www.superheroboots.com Superman Returns Boots

A friend of mine pointed me over to this website to check out the Superman Returns boots they are making:

http://www.superheroboots.com/

I took at look at what was being offered, and emailed the site owner to see if he was interested in collaborating on making the boots a bit more accurate. After a couple emails and a few photos, the design was IMMENSELY improved. Take a look at these pictures of the current model:











While they are not 100% accurate, they certainly capture the feel and style of the screen used boots. I am going to work with Keith a bit more to see if we can get them one step closer to being correct as far as the pattern goes. As they stand in these pics, they are really darn close. Keith is using vinyl for these, which is a good choice as it is much cheaper than leather, and also easier to work with. From what I understand, there are a couple different textures being used, which is pretty cool.

Not that my stamp of approval is worth anything, but I recommend these boots. They are the best on the market that I have seen. There's a few folks out there that are offering boots, but none come close to Keiths in terms of accuracy. The price is also really fantastic. Please check out their website, and tell them that Matt Munson says hello.

Micro-S Pattern For Boots Is Done.

Today I received this lovely piece in the mail from my friends over at M&K Engraving.



What you are looking at is a slab of nice leather with tons of tiny "S" symbols laser engraved on it. It is sized such that it is big enough to fit any of the panels for the boot that require it. My next step is to mold it, then cast some up and integrate them into a boot.

This OFFICIALLY brings to a close the long, drawn out quest to get this part of the costume perfected. I now have two options when it comes to the engraved panel on the boot. I can go with this one, which is on leather, or use the one that RebelScum sent me, which is on lexan. Both are VERY nice, and each have their advantages. I THINK I am leaning more towards this one, as it has the leather texture in it. It's subtle, but it contrasts sharply against the polished surface of the lexan.

Either way, I'm extremely pleased with the results of this work. As with many components of this project, this one has been a VERY long trail. Or Trial. Or both. It's an interesting lesson in how NON immediate this hobby can be sometimes. I think it was more than 2 months ago that I said on this blog "I need to get this wrapped up quickly".

Pattern Work, Leather

Last night I did a bunch of pattern work on the body suit. I cut out all of the panels, though I think I'm only going to use the upper body portion for the final suit. I'm going to totally re-do the legs from the ground up. But there is some stuff from the pattern I'm doing to use, namely the inseam. That's sort of done well on my pattern and I may as well preserve it. Recall that my plan is to have seams only on the inside of the legs.

As for the torso, the pattern is actually pretty good, though I will need to move the zipper to the back. I've already made the necessary modifications to the pattern to accommodate this. I will need to remove the seam from the front though, which is really just a matter of taping the two front halves of the pattern together. No brainer.

The overall plan is to create NEW patterns using my butcher paper roll that is sitting in my closet. I will use that pattern on all future suits.

Also of interest is that I ordered a panel of laser cut micro-S's today from MKEngraving. Though i already have this part covered by some stuff that RebelScum sent me, I want another option. I know the work that MKE does is really top notch, and they are very fast with the turnaround. I expect they will finish up my order within a week or so.

I am also still hoping to hear from my friend Thom about the Returns boots he was wearing at DC. They would make an excellent base, as they were a really good overall shape.

Laser Update

I am back from Dragon*Con, and more pumped than ever to finish this suit up. I saw some really great costumes this week, and it's totally gotten me re-energized and ready to go.

With that said, today I sent some more information and final details to one of my laser cutting resources on getting some leather engraved with the micro-s pattern. At this point, I'm really just covering my bases. I already have 2 options all squared away, but I think this last one might yield the most perfect results, so naturally I am pursuing it. Nothing much else to report for today.

Materials & Tests

Random Boot Work

Today I did some work on the patterns for the boots. Long story short, I now have it within my grasp to make wildly accurate boots, as far as the leather parts are concerned. The soles are still something in progress, but I'm feeling good about it.

The hard part for me so far has been wrapping my head around how the different panels of the boot fit together. There are three different types of leather involved in the boot. One has the micro-s pattern in it, the other has a female pyramid pattern (which is the inverse of the cape) and the other is just regular leather. My plan has always been to duplicate the micro-s and pyramid sections in urethane or latex, thus allowing me to reproduce the boots in a way that they will fit me, using techniques that I am familiar and comfortable with. Also, it would be cost prohibitive for me to generate roller dyes that could emboss the leather in the same way that it was done for the movie.

And as I am fond of saying, it will take a very knowledgeable observer to differentiate my boots from the screen used ones.

I am also on the final stretch of the micro-s pattern panels. Now that my boot pattern is coming together, I have very precise measurements, meaning I can change my drawing to suit my needs, and cut cost. My original drawing was about three times the size of what it is currently, seeing as how I did not know the exact dimensions of the boots. I've also found a few solid sources for the etching, and I'm pursuing that right now. Once I get the laser etched leather, it will be a simple matter of making a mold of it, pulling some "fabric" from it, then cutting out pieces based on my pattern.

The next step for me is really finding a good base boot. My original plan was to use my CABoots, but I am really not satisfied with the overall shape of the toe. It's very different than the SR boot, and I don't like it. I am going to buy a couple cheapie halloween boots with the hopes that one of them will have a more accurate shape. Most cost about 40 bucks each, so I can certainly afford a little trail and error. I beleive that the entire boot will be re-skinned with the stuff I'm making, so it's original color or material is not really a barrier. However, the overall shape is. I just want to do it right.

Again, going this route will also allow for a degree of flexibility and repeatability. And at a much lower cost. CABoots run about 250 to 300 bucks. Big difference.

I don't really have anything to show today, though once I get my boot pattern all squared away I will certainly show that off. I am also looking forward to posting pictures of my first mock up, which shouldn't be too far off, as all of the pieces are really coming together.

More Laser Etched Goodness

Our man Philip Wise over at Rebelscum sent me another sample of what his laser cutter can do, this time demonstrating his skill with etching.



Next step is to email Philip and ask for him to cut the full size sheet that I need in order to do the boot panel. Thanks Philip!

Supplies and Pigments Ordered

I placed an order from Micro-Mark today. Here's a link to their pigments page. I actually have no idea if this stuff will suit my needs, but I am willing to give it a try.

If you've been following along lately with my urethane tests, you will have noticed that I'm having trouble getting a good shade of red. I'm hoping that a different brand of pigments will be able to get me what I want.

ALSO, of interest, is an item on that page linked to above. There's some stuff sold by micro mark that is billed as a catalyst based TIRE making system. You can make your own tires! I am of course thinking that this might be a great solution for making the soles of the boots. I already have a product ear marked for this task, but I thought it might be worthwhile trying an alternative. Who knows, it might be perfect. And it seems to be formulated to take those pigments I purchased.

Since I'm on a roll, I also emailed the folks at this website, and asked them what I need to do to purchase a few ounces of some of their opaque pigments. I will let you know as soon as I hear back from them.

Leathers, Lasers, and Molds

I have a few tiny updates today, most of them boot related. But first, some cape stuff.

This is a test I did with my new brush on urethane. I applied it with a spatula, and it went on very thin, and did not pull back from the silicone. The color is all wrong, but I was more interested in testing the properties of the urethane than its coloring abilities.



My pal Philip Wise over at www.rebelscum.com did a couple of laser cut samples for me. The idea is that when properly sized, these will be used on the bottom soles of the boots. These are just samples, but came out very well.



RMS laser sent me another sample of the pattern I sent. This time they got it right, and cut four different depths for me. Or was it five. I guess this is an interesting lesson in the process, as it took me about 2 months to get this sample from them. Yikes. Hard to do things quickly on this project.



I used my Body Double from Smooth-On to make a quick mold of the leather.



And then brushed in some urethane. This will help me determine which depth setting is right for me.



One of the things I really like about the body double molding compound is that it cures in just a few minutes. I don't have to wait overnight to demold, and then run urethane. Good stuff.

I also wanted to share a little product that I have found to be very handy in this type of activity:



Though they are a bit more expensive than your typical plastic party cups, what is great about them is how shallow they are. With party cups, it can be a pain in the rear to mix the stuff up properly, especially when you are only dealing with tiny little amounts of the stuff.

HUGE Boot News!!!

But sadly, I cannot disclose much of it!

What I can say is that I am now in a position to make VERY accurate boots. I have some great reference material, some measurements, and a paper pattern taken from an amazing source. I am EXTREMELY excited about this, as this really resolves a whole ton of pending questions that I had about the boots. As of right now, I pretty much have it ALL figured out. All I really need to do now is just go through the motions of putting them together. All of the guesswork is totally gone.

The tough part is that I still have to scuplt the soles, but since 75% of it is not even seen, I'm not too stressed about it. I'm sure I will be able to pull it off pretty well

Boot Sole Details

I did a little bit of work today on the details that go on the underside of the boot today. Based on some new reference material I acquired, I figured it was finally time to get this rolling.

The interesting thing about the soles is that all of the S symbols on it are slightly different. It might be due to wear, the casting process, the angle of the photo, or a million other things. To simplify my life, I picked one that I thought looked the best, and used that as reference for my Adobe Illustrator drawing.

Here's a rendering of it:



This is actually a very "cleaned up" version of what is on the boot sole. I straightened a few lines, made a few things symmetrical, and made the outer border a consistent thickness. It turned out to be non-trivially different than the ones on the underside of the boot, but I prefer it the way it is here.

So I guess at this point, I'm veering from screen accuracy into the realm of "idealized" or "perfected", which is just fine by me. Besides, it's the bottom of the sole. Like anyone is ever going to see it.

Body Double Tests

With my order of laser etched leather just about to be placed, I wanted to do some final experimentation with Smooth-On's "Body Double" silicone. It's a brush on silicone that cures in just a few minutes, and based on ALL of my tests so far is just fantastic.

What I wanted to determine is the best application technique, in order to make sure I minimize bubbles and maximize detail retention.

To that end, I applied the stuff to my leather sample using three different techniques. I used a stipple technique on one sample, a "goop on" strategy with another (meaning that I applied it in heavy brush strokes), a thin brush strokes approach.



As of this writing, I have not yet peeled the tests up, so I cannot give you the results. However, based on previous tests I ran, it seems not to matter which application technique I use, as all of them seem to yield great results. Which is really fantastic, by the way. I will post the results when I have them.

Also, some VERY exciting news on the horizon, though I am loathe to post it until it is confirmed for sure. But it could literally be a "game changer" for this project, and will definitely eliminate a lot of guesswork in some upcoming efforts. I'm very excited, and hope to know more within a few days. Stay tuned!!

New Urethane Recommendation

I called the good folks at Smooth-On today and talked about the trouble I'm having with getting a thin layer of urethane to work in my 1630 mold. The helpful chap I spoke to recommended their "Brush On" line, which makes a whole ton of sense and I'm sorry I did not think of it myself, or sooner.

Here's a link: Brush On Series

I'm going to order a sample kit to play around with, and see what kind of results I can get.

Thought I would throw a little terminology out at you too. If something is low viscosity, that means it's more like water. If it's high viscosity, that means it's more like syrup.

I was told that the brush on urethane can be thinned with isopropyl alcohol, by the way.

Boot Pattern Test

This will be my last update for today, and should get me almost completely caught up on my blogging.

I am doing a test to see what the best way is to replicate the surface used on the boot. This test has me doing a thin layer of brushed on urethane using a rigid mold of 1630.

I start with the rigid mold, and spray some mold release on it. My previous research shows that the urethane reacts no differently if you brush it onto a treated surface or an untreated surface. The difference is that it comes off MUCH easier if you have the mold release sprayed down.



I then taped off a section. This was really just to help me peel the edges up when the time comes to remove it.



I mixed up a small batch of urethane and brushed it on. I had to keep chasing "lift off" points as I brushed. This continued for about ten minutes, until the stuff started to kick and it didn't pull back as much. Even then, after another ten minutes, a few spots developed. That was certainly not good news.



A day later, I mixed up another batch of urethane. This time I made it more opaque, but didn't bother getting the right shade of red. No big deal, it's just a test.



Interestingly, the two layers of urethane did not work well together. The second layer tended to pull back from the FIRST layer. I did not expect that at all. I expected the opposite: that they would work very smoothly together. Interesting stuff.

I will post a picture of the finished piece later.

Etched Leather Tests

This post actually covers a few days worth of stuff, but since it's kind of all part of the same story, I decided to consolidate it.

I received in the mail the laser etch samples from MK Engraving, and they are great. Katie sent me three different tests, showing the varying depths that their laser can etch.



The next thing to do was to test out my planned process. The goal is to have a big sheet of this etched, the mold it, then cast it, and use the castings to build up the boots. The reasons are many. First is that I am not good at dealing with leather. Second, having molds of the stuff will allow me to make as many copies of it as I want, without the expense of having leather etched each time I want to take a stab at it. Third, it will allow me to offer the materials to other enthusiasts who may want to build their own pair of boots.

I'm going to use a Smooth-On product called "Body Double" to make a mold of this leather. It's a two part, very rapid cure silicone product. I have never used it before, but I have heard very good things about it.



Here's a link to the Body Double product on the Smooth-on Website.

The Body Double mixes up very quickly, brushes on nicely. I'm not really sure what the work time is, though I hear it's pretty short. Just a few minutes. Here's the leather after I gobbed on some silicone. Accuracy wasn't really at stake here. All I really wanted was to be sure that the three little samples were covered.



I let it cure for about an hour, though I'm quite sure it was ready for de-mold after five or ten minutes. Here's the mold!



I then poured up a little batch of urethane, just as a test. It didn't really matter what the color was, and yes, this is too pink.



That's where things stand as of right now. The goal here is to have a urethane sample that will represent what the final product will look like. From there, I will choose which etching depth is right for the project, and place an order for a large sheet of the stuff.

Interesting Materials Tests/Thinking Outside The Bun

I have a couple of interesting things to write about tonight, both of which I am very happy with. First up, I have some results from my urethane test on the rigid pull of the cape mold. Here's a pic:



Long story short, it turned out really great. The opacity is very nice, and the thickness is good. It's probably a hair thicker than I would have preferred, but it's darn nice. This will be fabric backed for the final piece, and that will give it some much needed strenght. Disregard the color. I was shooting more for opacity than the proper color.

Bottom line, I am pleased with this, and I think this technique will work for the boots.

Second is something really interesting. I am sort of at a point with a few of these tests where I am really going "alternative" when it comes to my techniques. At the end of the day, what I am trying to do is find a way to quickly and easily get a good pull out of the cape mold. Silicone repels pretty much everything, which makes laying one up problematic. Ideally, I would have a stone mold, which would work wonderfully with latex. But I don't. I could make one, but it would be expensive and heavy. And hard to handle. Nobody likes that. So I have been scratching my head trying to come up with alternative ways to get this mold to work.

And I had a VERY crazy idea today. I sprayed some primer into the mold, then brushed latex on top of that!



A couple of things to note. The primer goes on VERY thin and very evenly, so I'm not too worried about losing detail. Even if I lose SOME of the crispness of the diamond pattern, it will be so minimal that I will be comfortable with it, especially if it makes the entire process work.

The latex brushed on VERY smoothly, and did not pull up at all! It also went on VERY thin, and was pretty opaque. I think there's a chance that with two coats, I will be good to go. I didn't use any KILZ on this blend either.

The real trick will be discovering how easy or difficult it is to get the paint off the latex once I pull it up. My fondest wish is that a quick dip in some warm water will make it just flake off, but we shall see. IF that is the case, I think I pretty much have a slam dunk technique for pouring up a cape. It'll be a little stinky, but it will be VERY easy, won't take much latex, and should go quickly.

A BIG OLD fingers crossed on this one.

Urethane and Silicone

I sent an email to my pal ResinMonkey today in search of a urethane that will not pull away from silicone. My experimentation lately has yielded some really good results, but not quite perfect. I'd like to see if there's a way to pull this off flawlessly. RM had a couple suggestions.

"Have you tried bjb F32 or 42?"

I'm going to!

Lasers & Leather

I have received emails from two more laser etching houses today, and have followed up with both of them. Looks like they require some material to cut on, so I am thinking I will go and find some.

I did a search for a local Tandy retailer, and it turns out there is one just a few blocks away. I think my plan will be to wait for the first company to send out the samples, and see how they are. If they are perfect, I will simply order from them. However, it might be worth getting some samples cut from these other places, just to see how they compare. I suppose I could hit the tandy store and see how much it's going to cost me to get some scrap. If it's just a few bucks, I may as well just go for it.

http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/

Laser Etched Samples

My new best friends over at M&K Engraving emailed me pictures of the laser etching tests they ran for me yesterday.

First they needed to confirm what I wanted the output to look like, so they ran a test of my design, and of it inverted.



And then they ran a few different tests at different etch depths.



They are mailing these samples out to me asap, so I should have them on hand for visual inspection before the week is out. Assuming one of the depths is right for my needs, and I don't need to modify the drawings in order to get it to output right, I may very well be able to bring this part to a close VERY quickly.

Huge thanks to M&K Engraving for not only being REALLY thorough, but also responding to all of my emails really quickly, and turning around my samples within one day. Now THAT is customer service, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm going to add M&K to my list of project links.

Materials Tests on the 1630

Tonight I mixed up a small batch of urethane to do some tests on my new rigid mold.

One part I treated with mold release, one part I treated with baby powder, and another part is left untreated.



I had some leftovers, so I also did some tests on the cape mold. I added some mineral spirits to the urethane to thin it out, just to see if that would have any effect.



Though not fully cured as of this writing, ALL Of the urethane samples ended up "pulling back" from the materials. Be it 1630 or silicone. This is not good news. BUT what is good news is that regular latex rubber worked AMAZINGLY well on the 1630. Flawless. Makes me think that the way to go is to pull a rigid mold of the cape. That will be a lot of work, and a bunch of expense, BUT it will significantly speed up the process of making a cape, and will make for better results that are less error prone. There's good motivation to make a rigid master, though it will LITERALLY cost me a few hundred bucks in materials. And also be entirely unweildy. We shall see.

But based on my experiments, I am thinking that I may do the boots in Latex instead of urethane as I had original suggested. I wonder how stone would work?