And another FanX: The Salt Lake Comic Convention is in the books. Many thanks to the many volunteers from different Seventh Fleet chapters who helped out at the booth. We were able to raise some money for the Best Friends Animal Society-Utah. A big thank you to all of the members and friends who came by to visit us at the booth. And another big thank you to Dan Farr and his army of volunteers at the convention. We greatly appreciate your efforts in putting this show together.
If you are visiting our website after checking out our booth, welcome. Feel free to look around and learn more about us. If you have any questions or you would like to join one of our chapters, feel free to email us at Info@SeventhFleet.org. We hope that you’ll be able to join us at one of our many fun events in the future.
Here is a video taken at the con that features the Seventh Fleet.
And we know that a lot of photos were taken at the convention. We would love to post them on a future blog post. Feel free to email them to Webmaster@SeventhFleet.org and we will upload them soon. Here are some that we already have.
Here is another flashback article from a previous event. The Hansen Planetarium was the primary planetarium in Utah during the 1990’s. They held a cosplay event for a Summer Solstice one year that gave several USS Kelly members a chance to show off their Star Trek cosplay.
We are not certain what year this article was published or which newspaper it was. It could have been somewhere between 1993-1995. The photo itself shows at least three Kelly members. The Klingon officer is wearing a Kelly combadge with the ranks represented on the badge itself. This article was either in the Salt Lake Tribune or the Deseret News.
Back? Great. Admiral Stark was very impressed with this article as it aligns with some of the goals he has been promoting within the Seventh Fleet. Part of the reason we have our fan club is to keep the Star Trek dream alive. That through infinite diversity through infinite combinations life is worth while. This is why we are a “big-tent” organization instead of focusing on just one thing. You having fun with your corner of Star Trek fandom is something we want to help out with.
Do you like to create Cosplay? We want to see your costumes. The article talked about fanzines and books created by fans. As you can see from the photo above, we have many members interested in putting together art and publications. Putting together a Star Trek fan film? We’ve had experience doing that. Has Star Trek inspired an interest in science? It has with us as well. Prop building? From the hand held to the very large, we have had some experience putting these together. We have members who express their creativity through Star Trek filk songs just like the ones mentioned in the article. We love attending conventions and running booths that allow us to perform community service which requires a lot of creativity and planning. There are a lot of things we can create as fans to keep the Star Trek dream alive. Influences from the fandom of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s made their way into official publications and episodes (including episodes of Star Trek: Discovery).
There is also an added benefit from expressing our creativity for others to see. These become archives for the next generation of fandom who get a glance of what life was like for Star Trek fans at the date of publication. If you get a chance to look at your chapter’s past newsletters, you can see back into time. Admiral Stark has been trying to preserve older club newsletters and publications in PDF format so that they are easily available for all to see.
To give our members the opportunity for creativity, chapters can publish a newsletter or post articles on the ship’s blog. If your chapter doesn’t have a newsletter or a website yet, talk with your commanding officer. They are always looking for volunteers and there are those in the fleet that are willing to give advice on sites and publications. The Seventh Fleet will also be collecting the best articles of the year and publishing them in a Seventh Fleet Annual fanzine. This gives you the opportunity to display your creativity for future fandom. Currently an Issue Zero (concept publication) is currently being created and will be released soon.
What would you like to make today? Who would you like to inspire tomorrow? Let’s create.
We sent out a call to members of the fleet to send us some of their favorite cosplay photos that they would like to share. Here are the submissions we received.
Carl Navales of the USS Delaware as a Starfleet Trill Officer. Erin Ruston of the USS Essex as a Klingon warrior.Captain Erica Stark of the USS Ticonderoga laughs with Admiral Dennis Hollinger, Vice Admiral Carl Stark and Commodore Marla Trowbidge of the Seventh Fleet.Laura Swift Lind of the USS Rendezvous shows her Jedi cosplay.Brad and Amiee Jacobs of the USS Ticonderoga posing with Tony Todd at a local convention.James Woodham of the USS Delaware checking out The Iron Throne.James Woodham of the USS Delaware on the Shuttle Fairbanks.A Borgified Eric Evans checks out the USS Ticonderoga transporter console. Eric Allan Hall, Carl Stark and Erica Stark.Brooke Wilkins of the USS Pulsar is a Starfleet Officer in the transporter beam.Scott Armstrong as a TOS Redshirt.Damon Ricks of the USS Ticonderoga as a Klingon.Michelle Ludeking of the USS Pulsar and Michael Hansen of the USS Delaware meet a Romulan. Dave Stock of the USS Ticonderoga and Vice Admiral Stark show off their Doctor Who autographs. Eric Nelson and Brooke Wilkins combine universes. Damon and Amanda Ricks of the USS Ticonderoga.Michael Hansen of the USS Delaware in the Shuttle Fairbanks.Vice Admiral Carl Stark in his Admiral’s uniform from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Mindy Madsen and Brooke Wilkins of the USS Pulsar cosplaying as Deep Space Nine and the Bajoran Wormhole.
The members of the USS Valkyrie will be helping the Historic Wilson Theater in Rupert with the Super Hero Adventure festival. Come see some of the local cosplayers as they dress up as your favorite heroes. Details at https://www.historicwilsontheatre.com/
Halloween has just concluded. This also marks the end of the convention season for the year. A lot of members who participate in Star Trek cosplay have spent the year preparing, fixing and wearing their cosplay at different events. Now what do you do with your cosplay after those events are over and the holiday season moving into full swing? We asked several fleet members this question and here are their responses.
Mindy Madsen (USS Pulsar)
I hand wash everything and make any repairs. I like to make repairs before I put stuff away so that I don’t forget. I store things in totes and I also have hanging racks to hang things on the backs of doors for the costumes that can’t go in totes.
I put dryer sheets in with my wigs to keep them fresh and to help with static. Any props that have batteries in them, I take the batteries out so they don’t corrode
Brooke Wilkins (USS Pulsar)
I’m glad to help out. Before storing any costumes/clothing, I make sure it’s cleaned appropriately. Storing dirty clothes makes everything around it start to stink. That means washing, dry cleaning or spraying with Lysol. I will also use fabric fresh if needed. Dust and light damage clothes and costumes, so it’s best to store them in the dark – the way closets usually are, and to keep them in such a way that dust is kept off as much as possible. Perhaps that means boxes, or rack covers or garment bags. Or in a closed closet. Rack covers don’t have to be expensive: I use old curtains or (clean) sheets thrown over my racks. I have space in a closet specifically for costumes that need to be repaired. Then I can restock them after they’re repaired.
I also store the costumes in a way that makes sense for me to be able to find them again when I’m looking. My system is that costumes that are specifically a certain character and nothing else (like Star Trek Uniforms, Peter Pan, Ripley, Morticia, etc) are in one section. Then I have sections for historical periods: ancient, ren/medieval, 18th and 19th centuries and 20th century. The 20th century I divide into sections for coats, shirts, capes (capes aren’t really 20th century but they’re so generic and coat like that I keep them by the coats), skirts, pants, etc.
I have labeled boxes for shoes, wigs, hats, weapons, accessories, and a place to keep long thin things like swords, umbrellas and canes. And all of my sections are in rainbow order as follows: ROYGBV, brown, white, grey, black.
Not everyone has that many costumes – for most people the key will be to clean and repair before storing, and then store in a cool, dark and dust free place. And whatever organization system used, labels or clear boxes are always helpful. Utah doesn’t really have a problem with clothes eating insects, so we don’t have to worry about using moth balls to keep those kinds of insects out. But do what you can to keep rodents and insects in general out.
Also – make up goes bad, so it’s not the best idea to keep it for years on end, though you can try.
Hope that’s helpful.
Damon Ricks (USS Ticonderoga)
I can answer partially due to the groups that I associate with and the uses that I primarily have them for.
Caring for the costumes is far and away more on the agenda vs storage. I would have to say that even when the convention ends, October moves into the winter months and the DS9 and Klingon settle down for the cold months, the 501st and Rebel Legion don’t even slow down.
Storage is mainly finding a good solid tote that holds all the parts without having them too squished in, thus for me it is more a matter of continual maintenance on a year round basis, so let’s look at that.
Much of the care and upkeep vary based on the costumes, so I’ll divide them into 2 categories, cloth/soft goods heavy and foam/prosthetic/leather heavy.
The cloth type costumes such as Jedi, Tusken Raider, DS9, Klingon or a Fleet uniform are primarily a matter of just keeping them clean and not smelling like they were worn through the entire Rebellion without being washed.
If they were worn in cooler temperatures for a short time, just hanging them to air out, or a quick spray with Febreze does the job. Otherwise, I’ll hand wash them and air dry, iron if they need it and carefully fold them for storage with the leather or latex parts layered between the cloth so they don’t stick together.
The other category, however, is entirely a different matter. Much of the light care still holds, such as airing them out and occasionally a hit with Febreze, but for those items such as leather, foam, and latex, those need special care.
For latex, it’s a good idea to regularly wash them out on the inside with a clean rag and warm water. Give them a pat down dry with a towel, then some time to air out before storage.
The leather is mainly a matter of airing out, as the stains tend to add to the weathered look.
The most important, or I should say, attention necessary, are the foam parts.
My Gamorrean, for example, has arms and legs that are latex covered foam, and they can get wet with sweat quickly. That can lead to actually smelling like a real Gamorrean in no time.
After each use, I sprinkle the insides with baby powder and then leave them out to air dry for a day or so. The powder absorbs the wet, but more importantly it helps keep the parts smelling nice.
Finally, I have an air brush system for those paint touch ups, 2 sewing machines for the occasional tear, and more tape, glue, epoxy and Velcro than any single human not in Hollywood should ever own.
So to sum up a far more drawn out explanation than may have been necessary, it is a lot like taking care of ourselves as we get older. Wash em, air em out, sew em up, glue em back together, and add paint as needed to keep em attractive, so that you’ll have em ready to go for a long long time no matter which Galaxy your from or headed out to visit!
Marla Trowbridge (Seventh Fleet Academy)
Make sure that any natural fiber uniforms or costumes are stored with cedar blocks or moth balls. We do have moths in Utah that can easily eat through those materials and damage uniforms, if not destroy them. Store them in wardrobe bags and put them away clean.
Most need to be washed inside out or dry cleaned. Remove all pins and special trims if you can. Very gentle washing as needed.
Michael Hansen (USS Delaware)
As a Cosplayer who has different costumes all that I usually do is just hang them up in the closet and tucked away. But what I have now is very simple Star Trek uniforms from different eras and now a classic Battlestar Galactica viper outfit.
However if I were to make or get costumes more complex like stormtrooper or clone trooper armor I would probably tuck them away in boxes or something. Put away in a safe place to keep it preserved. Is there any specific details you might like?
I can say to when washing the costumes to always use the best washing chemicals or types that are best for the costume in question. I also can say that sometimes the most unexpected tricks can help with some of the cheaper costumes. For example with my VGR gold costume at the front the ends under the collar tended to tip down due to its cheap manner of construction. What I did with this was put in Velcro to hold it up so the uniform would look better and it worked. So I would suggest that to anyone who has that same uniform to try that. Another thing is to look around for ways to customize or modify your costume if you wish to make it more accurate. For my BSG outfit I actually ended up with two jackets as one was less accurate that the other and I am looking into where to buy better parts to modify them with. Namely the buckles. So my suggestion with that would be look around on the internet and ask friends who have worked on the type of costume before.
Joe McShinsky (USS Kelly)
When it comes to the end of the year for cosplay storage, I actually keep them right alongside the rest of my clothing. At some point in the past, my closet ended up having more cosplay in it than regular clothing. I ended up keeping everything right in the closet and didn’t bother with storage bins or anything else as hanging them up was already working for me. This is true for pants as well as they hang great on kids hangers.
One important thing that I do is keep them in garment bags to mitigate the dust. It’s amazing how much dust collects on stuff even though they are in the closet. The other benefit to this is that it keeps most of the cosplay all in one place (props/etc excluded).
Over the years we’ve collected a lot of kids costumes as well and the bags that they come in have a hangar on them for store displays. The kids costume ends up in a gallon zip-lock baggie (thrown into a storage tote) and I keep the bang/hanger combo. This works well for items that don’t really work on a hanger but still provides the benefit of hanging right with or by the cosplay their associated with.
Eric Allan Hall (USS Kelly)
Short Answer:
These are zip up mini closets from IKEA. I generally leave my closet pieces open, but you CAN zip them up, like if you keep them in a garage. Sometimes I would use one of those cedar hangar things inside the mini closets, but otherwise, not really.
Between my events with Heroic, dress up days at work, cosplay karaoke, and other events, my costumes are in a pretty decent rotation, so he doesn’t really store anything for a long period of time (like years).
Most of my stuff is machine washable, or I clean with Woolite in the sink. For my suits (Doctor Who, Remus Lupin, Joker, etc.), I use Dryel, the home dry cleaning you can do in the dryer.
Other non-washable things like my Borg outfit, I use Febreze spray.
I also use the giant Zip lock bags to keep some costumes and props together, like for Scarecrow, Genie, my Mummy, my Witch Doctor, etc. That way, I can keep the mask, body suit, accessories like necklaces, wrist bands, gloves, wigs, and so forth together so I don’t spend time hunting everything down.
Conclusion
As you can see, these members not only have experience with Star Trek cosplay, but with other cosplay opportunities as well (HEROIC Inc, Evermore, Star Wars groups, etc.). There are a variety of cleaning and storage options that you can look into so the investment in your cosplay can last for quite some time.
Thank you to the members who responded to our question. We will be asking questions for future blog posts as well.
Do you have any suggestions that you would like to share? Make a comment below or email them to Webmaster@SeventhFleet.org
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A Free Star Trek Fan Association and Parent Organization.