# Aging a new Beetlejuice suit



## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Hello all.

So I have a custom tailored Beetlejuice suit. It is nice and shiny and new. Unfortunately Beetlejuice was not so shiny. So I need to age it, make it look grungy without ruining the suit itself. I have a couple pieces of the material left over to test things out on. I just need some suggestions on how to age it.

Any suggestions will be helpful. The limitations here are the suit isn't to be cut, tattered or destroyed. In the movie his suit is rather dirty / grungy but not tattered at all.

Here is a picture. Mask is coming in 2 days. So excited for this character.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

You look very handsome

What type of material is the suit made of? Are you good with the grunginess being permanent or will you want to be able to restore it to its shiny newness?


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## Doc Doom (Aug 28, 2008)

I age suits for zombies with light mistings of white, gray, black and brown spraypaint.


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Nice suit! Spray paint would work but as Roxy said - is it to be permanent or temporary.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

This is a permanent aging process. I want it to replicate the movie as close as I can. I have watched the 5 minutes or so of the film that this suit is in a dozen times. Nothing is frayed or worn through, just dingy and stained a bit. 

The material on the outside is a non stretchy fabric printed stripes on white from Jo Ann Fabric. It is considered 100 percent polyester, so it won't shrink, but may come apart if washed due to tension on the seams and the hand stitching that went into a majority of it, but it probably won't will survive a wash ok. They had it displayed for making a kids jailed outfit. it works perfect for the beetlejuice though. It is fully lined and actually sewn from a Vogue suit pattern so it really is a suit. 

I thought about coffee to stain, even using Debbie5's wood stain. For the grungy, I was going to just roll around in some dry dirt but I don't want the dirt coming off everywhere if possible. I want to be able to sit in furniture for the party, which I probably won't get a chance to sit, and not worry about getting things dirty.


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## Howlinmadjack (Jul 20, 2009)

Don't know about the other things, but coffee doesn't work very well on polyester. I tried it, and it just pretty much ran through the material, but didn't really stain it much.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Well thats good to know jack. I may have to try watered down paints, spray paint, etc. I am just trying cautiously as I don't want to ruin the suit with something I can't remove and just doesn't look right. Test material spots here I come.


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## Howlinmadjack (Jul 20, 2009)

SC, if your going to try watered down paint, start with a heavily watered down test formula, and use a q-tip on your test material until you have it at the consistency your comfortable with. When I aged my polyester shirt, I used multiple layers of highly watered down acrylic paint, and just kept adding layers after it would dry until I got the effect I wanted. Really tedious, but the effect really came together. Just be patient. Good luck!!


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Well I have 13 days to get it right, then the party is on and the suit will be revealed. So, at least I have some time. I have some acrylics to start with, an off white, black, and two shades of green. I think I am going to Jo Ann tonight to get a few others.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I used diluted acrylic paints on the primarily polyester costume I donated to the makeover of our gruesome greeter. It gives a more subtle look since polyester is not what you would call absorbent, but you will end up with a convincing dirtied look.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

I ended up diluting some acrylics I had and put it through my airbrush. I used Green/ black mix and a green/ brown mix. Since the material is printed black on white, the black didn't absorb any of the paint and wasn't dingy. I used 3 tones of spray paint, white, off gray, and an purplish gray I had to lighten up the black striping. 

I found for general shading, the airbrush worked well but for stains, I sprayed my hand and grabbed the material and pulled it through. Worked really well, but I still have grayish brown fingernails and highlighted finger prints 2 days later. 

I will get some pictures up in a bit.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)




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## Up_Up_And_Away (Jul 19, 2008)

Looks good! I was about to suggest diluted browns, grays and greens applied with a sea sponge for texture... but it looks good as is!


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## Draik41895 (Oct 25, 2008)

I love it, cant wait to see it with the mask!


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Ok all, here are a few pics. Granted this was 10 minutes after opening the box. I don't have any eye make up on and the hands were rushed but I couldn't wait to take a few pics.

I did notice my forehead is much more prominant than the actors so the mask shape is contoured to my face and doesn't quite look the same, but I like it anyway.

Enjoy....


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Nice work on the suit and with the mask, oh yeah!!


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## Howlinmadjack (Jul 20, 2009)

Nice work SC!! Looks awesome!!


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## Johnmonster (Sep 4, 2009)

The suit looks great, good job on the aging/staining.

May I suggest making a big, slimy booger out of latex, coloring it a nasty green, and hanging it from an inside pocket of the coat? _Hooooock..phoooop_! "Gonna save that guy for later..."


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## Haunthunter (Sep 19, 2011)

If you could submerge it, you could age it with a solution of tea bags and water. Try it on the scrap pieces


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:You look fantastic! Great job on the costume, you look just like him. (now I'm scared to say your name three times...)


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

This material was rough to age. The black wicked the water solution away and only the white absorbed anything, but then it only wanted to absorb in the single row due to the black wicking. 

I had to age a dress for my wife that was made to her size but was too nice and new. It was so much easier, just dip the whole thing in water, then take a dark solution of black and green paint and drizzle it from the top all the way around, then the water and time did the work. Oh well, glad I am done aging this one. 

Thanks for the comments all. Hopefully I will get a good picture in the next week here with my wifes costume. 

What I really need is a finger with a ring on it for the inside pocket of the suit.


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

A custom made Beetlejuice suit? You don't mess around!


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

I guess it's too late to impress everyone with my mail-ordered Skeletor costume from last year that made me look like I was wearing pajamas.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

haha, I started out with the 30 dollar Rubies beetlejuice costume, and it just didn't fit or look right. From there, I asked the seamstress which is my mother, to take my measurements and put a suit together. 100 dollars in material later and a month or so of time and the suit was done. Can't beat that. From the sounds of it though, it was harder than she thought and another suit is never on the list of things to do.


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

That is top shelf work! It's always nice when mom can still make your costume. Mine will if I ask! Lol you use arm and hammer deodorant too?


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

I will be for the next year. A local store had it on sale for a dollar a piece. I think I bought 13. It will last a while. 

Having a mom that can sew is nice, even at 28. I come up with the ideas, and she likes the challenge so it works out great. I just have to pay for materials and a dinner or two.


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

Even at 33 my mother will still sew for me if I ask her - yes it is a blessing 

I got mine for a buck too, about 8 of them... wonder why they're trying to move Arm & Hammer off the shelves?


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