Building Boba: Weathering The Boots

Boba Fett doesn’t have brand new shoes. He’s been around the galaxy, walking in all kinds of dirt. So my boots had to be made to look dirty.

Here’s a video of how I did it (in Norwegian, with English subtitles).

The tools and materials I used:

  • Sandpaper, 120 grit
  • Airbrush
  • Paintbrush, flat shader size 10
  • Acrylic paint:
    • Black
    • Titanium White
    • Grey Deep
    • Yellow Ochre
    • Burnt Umber
  • Masking tape
  • Nails, four 3×30 mm steel

I’m pretty happy with how the boots turned out in the end. Especially the soles. But I got to admit – the first coat did not look good. Luckily I managed to blend the second coat better and hide my crimes.

For a better result I would recommend a wet-on-wet technique. Dampen the shoes before painting them.

I finally mounted the toe spikes. There’s no consensus on what they used to fasten the spike plate back in the day. I’ve seen slotted screws, phillips screws, nails and rivets used, even in costumes from Lucasfilm themself.

After some deliberation I went with nails. I can always change them out for screws later if necessary.

I then painted the spikes black and brown, let it set for a minute and then whiped it off again. This worked perfectly.