#Sons of the Star

[awwyeah107]

How It (Was) Made: Star Jacket

So, some of y’all have seen the star coat I gave @thegreenleavesofspring for Christmas. I wanted to make a post to show the process of painting the star on the back, because I was excited about & really enjoyed doing it, I haven’t gotten to share the process of making it with anyone yet (and wanted to!), and I thought this post might be helpful for anyone else looking to do a similar project.

If you’ve read the Sons of the Star series and/or the spin-off Annaáuchiwee, you probably know that the Ways, along with anyone under their protection, each have a leather jacket with an eight-point star on the back: their family symbol. So, my idea was to give Bri her own jacket with the star :)

Now, I hadn't done anything like this before. I’ve painted before, but not frequently or on fabric, let alone any kind of leather. However, I was confident I could do it with a bit of planning and research. It came down to the following steps: 1) acquire jacket 2) acquire other necessary materials (paint, finisher, etc.) 3) figure out what size to make the star 4) prep, paint, and finish the jacket.

Actually, let me back up a little: the real step 1, or pre-step 1, was surreptitiously finding out as much information about the jackets from Bri as possible. Fortunately, this was largely achieved by simply sending her an ask about the Ways' jackets. Quite easy and not suspicious at all XD It served a double purpose: learn more Sons of the Star lore *and* learn what I’d need to do for the jacket.

Step 1: Acquire jacket. This step involved a lot of online window shopping, lol. I am SO glad I had this idea right before Thanksgiving week, which meant there were lots of Black Friday sales on jackets. I had been hoping to find a genuine leather jacket, but a) even with sales they were all really expensive, and b) there was a plethora of faux leather jackets that were more within my price range. I decided, alright, faux leather it is. After ordering one in hopes of proper sizing and discovering it was way too big, I went to a few stores and found one that seemed appropriate: cool but not too stylish (the Ways are pretty badass but don't attempt to be the trendiest, flashiest guys on the block XD), slightly rugged, and comfortable.

Step 2: Acquire other materials. As I said earlier, I don’t paint much, and I’ve never painted leather before. So, I did a bunch of research on painting leather jackets (specifically faux leather jackets) to make sure I knew the best types of paint and what to do, at least in theory. I learned that Angelus brand paint is highly recommended for painting leather (whether real or faux), and I found I would also need to prep the leather (which means to rub off the manufactured finish from the leather, so that paint will stick better) with acetone before painting and then finish it (which means to apply a transparent finisher that seals the leather for durability and protection) once I was done painting. So I got 100% acetone nail polish remover, Angelus white leather paint, and Angelus standard gloss finisher. I also discovered my craft store had some small packs of leather scraps, so I decided to get a pack in order to test out prepping and painting before doing so on the actual jacket.

Here is the plain jacket (though with cutout stars resting on the back; I realized later that I didn’t end up getting a photo of it all by itself, lol) along with lots of materials on my bedroom floor, on top of a plastic tablecloth I use for potentially messy art projects.

(Okay, yes, this was slightly staged. The papers were covering up most of the other stuff, and for the photo I wanted all the materials to be visible, so I rearranged a little XD)

Step 3: Figure out proper sizing for the star. There was absolutely no way that I was going to risk painting the star on the back of the jacket freeform. I know from simply drawing stars on paper that I cannot for the life of me get proportions of the points right on my own. I figured that the best way to get a nice-looking star on the back would be to make and use a stencil. Thankfully when Bri answered the ask I sent her, she said that the design for the star is the one she put in her moodboard for Max, so I just had to figure out the best size for it on the back of the jacket. (To print it, I inverted the color so I didn’t have to print out a whole pageful of black ink; only the star was black, lol.) I printed and cut out multiple stars (as you can see in the photo) to figure out good sizing for the back of the jacket. I wanted the star to be big, because it is big! The star is supposed to stand out so that people—specifically, Wolfriders or other opposing gang members—can see it. I ended up printing the star slightly too big (intentionally) on a piece of 8x11 paper, tracing it onto a large piece of stock paper, and then cutting out the star from it so I would have a stencil.

Step 4: Prep, paint, and finish! I knew I would need to attach the stencil to the jacket to keep it from sliding around, so I used some bag clips to clip it on and pull any loose material back. I also used some tape to stick the stencil down (which wasn't terribly successful; it didn't stick well to the faux leather). As mentioned earlier, the first thing I needed to do was prep the leather. I didn't really like that I had to do that because when I prepped part of a leather scrap, I saw that it radically changed the color of the leather, and I was terrified I'd get the acetone on too much of the jacket. However, I did have the stencil, so I simply applied the acetone as carefully as possible to not go outside the lines. Here's a photo of the prepped section of the jacket with the stencil clipped on:

Then, once I had prepped the leather, it was time for the most exciting part: painting! I listened to the Sons of the Star playlist while painting, as well as a few songs I associate with Annaáuchiwee. It was so enjoyable, and I was so excited to see how it would turn out. After painting the first layer using the stencil and letting it dry, I pulled off the stencil. All 3 photos below are of the first layer of paint on the jacket.

Something to know about me is that I am all about being as precise and neat as possible with art projects; I will use rulers to make sure I have straight lines and that everything is even. So naturally, when I pulled off the stencil and saw bit of roughness around the edges of the star, I was like "noooo, I was trying to avoid that!!" Then I realized that a) it really doesn't look bad from even fairly close-up and b) the slightly imperfect/scuffed lines actually fit the rugged style of the jacket more than if they were perfectly straight. I also found that once the paint was dry, I could scratch off tiny bits as needed, and that helped too. So, I ended up being pretty dang pleased with it, even with the slight roughness around the edges. I recalled from other art projects I’ve done that the first time doing a new type of art (or new anything, really) is usually not the smoothest, and I hadn’t had the chance to practice fully before this, so all things considered, I was doing fairly well.

After I took the stencil off, I simply painted over what I had already done. I think I ended up doing 6 or maybe 7 layers of paint in total, letting the jacket dry in between each layer. Close-up of the star, one layer of paint and finisher away from completion:

(This was about how close I was to the star while painting it, lol.)

Around the 5th layer, the main brush I'd been using to paint started shedding its fibers, and I panicked a bit about fibers getting stuck in the paint. Fortunately, I had a few different brushes (I'd gotten some for another painting project a while back), so I was able to use another smaller one to do the last layer or two. Then, I put finisher on; when I had been looking at finishers, there were a few different Angelus ones to pick from. I had chosen the standard type, which is glossy (but not super glossy), because I wanted the star to shine :) The finisher isn't just for the look, though; it sealed the star for protection, so the paint won't wear off (at least not easily or for a long time).

Here is the finished jacket, star shiny and complete:

I was quite happy with how it came out! The star is bright and easily visible against the black jacket, and I think I made the star a good size.

Here's a photo I found online of a model wearing the jacket as sold in the store, and then a photo of the finished, painted jacket hung on my closet door:

I definitely think it looks cooler with the star :)

(Also, when I had been looking for a good jacket at the start of this whole thing, I discovered a faux leather that I liked for myself, and since it was on sale, decided to get it with the possibility of returning it if needed. I’ve pretty much decided to keep it; the return-by date has quite possibly passed by now anyway, lol.

If/when I end up painting the eight-point star on the back of the jacket I got for myself, I have two things to try/do differently:

Use tape to outline the star on the jacket—if it will stick—instead of a stencil. This should provide very neat lines without the risk of the stencil moving at all.

Paint the jacket on a table instead of on the floor, so that I don't have to shift positions every couple of minutes to be more comfortable XD)

Anyway, I was so happy that I succeeded in making a star jacket, and that Bri has it now! It was so fun to figure out and then execute each step of the process, and I'm really glad I did it :D

[thegreenleavesofspring]

Waaaaay far ahead but I love this line so much and it's not spoilery. XD

"What's a girl?" Silver wonders.

"Your dad knew what a girl was by your age," Birdie calls over, and Ken nails his brother in the head with a drink can.

[fandomsandfairytales]

Happy Birthday, Max Way! 🥳

The cookie was delicious, albeit more sugary than I remembered that type of cookie being. 😂

@thegreenleavesofspring look, I celebrated Max's birthday! I was going to draw a motorcycle on the card but there wasn't a lot of space and it would've been fairly complicated. I really liked including the star, though.

[muse-write]

Hmm…is Eliot Spencer more similar to Riser Way or Max Way? I’m leaning toward Max, but I can see an argument for Riser. @thegreenleavesofspring, thoughts?

[thegreenleavesofspring]

Hello! It's Talk Shop Tuesday :) For today's ask about the Ways, it's fall-holiday-centric. Did they ever do Halloween (dress up, go trick-or-treating, give out candy)? Did they decorate the house for fall, go to a corn maze, do any fall activities? Did they offer to rake neighbors' yards for money? How did they celebrate Thanksgiving, and did they have any traditions for it? Did they ever see Ethan's family for Thanksgiving? I would love to hear any and all things about the Ways and fall.

There is no happy answer to this, really. Growing up, I don't think there was money - or time - for costumes, or even much inclination (they all grew up much too quickly.) Nor would there be money for candy to give out, so I think the porch light would have stayed off on Halloween night.

Decorations, festivals, and mazes would have been right out. They probably offered to rake yards one or two years, but mostly by the time they were big enough they would have been known to be delinquents.

They were not on good enough terms with their extended family for, um, family holidays (it would be a Finwëan-level fight.) Probably once they were adults they'd all gather at Nell's house for turkey and fixings, though!

[fandomsandfairytales]

It's rare that I ever make a post that intentionally includes swearing...but the language is part of what makes this post iconic. XD

Happy birthday Max!

@thegreenleavesofspring

[thegreenleavesofspring]

I am so glad it's Talk Shop Tuesday because you gave me a great question to ask based on your mention of the patches on the leather jackets (in your response reblog to my reblog of the Chris LeDoux song): What patches, if any, do the Ways have on their jackets? They have the star on the back, and that's just part of the jacket, but how do they customize them if at all?

(I'm also curious to know why the patches in the video gave you an emotional response, if you want to share.)

(I'd also still ask the question even if it *wasn't* Talk Shop Tuesday but it's very fun that this question happened to come up on a Tuesday)

The co-author does not know enough about motorcycle patches to answer this question. 😶😶

The patches in the video - the first one is In Memory of Big Red. He died in his mid thirties; I'd have to look up the date of the Vietnam War but I'd hazard a guess it coincides with the second date on that patch. (Big Red happens to be one of Max's nicknames too; Big Max, etc. So not only is it a memorial patch, it brings to mind my own character who - quite plausibly - could easily die in his mid-thirties.)

The second patch is a POW/MIA patch. Now, when I was a teenager, we attended political meetings several times a month at the local VFW post. I heard the veterans' stories, I saw the empty table in the corner with the guns and the boots and the uniforms and the poppy. I sort of grew up looking at that. I don't, obviously, fully know what it means. But also I kind of do, as far as someone who has never been in that situation can.

I've been thinking more about what it is that makes that song so very Way to me, and - it's the honor that underlies a very true desire to make trouble for the heck of it. They wanted to pick a fight because they wanted a fight. But when their honor was confronted, they didn't push it. They took the honorable course. (But there was still the desire for a fight.)

Thank you for the ask!

[fandomsandfairytales]

@thegreenleavesofspring I could totally see Russ and Red making friends with other pairs of twins just for this purpose.

If you had an identical twin that you get along with, you could probably have a lot of fun by getting to know other sets of identical twins and then pulling pranks with them.

Like seeing two people who look exactly the same close proximity to each other? Yeah that's totally twins. But imagine being in an art gallery where there's a group of five people on the 1st floor, and you go up the stairs and ???? the exact same group of five people is also there?? And you didn't see them pass you at the stairs?

[ylceon]

even the longest of dreams end eventually

[fandomsandfairytales]

Happy belated birthday to the twin terrors, Red & Russ Way! I'm sure they had a lot of fun and shenanigans. XD (I did think of them on their actual birthday, November 11th, but it was when I was driving and then by the time I got home things were busy and I forgot.)

@thegreenleavesofspring

[kittyoperas]

did he call you brother? did it once ring true?

[fandomsandfairytales]

#Riser Way #Max Way #All the Wayboys really #SotS-adjacent

SO SO REAL AND TRUE

Shoutout to characters that are both genuinely deeply kind and also genuinely terrifying and willing to spill buckets worth of blood to get something done. And neither of these are an act, they're just both very true.

[andyoullhearitagain]

I'm fine.

[tenshiangle]

IT’S CONFIRMED! NICOOOOOOOO

[star-trekster]

People joke about DS9 A and B plots but this cut was bonkers

[fandomsandfairytales]

#WAYCORE WAYCORE #SotS-adjacent #This is SOOOO the Ways

YES IT IS

there really are few emotions i find more compelling in a story than "you should be afraid of me. please don't be afraid of me"