KodiakAK

You have to make costumes, troop, help other's make costumes, troop, post, give advice, troop, post, give good advice, troop, post, get noticed for being helpful, troop, post, make some more costumes, troop, post, get noticed for giving proper advice, post, troop, love doing extra work for no pay, post, troop, post some more, troop, have an eye for detail, learn to interpret the CRL's, troop and Post some more.
 
Nothing to it.

In Alaska unless it is a official formal event, we allow sunglasses at outdoor events. It gets especially bright here and since the non-bucketed (without built in tinted eye pro) are the face of the Star Wars community here, it helps to not be squinting or grimacing from the light and focus rather on the interaction. We focus on the professional appearance, so we would request someone with Kanye West slit style or Elton John (typically fantastically fun/large), to put on a different style. But as others have mentioned it's Garrison dependent and always check to make sure what you have is acceptable.


Thanks!
KodiakAK (Brian "Kodiak" Peterson)

"If once you start down the droid path, forever it will dominate your destiny, consume you it will..."

This may be over a lot of people's heads, but I think, given military experience, rank is rank, then cylinders are comparable to skill level/function badge/rate/then calculating LFL F-ups. Piett quickly gained all three of Ozzell's cylinders because he was taking OZELL's exact place precisely. He might have needed them for whatever responsibilities Ozzel kept. He promptly went back to his original Capt display in ROTJ (commonly accepted as a F-up of LFL, given he was still Admiral in the script). Also, Veers  didn't need his single code cylinder wearing his battle armor, yet clearly wore ONE, in his garrison/on-board uniform. Cheers. 

No vendor is officially "endorsed".  A number of vendors, including Anovos, Clothears, Magnoli, CosplaySky, Pilot Bay, and others, make uniforms that CAN be approved IF they fit the end user correctly, and all the other pieces are also correct and in place.

Hi Jennifer,
Thank you for submitting a request for Imperator Award.
I have reviewed your costume against the L3 requirement.
At this moment, there is one thing that I would like to see changed. Although you do have the buckle at the top of the boots, the triangular adjustment part towards the rear is not present.
This picture from the CRL shows the strap.
http://databank.501st.com/mw501/images/c/c3/Imperial_Crew_Boots.jpg
Everything else meets the standard.
Your cobbler did a good job on fixing your boots and I'm sure they can replicate the above image without too much trouble.
If you need any further information, please let me know.

-Tristan

Looking good. Good luck


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Request acknowledged!

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

Nice!  Good Luck!

Armoured is Armoured no matter the rank the clue is also in the Cavalry part as most are seen in conjunction with AT-AT's

Jennifer Wallace
IC-84864
HornsAK
Aurora Borealis Alaskan Outpost
 
Flight Suit: Wampa Wear
Vinyl Imperial Cogs: Wampa Wear 
Belt and Buckle: Brian Pfau (TK 17472)
Hat: Gina Canady
Code Disk: tkelvis
Boots: sovietboots.com
Code Cylinders: PhiloProps (etsy)



 

Hey Brian I received the belt on Monday and it is beautiful! The leather is spectacular looking. Thanks again for making it right. I will post a pic on my build thread soon. 

This thread is a perfect example of a Vendor that stands behind their work and ensures that a customer is happy with their product. My hat's off to you, Brian!

You bet man! Hopefully we can troop together in the future.

Scott and Lance, I have your replacement belts packaged up and the shipping label applied. I will drop them off first thing in the morning. I'm confident that you will be happy with the replacement leather.
 

Hey guys, I apologize for the latest round of belts that seemed to have some texture to them. I am absolutely willing to replace any belt that someone received that may have excessive texture on it with a smooth more stiff version, and more Imperial in my opinion. I'm making sure in the future to double check my orders before cutting them into strips. Again, I'm going back to my old version of leather which is stiffer, but smooth as a babies bottom.
 
My apologies, it's not my intent to rip anyone off, but to supply a high quality product to fellow troopers. This leather side just slipped through the cracks. I'll do everything in my power to make any mistake that I've made right.
 
Long Live the Empire!!!
 
Brian
TK-17472

I agree with this. Brian's are the best quality and I've received two from him with over a year difference and they look nearly identical. I'm sure it was just an unfortunate fluke. He has always stood behind his work so I'm glad to see that is holding true with sending a replacement belt.


Thanks!
KodiakAK (Brian "Kodiak" Peterson)

"If once you start down the droid path, forever it will dominate your destiny, consume you it will..."

Remember you also need room to get your flight suit Into the boots

2.5 inches is a lot to stretch. If they're really good leather maybe they'll stretch that much, but you're taking a risk IMO. I have massive calves and I went with these, they're good through L2: http://www.ebay.com/itm/261816259722?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=560757080346&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

That's Brian's Etsy shop.  He has a sales thread here on IOC as well. (you may recognize the photo as well)
 
I'm surprised he would send a belt out the door like that, but quite I'm sure he'll make it right.  His belt are normally of very high quality.  I probably would have bought one from him as well, when I was buying mine, had I not needed to order a rank badge at the same time.

It is a civilian copy as i wanted something darker green to get closer to the IOC shade

Had a bit of time on my hands so decided to make myself a Jacket 
 

Looking at those if anything it will be basic or possible L2 

Rather than going to a "typical" tailor who mostly does minor alterations, hems pants, etc., I would see if you can find someone who actually specializes in making suits from scratch.  (and also does alterations and such)  They'll be more familiar with construction intricacies, I would imagine.  There is a thread in here somewhere (I'll look for it in a moment) specifically about altering officer uniforms for the female figure.  It may be helpful to your tailor print out that thread and give it to them, along with a printout of the CRL which discusses the requirements.  And lastly, consider printing out some of the photos on the CosplaySky listing.  Their tunic photos actually do a pretty good job of calling out some of the specific seams they have included and specs they have included to conform with the CRL requirements.  Armed with all of that info, the tailor should be able to do a good job of staying within the requirements.
 
OTOH, if they take one look and decide they don't want to bother, that's a good indication that you probably didn't want to work with them anyway!
 
 
 

Yes, I'd agree they run true to size.  BUT if you intend to wear insoles or especially thick socks, consider going up a size.
 
What's definitely NOT true is that "they run large" as the website claims.  If you buy smaller than your regular size, based on that, you're assured to have boots that are too small and destroy your feet.
 
As for the calf, my calves are 41.5cm (16.5") and while I could get the boots on, they were VERY uncomfortably to wear for more than a couple of minutes, and that was without pants tucked into the boots.  My cobbler stretched the shafts a bit and now they fit beautifully.  I didn't measure before (or after), but your cobbler should be able to handle it just fine, if you're in the ballpark of my calves, size-wise.  Much bigger and you'll want to look at the custom option.

In my experience with Hessen riding boots, they run foot wise they are true to size. Calves seemed 1/4"-1/2" smaller.

But let me caveat my comment. I own a pair of pointy toed cowboy boots that are a close equivalent to what these boots feel like in the foot. They are designed for someone controlling a horse with their feet, they are not supposed to have sliding room for your foot to move about. Because the toe is pointed and not rounded like a jack boot, your toes are going to be pushed together and many people think this means they are too small. That is incorrect, it's the style, just like what women deal with many styles of high heels. Same concept.

Hessen boots are Italian leather. So leather stretches and shrinks. The more you wear it they stretch naturally in their own, and conversely if you don't often they will contract. It is recommended to have a boot stretcher to keep the leather used to your shape or close to it. I've seen people use the real tool, newspaper, rolled up magazines, the air bubble packs (found in amazon orders), etc. personally I don't use anything like that. I heat up my boots that I have not worn for a while when I go to polish them. You can use a hair dryer but a paint peeler does wonders quickly. Notice I said while polishing them! Doing this without additional polish such as kiwi will lead to the leather drying out which leads to cracking. But after I polish them I put them on and squat in them and wear them around for up to an hour. At that point they loosen back up to me comfortably.

Some last thoughts on these boots. If you have wide feet or narrow feet you need to take this into account. These boots do not. They were made for a standard (regular) sized foot. If you have wides go up a size, narrow same size or down a size. I also could not wear insoles in my boots, not that much room for the aforementioned reasons. But a good set of calf length wool cushion socks will keep your feet feeling fantastic. A cobbler can do wonders with the leather, but you have to be patient and understand the leather can only be stretched so far, before it will fail.

Worst case, go to a store that has pointy toed cowboy boots and try on a few styles. See what size works best for your foot. Then use that knowledge when ordering from Hessen Antiques. Just keep an eye on those calf sizes. At most a Cobbler can increase a calf 1" in the mid to upper shaft area.

Bottom line I LOVE my Hessen boots and would not get rid of them ever!


Thanks!
KodiakAK (Brian "Kodiak" Peterson)

"If once you start down the droid path, forever it will dominate your destiny, consume you it will..."