Leatherworking – Armour – Greaves – Part 3, Vambraces and a Quiver

Having completed the greaves and being pleased with the result I made a pair of vambraces (bracers?) as well.  I think the acrylic paint works well.  Looking at a lot of leather dye products which seem to also be made of acrylic I think that possibly the secret is to 1) make sure that the paint is absorbed at least partially by the leather and 2) that you don’t lay it on to thickly, otherwise you will have a sort of plastic acrylic coating.   The test will be when I actually use them.   It will be interesting to see how they fare over a couple of events.   This is all good information for when I make the leather scale armour I’m planning, hopefully I’ll complete this by the beginning of May. I am hoping to experiment with decoration for the armour.   There are more than a few guides on the internet so I have a rough idea of the basics (although looking at some of the examples it is I think wise to practice on a few scraps first).  One thing in my favour though is that I’m not planning on any really elaborate designs.

Another thing I learned, which was obvious really once I thought about it, was that setting rivets needs a hard surface.  Previously I’d been using a corner of my tool box and of course the plastic was absorbing some of the hammer blow and the rivets were not setting properly.

After the success of  the bracers and greaves I decided to make a quiver for my arrows which had until now been carried in an old cardboard postage tube covered in faux suede,  which can be seen in a photo on this post.  It didn’t look too bad, just made an annoying rattling noise when ever I moved,  not great for someone trying to play a stealthy scout.  The quiver was a quick fix job really so I didn’t spend a great deal of time on it.  I had some softer leather spare, which I originally bought to replace some of the thinner bits of my current armour, but in the end decided not to use.  The quiver is basically a sort of leather bucket with a strap cunningly made from a very cheap leather belt.   It is a little too big for the task really and I’ll have to re do it at some point but it will hopefully be useful for a weekend.

Foam Smithing – Coreless Dagger

The advantage of having no core in a dagger is that in many systems it can be a throw weapon.  No core means you have in essence a lump of foam covered in latex, and while not the softest thing in the world it is unlikely to do any great harm.

From the point of view as being used as a prop weapon is that the foam has virtually no rigidity.

I’ve made a couple of coreless daggers in the past the first one although not bad was a little on the large side, so I never really used it and eventually removed all the latex to try out an idea I had for carving the foam.

The second was the stone/flint dagger  in the right of the picture to the left.   It was an experiment which worked really well and used up an off-cut of foam that was otherwise destined for the bin.

The current one is a little more ambitious and has the added  factor that I’m making it for someone else, and not having made anything for anybody apart from my son and I means I’m even more nervous about the result.

Coreless Dagger Blank

It’s based on the dagger in this photograph on wikipedia.  A fine looking celtic dagger with anthropomorphic handle. The blank was relatively easy to prepare using four layers of 6mm foam.  Well truth be told this was the second blank.  The first went horribly wrong during the dreaded cutting phase, which resulted in a nice handle but a blade like a stiletto, or possibly the first larp safe tooth pick.  As I’ve said before the cutting out the blade bit is the part I fear most.  In theory it should be easier with a dagger, shorter blade, less to cut.  So using the last of my foam I started again.  Hopefully this time it won’t be such a disaster.

Foam Smithing – Spear – Pt2 “c”

Too many projects!  I’ve sort of resigned myself that I’m not going to get the spear finished by the end of February.  Partly because I don’t have enough foam to cover the spear shaft.  It isn’t a huge problem though the February event is probably going to be “combat” light so I will make do with the weapons I already have.  The spear is to be a back up weapon anyway.  I have finished the mould and cast the first section of decoration though.

Leatherworking – Armour – Greaves – Part 2

So far so good.  I used some fine wet and dry paper to take the waxy finish off of the leather, then some fine sandpaper.

The first greave I painted went a bit wrong, the acrylic paints I was using (two different brands) kept seperating so I kept getting dark green “pools” that made the finish look a bad attempt at camouflage.  DPM greaves anyone?

With the second greave I kept mixing the paint as I went and this seemed to help.

After the paint dried I soaked both greaves with water and scrunched them up to give them more of a used look.

The main thing I am worried about is that the acrylic will peel off.  So far it is looking ok.  The one mistake I did make was making the straps too small.

Leatherworking – Armour – Greaves

Well making things with bits of leather to be more precise.  When you’ve seen the work of a master leather worker like Ben Loder the things I do really are not worthy   I have a belt and a pair of wristbands made by Ben and know a few people who have armour that he has made.

I’ve made an armour tunic in the past which considering my lack of skill, came out fairly well.

Leather armour tunic

It is starting to look a bit tatty these days mainly because to save money I made bits of it with old leather coats that cost me £5 each.  The rest of the leather came from Ebay and is of a reasonable quality.

My new project is to make a leather tunic, bracers an greaves from thicker leather.

The leather I chose was a special offer from Le Prevo who I throughly recommend for all leather working supplies.  Buying cheaper leather seemed like the best plan as this was a first attempt.  The first step was to make a template/pattern out of cardboard to get the shape of the greaves (armour for the lower leg).  Then cut out the basic shape from the leather.

The first stage will be to try and remove the waxy finish that  is on the leather at the moment so that I can change the colour.

Foam Smithing – Spear – Pt2 “b”

The spear head was near completion. All ready for the first coat of latex.  The material to strengthen the join between the two types of foam was all stuck on and some latex spiral designs that I’d had a mould for from another project had been added.

In the end the  spiral designs looked a bit weedy on the spear head so I decided to make new ones.

This will add a couple of days to the project but will hopefully improve the look of the finished spear head.

For the first stage, making the master from which the mould is made, I use modeling clay mainly because it is

reusable and fairly easy to sculpt.   In fact the main downside I find is that it can be a little squishy but that can be got around by popping it in the fridge for a bit to harden it up.  The picture to the left shows the design unfinished.

Foam Smithing – Spear – Pt2

Ooo that is a snappy title!

I haven’t had as much time to work on this as I’d liked to.  Added to that I’ve picked up an old hobby which is also increasing my list of “things to do when I’ve got the time”.

For me though the scariest part of making the spear is over with – the carving of the foam!  I think I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I dread doing it.  It is the stage that can really mess up a project, although compared with a sword there is less to carve.

It didn’t go too badly in the end and I’m quite pleased with the result (although there is a bit of tinkering still to do before it is ready).

Spear head assembled.

The next stage is to reinforce the join between the two densities of foam with material before adding the first coat of latex.

Foam Smithing – Spear

The LARP season is over for the year (for the club I attend anyway – there may be some hardy souls out there braving the cold!) which gives me lots of time to start a few projects.  The first thing I’m doing is making a spear.   Although the character I play is not really a front line fighter there have been more than a few occasions when I’ve been in a shield wall where a spear would be very useful.   I have made one but it is too short and although I was pleased with it, it is not of a great piece of work.

The spear I’m planning is based on a spear head found at Le Tene and has a particularly wavy blade.  I use the excellent Osprey Publishing “Celtic Warrior” as my first reference in many cases for ideas and inspiration.  The particular spear can be see on this Google Book search page.

Dumnonni Chronicles unlike more than a few systems allows “stabbing” spears.  So safety with spears is probably more important than with swords.   The tip has to be “stab safe” and so is made of softer foam than a sword would be.

Spear components

The picture to the left shows the main components of the spear.  Top to bottom – soft foam for the majority of the spear head, thick fibre glass core – to thin and the spear would be too “wippy” and denser foam for the lower third of the spear head.

The Last event of the year

What a weekend!  I have the usual collection of bruises and muscle twangs and the feeling of post-Larp-contentment.

Dumnonni Chronicles finished the year with an event especially for the Refs.  So the tables are in a way turned and one of the regular players took over the reins and planned the event.  I chose to join the crew for this one rather than play my character.

I arrived at the site on Friday afternoon having got a lift from one of the other players (cheers mate!).  After the many “hellos” and setting up my tent and changing into my crewing outfit, I was more than ready for the evening.

There was a bit of a delay as some of the refs had hidden themselves in one of the local pubs, but then who can blame them.  I was really chuffed when I was asked to go up as the first encounter, a norse trader, with all manner of fine items to offer to the various characters.  As I walked up to the in character area I could see that a large moon had risen over the tree tops bathing everything in atmospheric light.  I have to say I was incredibly nervous and had a bit of trouble keeping to a norse style accent and kept slipping into a more Gaelic one, but no one seemed to mind too much.

I spent the rest of the evening sat around a roaring fire chatting with people.  This is one of the great aspects of Larp for me, being out under the stars, warmed by the flames.

Saturday morning the crew dressed as a celtic tribe went up to give battle to the heroes of Culhaven.  This was done with lots of single combat of champions before the main battle, which was as usual gritty and great fun.

After lunch I made the mistake of “resting my eyes” for a bit and ended up sleeping for four hours!  Later in the evening I was made up to look like a ghost by the excellent “Gore section” who we are very lucky at our events.  Their special effects make up has to be seen to be believed.  The rest of Saturday night was spent once again chatting around a fire.  The weather was all in all very good with only a couple of very light showers and the temperature being cool rather than cold.

For most of Sunday I was dressed as a “Tuatha de Domnu” and attacking the players.  There was one fantastic moment when one of the players hurled insults at me questioning my manhood.  I replied by thrusting my groin forward and shouting that there was nothing wrong with it, only to receive an arrow straight in the soft parts! The Gore section were on hand to add the special effect of blood squirting up from behind my shield as I lay rolling around on the field in mock agony.  It couldn’t have been planned better.

So the Larp year comes to a close with one of the best events I’ve attended so far, but with the promise of an extra event in February to look forwards to.

LARP and more Foam Smithing

The penultimate LARP Event is fast approaching (well for the club I attend anyway). Which has made me realise that I haven’t posted anything for some time. Between the last post and this I’ve made a couple of items for my kit. The first one being a shield. This was the biggest project (in size anyway) that I have so far attempted. The basic design was based on a picture in Osprey books “Celtic Warrior” of a votive shield from the rather than a full sized one. Although there may be some evidence that full sized shields of this type did exist. (Andrew Brozyna on the webpage http://www.redrampant.com/roma/celtshields.html discusses where these votive offerings were found -figure e in the first picture).
The basic structure of the shield was two layers of thick foam with a thinner foam for the shield boss and a length of plastic pipe to form the handle. The most time consuming part of making the shield was making the molded “knotwork” hounds. This was a process of making two separate modeling clay masters (one for each version of the hounds, you need two so the knotwork runs properly) and then making a plaster mold of both. This done I made two latex moldings from each mold. The back of the shield was easier as it was just made to look like wood. Not my best photographs but they give the general idea.

As well as the shield I’ve made an axe and a dagger. The dagger was made from an off cut of foam left over from when I made my sword. Using a sharp blade I carved it to give a flint or stone dagger appearence. The axe came about as I had an old length of pipe from an axe that I’d made a long time ago. I wanted to play around with carving foam a little more and so come up with the dog head design. I’m quite pleased with the results although my partner says it looks like Snoopy and my son maintains that it looks like a fire-breathing duck.