+ Long straight pins

FABRIC

The actual cloaks used in the movies were made out of a lightweight wool, with a twill (diagonal) weave. The best fabric to use for this, would be the same thing in a twill or straight weave, or a wool blend. If you are using 100% wool, and want to be able to wash it, you will need quite a bit, because of shrinkage. A wool blend with 50% or less wool will take less (approximately 1/2 yard less), as will alternate fabrics such as heavy duty double sided flannel, rayons, fleece, etc. But nothing will look as "right" as wool. ALL fabrics must be a t least 58-62 inches wide! The pattern will NOT work for 45" wide fabric.

For washable, wool Jedi cloaks:
Shorter than 5'6": 10 1/2 yards wool.
5'6" to 6': 11 yards of wool.
Taller than 6': 11 1/2 yards of wool.
(1/2 yard less for blends with less than 50% wool.)

Wool preparation: You will need to cut the wool into three sections if you are going to wash it in a normal, agitator-type washing machine. (It is not necessary to pre-cut the wool if you use a front loading, no agitator washing machine.)

First, cut off a 1 1/2 yard section, then divide the remainder equally in half. I would think it's obvious that you are cutting ACROSS the grain, selvage to selvage, but I'm saying it, just in case you are not sure... If you bought an 11 yard chunk of wool, you should now have a 1 1/2 yard piece, and two 4 3/4 yard pieces. The reason you are cutting these before you wash it, is to try to prevent the wool from wrapping tightly around the agitator, or itself, to avoid felting the fabric when you wash it. Too-hot water, or twisting, can cause felting (super shrinking) which will ruin the fabric.

Now place the fabric in the machine, the two large sections slightly ablled up and spaced across from each other. Do not wrap the fabric around the agitator! Then wash the fabric in cold water, with a little laundry soap to remove sizing, and dry it in the dryer on low heat. Then, wash it again in warm water (no soap necessary), and dry it again on medium heat. It will shrink BOTH TIMES. When done, you should have soft, slightly fuzzy pre-shrunk wool, ready to sew.

For Dry Clean Only Cloaks:
You can go with the above sizes, except use 1/2 yard less, or you can calculate it exactly, using the following formula, and save yourself some more money: Take your height, from top of shoulder against the neck to the floor, and multiply by 4; then add 48". Divide that total number by 36" to get yardage amount, round up to the nearest quarter yard. (You'll probably get a figure between 6 3/4 and 8 1/2 yards, depending on your height.)

For All Other Washable Fabrics:
Use the dry clean only measurements (above), plus another quarter yard. Wash and dry it before coming to class.
To get on the list for the materials, send e-mail to workshops@animelosangeles.org.

We'll be doing the workshop SUNDAY morning, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Sign-ups are limited (because we can only fit so many worktables into the Live Program room we'll be using), so if you want to participate please send e-mail to workshops@animelosangeles.org .

Bring your fabric (see prep instructions). We'll mark your fabric to show you where to cut it, and if you bring your scissors you can cut it out there.

At the end of the workshop, you'll have your cloaks sized to fit you, and cut out to size, and ready to sew together; and you'll have full instructions on how to complete your own cloak, which matches the "young Obi-Wan" cloak from the movies.

Harry Potter Scarf Workshop

Don't know how to knit? 'Tis fun! We'll teach you, and show you how to make your own Hogwarts scarf.
Materials to bring: Pair of Knitting Needles (size #8, 5.0 mm); Yarn (see below for colors, and how much you'll need).

If you're just starting out, get yourself a ball of multicolor yarn in some bright colors.

The HP movies had different scarves in the first two movies compared to the second two. So you'll need to decide which ones you like better. You'll also need to buy yarn in the right colors. We have our suggested colors listed below, using the Red Heart 100% acrylic yarn because it's easy to work with and fairly inexpensive to get a lot. (All color numbers are for the Red Heart "Super Saver" line except where noted for the "Classic" yarn.)

You also have to choose between the easy, medium, or harder type of scarf. You can make a single-sided scarf (45 stitches across); or a 90-stitch scarf which you can fold over and sew; or a continuous "circular" 90-stitch scarf.

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Yarn Colors for Sorceror's Stone/Chamber of Secrets scarves

These are just our suggestions for yarn colors, using Red Heart Supersaver and Classic yarns. If you'd like to pick different colors or a different kind of yarn for your House scarf, go right ahead.

In the movies, they changed the color scheme for the Ravenclaw scarf, compared to how it was written in the books. So if you're Ravenclaw, you'll need to decide if you want to go by the movies or the books.

Gryffindor - Main Color: Country Red "Classic" #914; Contrast Color: Gold #321.
Slytherin - Main Color: Hunter Green #389; Contrast Color: Light Grey #341.
Hufflepuff - Main Color: Cornmeal #320; Contrast Color: Black #312.
Ravenclaw - Main Color: Blue #886; Contrast Color: Light Grey #341 (or Bronze "Classic" #286 for the book version).

Yardage for Sorceror's Stone/Chamber of Secrets scarves

The first two movies had scarves that were about 5 ft long, with equal width stripes.

45 stitches: Main Color, 200 yards; Contrast Color, 200 yards.
90 stitches: Main Color, 400 yards; Contrast Color, 400 yards.

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Yarn Colors for Prisoner of Azkaban/Goblet of Fire scarves

These are just our suggestions for yarn colors, using Red Heart Supersaver and Classic yarns. If you'd like to pick different colors or a different kind of yarn for your House scarf, go right ahead.

In the third and fourth movies, some of the colors were different.

Gryffindor - Main Color: Burgundy #376; Contrast Color: Gold #321.
Slytherin - Main Color: Hunter Green #389; Contrast Color: Light Grey #341.
Hufflepuff - Main Color: Cornmeal #320; Contrast Color: Black #312.
Ravenclaw - Main Color: Royal #385; Contrast Color: Light Grey #341 (or Bronze "Classic" #286 for the book version).

Yardage for Prisoner of Azkaban/Goblet of Fire scarves

The third and fourth movies had scarves that were about 8 ft long, with big stripes and little stripes.

45 stitches: Main Color, 400 yards; Contrast Color, 100 yards.
90 stitches: Main Color, 800 yards; Contrast Color, 200 yards.

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