The Eternal Darkness - Grave Tusken - The Creation Of The Pauldrons

The creation of the pauldrons

I started making this costume long ago when I was still a teenager, but most of what I made back then including the faux leather pauldrons were replaced now that I have become more skilled in costume making. For my new and updated pauldrons, I was fortunate enough to find a cheap tan leather jacket that had just the right color for the pauldrons.

Before cutting any leather, the main pauldron was first made out of paper to get the shape right.

My new and improved pauldrons are far better than what I had made before, and I am very pleased with them. I even got to use materials from my old pauldrons for the creation of the new ones, something that I like to do whenever I can so that nothing goes to waste. Feel free to use any ideas from this tutorial, and good luck making your own Grave Tusken pauldrons.

Project details

Project duration - 6 days.

Costs spent - $21 USD.

Accidents - My floor got sticky from all the spray glue.

Thanks to

The man who didn't want to keep his leather jacket anymore.

The store that re-sold the leather jacket.

Biltema for making the spray glue.

Whoever made the foam mats.

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The back of the pauldron was also made out of paper.

The tan leather jacket that I bought had many large sections of leather and a very good color for this costume.

After the jacket had been cut apart, the shape of the paper templates were traced onto the leather.

Since the back of the main pauldron is very large, it had to be made out of several pieces.

The sides of the back piece were extended with more leather to give the back piece the right shape.

The front and back pieces were sewn together on the inside.

A hem line was sewn around the edge of the entire pauldron.

After the hemming was done, it started looking more like a Grave Tusken pauldron.

The game model from the Jedi Knight video game featured an unhemmed piece of leather underneath the back pauldron that appeared as if it was simply a last second modification done by the Grave Tusken itself, so mine was made to look the same.

Even though the piece is meant to be roughly sewn onto the pauldron with a thick leather line, it was sewn on first with a sewing machine at the hem to hide the fact that it had been sewn on this way.

The waist sash of the flak vest was made with Velcro on the back that would hold the bottom of the back pauldron in place, so three strips of Velcro were added to the pauldron to hold onto the flak vest.

Here you can see the back of the pauldron held in place by the Velcro on the flak vest.

A shiny piece of aluminum was shaped into a part that was featured on the Grave Tuskens.

Two holes were made for holding the part in place, then it was secured to the pauldron with hot glue.

The collar of the pauldron was also temporarily made out of paper to get the shape right.

To get the collar thick enough to stand up on its own, two pieces of leather were sewn together, also to give the inside the same leathery look.

A hem line was made around the top of the collar that also stiffened it up more.

The inner piece of the collar was sewn onto the opening of the pauldron first.

With the inner piece of the collar secured into place, it was easier to get the collar to the right angle before sewing the outer piece in place.

The shoulder pauldrons were made out of two thick foam mats and several foam strips to give them the right raised edges on the surface.

The foam mats were first cut where the raised edges are meant to be, then the foam strips were glued onto each raised section while the front of each section were cut away in an angle.

Five leather strips were glued onto each raised section with spray glue.

After all the sections had been covered, a leather strip was sewn onto the edge and turned inside out to make it seamless.

To give the shoulder pauldrons the right curve, two metal plates were cut to the same shape, only smaller.

Two holes were made through the metal plates for snap buttons that will hold the shoulder pauldrons in place.

Spray glue was applied to the top of the metal plates and on the inside of the pauldrons to glue them both together.

The texture files of the Grave Tusken game model are very small and hard to make out, but since there were a few grey pixels at the end of each shoulder pauldron, I thought that I could just add some metal parts to make it look about the same.

The old faux leather pauldrons that I had made many years ago actually came to use again as the lining of the new shoulder pauldrons.

Two holes were made for the snap buttons, then the lining was secured into place with spray glue.

After the glue had hardened, all the excess lining was removed.

This is what the shoulder pauldrons and some of my other stuff looks like.

The belts and buckles that I bought long ago for the first pauldrons could also be used for my new pauldrons.

Strangely enough the game model also had two belts that were thicker and lighter in color than the other third belt at the bottom.

Slots were made through the pauldron where the belts were drawn through and sewn on.

Here you can see the belts and buckles holding the main pauldron together.

To make the grey back pouch for the main pauldron, several pieces of tan leather were sewn together and dyed grey by brushing on white shoe polish.

Velcro and two strips of tan leather were sewn onto the top lid of the back pouch.

The top front of the leather straps were sewn onto the bottom of the pauldron to make the pouch hang the way like it does on the game model.