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ARM WRAPS - Your forearms will be revealed if you don't wrap them with some bandages, especially when you are raising your gaffi stick up over your head in victory over whiney young moisture farmers. Take an old long-sleeve t-shirt and cut the sleeves off at the shoulder so you are left with a long tube. Slide the sleeve onto a mannequin arm or stuff a rolled up towel inside to simulate the fullness of an actual arm inside the sleeve. Next, you can wrap strips of bandages around the sleeve and secure in place as you go with Goop or E-6000 adhesive. These glues are somewhat flexible like rubber when dry so you shouldn't have too much trouble moving. If you do, you probably used too much glue! You can also use an old long sock instead of the t-shirt sleeve as the elastic will hold the arm wraps in place. Put on your gloves first, then slide the arm wrap/sleeve up over them to make sure your wrists aren't showing. BANDOLIERS - There were a couple of different ammo pouches used by Sandpeople. In ANH, the most visible ones were the British Pattern 1903 bandoliers. They were worn in sets crossing the chest and also seen on Jawas. You can get a reproduction here or search Ebay. The prequel Tuskens also wore Swedish ammo belts like this one. There is also this unidentified ammo belt which appears to be canvas. And this Martini Henry bandoleer which has recognizable loops for individual bullets—like something from an old western film (thanks to kurtyboy from the RPF for the discovery!). You can get a replica of this one here...Jawas wear them too. There's at least one other belt that has yet to be identified. BOOTS - I bought some rubber workboots at Wal-Mart (about $18 US) and wrapped them in muslin bandages secured by Goop or E-6000 adhesive. It took about 3 tubes of adhesive but I was fairly liberal with it. I wrapped the bandages all the way around the boots including the sole. Shoe Goo was then applied to the sole to give it a non-slip surface. The prequel boots use some sort of gauze material and look like this. GLOVES - While I'm not totally convinced that plain canvas gardening gloves were used in Episode IV, that's what was used on the Magic of Myth tour Tusken Raider mannequin. I found it surprisingly difficult to find plain gloves without any kind of logo printed on them or a colored elastic cuff. Finally, I ran across these Handy Hands gloves by Wells Lamont at a welding supply shop for under $2. If you can't find them locally, try here or here. (Note: These work well for Snowtrooper costumes too!) I dyed the gloves by soaking them in some hot water for about 30 minutes with 3 tea bags, then weathered them a bit with some stains from concentrated coffee. The prequel Tuskens seem to be wearing leather gloves similar to these. INNER ROBES - While only Episode IV Tuskens are seen with outer robes, all Sandpeople have an inner robe. You may want to use the 1997 12" Collector Series Tusken Raider figure robes as a pattern for your robe. Here's how Studio Creations did theirs. Monk's cloth is supposedly a good material to work with that looks and feels primitive enough for a Tusken. LEG WRAPS - If your boots aren't tall enough, your legs will be revealed if you don't wrap them with some bandages. Usually a pair of brown or tan pants will suffice, but you could also try a velcro-closure so you don't have to re-wrap every time you suit up. Your inner robe should be long enough to hang down to cover most of your legs. OUTER ROBES - If you choose to make an outer robe (which may be helpful if you are out in colder weather), you may want to use a Ralph Lauren Estate Blanket for the outer robe. It appears to have a pattern that very closely matches the original material. However, not all robes are the same, as seen in this picture---there are at least two distinct textures. RESPIRATOR - No one's really explained what this part is, but it hangs around the neck of the Episode IV Sandpeople and is curiously absent from the prequel Tuskens. Studio Creations has a good tutorial for making this accessory. I noticed that the Magic of Myth tour respirator is different than the one pictured in the Star Wars Chronicles book. The Magic of Myth (MOM) version appears to consist of a single molded piece where I've used a tomato can and caps from WD-40 cans. I also used a brass tube instead of a solid rod and had no problems with crimping. Here's roughly how mine went together: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. Jeff also offers a nice wooden MOM-style respirator handmade on a lathe. SASH - Most Sandpeople wore a sash to tie off their inner robes. Here is the Episode IV sash. In the prequels, they wore a sash in addition to ammo pouches. I tea-dyed a wide strip of torn muslin, creased it, and let air dry so it would hold the wrinkles. Simply tie in the back with each use. The back of the Magic of Myth Tusken's belt appears to be a bit more complex using eyelets and a rope. SCARF - The prequel Sandpeople wore a scarf around their neck instead of a respirator like in Episode IV. This looks like some kind of gauze material. Possibly muslin. STORAGE TOTE - You won't need a giant bin with wheels like you do for the Stormtrooper armor. Everything except your gaffi stick and/or rifle should fit nicely into a smaller 18 gallon storage bin you can find at any Wal-Mart or K-mart. WEAPONRY
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