Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1277606
Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) MS: This episode gave us a real chance to show what the Star Wars universe does best—world-building. From the start, we knew that the Krill farmers on the planet of Sorgan lived in a simple, "off the grid" utopian society in balance with nature. Because they farmed aquatic creatures using handmade bas- kets, I knew I wanted to use some of these same basket-weav- ing techniques in their hair styles. We created more than 40 hairpieces that could be attached to each background artist and easily integrated into their hair. Wendy is a knitter, and she was able to source some beautiful hand-spun yarn in colors that matched the costumes, so we added lots of it to the braided pieces. As time went on prepping this episode, the braids we made got more and more complex. I think I may have done a 20-strand braid at one point, but we made sure that on the day, they were simple to apply for the many additional hair stylists that we brought in to help us in the rain and muck for many days filming this episode. Episode 5: Peli Motto AD: I was very excited to meet Amy Sedaris and have been a fan of hers for many years. Wendy came up with such a great wig for Amy's character Peli Motto. Because Amy is such a master at adapting her facial expressions to match the character, I thought my job would be pretty straight- forward. But then she mentions doing it with no eyebrows. I thought the idea was cool, and I was up for the challenge. First, I would lay down her eyebrows with matching Pax colors to block out her natural brows. I applied some Got Flesh Prosthetics eyebrow covers and airbrushed them with Skin Illustrator colors. MS: When we heard Amy Sedaris was on board, we knew she would definitely be up for a unique character look. We sent her an email with a few concepts and pitched her the idea of a space mullet, to which of course she said yes, so Wendy took the reins. Wendy Southard: Peli Motto's space mullet came from the idea that as the lone human on a remote spaceport with only droids for company, she would have a utilitarian hair style Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) suited to her line of work and personality. To achieve the hair style, I used a drab-toned men's lace wig permed on gray-and-white rods using a skip weave technique to create a naturally curly look. Once it air-dried, I lightly went over the curls with a curling iron. Fennec Shand BS: I was thrilled to hear that Ming-Na Wen was on board to play Fennec Shand for the episode. Of course, we all know her as Mulan or Melinda May from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but for us, she would be our Fennec, the hardened assassin. As the character is a ruthless contract killer, we knew that we wanted to give her something to her look that gave her an edge. A subtle scar was discussed. I sculpted, molded, and ran the subtle prosthetic transfer scars that we would apply to her left cheek and eyelid. I applied the prosthetics and would then go off to my other characters, bringing in Nicole Amos to tag team on Ming's make-up. MS: The character of Fennec Shand stood out to me right away. She was only to be in one episode, so whatever we did had to make an impact immediately, and yet only needed to work for a short period of time and therefore, didn't need to be as "time constraint" friendly as a character who works every day for multiple episodes. I had seen a photo some- where of two snakes entwined in combat and decided to translate that into a braided ponytail using fishtail braids and leather cording. Beyond that, I was not sure how I was going to incorporate it into the final look until we met with Ming-Na, and she suggested we somehow use her hair style to emulate a fennec fox's ears. The final look incor- porated "Dutch" scalp braids in a diamond pattern, like the fox ears, with crisscross elastic cording thread between each braid, culminating in the two fishtails attached at the back and cascading over her shoulder. This look required early-morning calls to braid Ming-Na's hair so intricately, but the final look when combined with the make-up and that fantastic costume was truly spectacular. Episode 6: Xi'an, Qin, and Burg BS: This was our first episode with multiple main char- acters in big prosthetic make-ups. We had the brother and sister Twi'leks played by Ismael Cordova and Natalia