Stuff Maker Blog

Yurt

2011-08-30T14:30:00.001-07:00

About mid week at chaos wars we had some new neighbors set up yurts next to us. They were home made and very nice so I snapped a few photos.

They were quite big and had their own dedicated trailer for the 2 tents (I only got Picts of the one unfortunately).

The roof was sticks that tide on to the lattus and then set in to a hub in the air.

The cover was 2 pieces, the walls and the roof.

Weapons Rack

2011-08-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

You can see me on the left in my armour (Photo by Savage)

I was privileged to attend my first ever american Belegarth event a few weeks ago, Chaos Wars in Hailley Idao. I was able to set up my pavilion tent in our Canadian Camp and we used it as our gear tent, one half housed all our food, coolers, dishes and other eating supplies, and the other side housed fighting gear such as weapons, armour and repair materials.

However, the inside of the tent began to fill up with all our gear, it formed a large pile so that we couldn't really get at the weapons we wanted and the weapons a the bottom were getting squished. Whats more the pile began to encroach on the food side of the tent so we couldn't get at out food ether.

The solution to this was to build and arming rack out of stick from the woods. we used as much rope as we could find and then some duct tape when that ran out. Our passing weapons would be leaned on the rack wile the failing weapons that needed repair would be placed in the tent so on one would accidentally use them.

Camp "Canaidia"

You can see we added a few modifications as the week went on to better accommodate different weapon sizes and add structural integrity. When we packed up we just cut the tape of and through the sticks back in to the woods!

Popular series from the past: N00b Steel Armouring Basics

2011-07-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

For me, making steel armour was one of those things that was an unattainable idea. I didn't have any idea how it was done, no idea what tools were needed. I just knew that I didn't know. But I tried anyway, I am sure anyone who knows anything about armour smithing will get a headache from the pain inflicted by my poor technique but at least I tried.
These tutorials are more proof that if you try to do something you can get some pretty descent results. So with the cheviot that I really have/had no idea what I was doing, if you follow these tutorials you can begin your journey in to the wonderful world of steel.

How to make simple Steel Greaves:

Steel Greaves

How to Make a Simple Pauldron:

Cutting Steel With a Jig Saw - Making a Simple Pauldron: Pt. 1
Smoothing jagged edges - Making a Simple Pauldron: Pt. 2
Rolling Edges - Making a Simple Pauldron: Pt. 3
Basic Forming with a Hammer - Making a Simple Pauldron: Pt. 4
Straps - Making a Rerebrace and Making a Simple Pauldron: Pt. 5

How to Make a Rerebrace:

Step one, rolling the edges - Making a Rerebrace: pt. 1
Hammer Forming - Making a Rerebrace: pt. 2
Hammer Forming 2 - Making a Rerebrace: pt. 3

More useful Tutorials Links and Articles:

Rivets out of roofing nails
Sanding to make it shine (brushed steel look)
Round Buckles
PVC Armor Stand
Armor Patterns

Popular series from the past: N00b Leather Armouring Basics

2011-06-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

I will once again that I am no expert on anything I do on this blog. Like 90% of my other tutorials the photos you see are my first time ever attempting to make said item. I really honestly have no idea what I am doing, I just wing it and hope for the best. That said, I have been fortunate to have a achieved some pretty cool results. Here are my leather armouring tutorials:

Leather Bracer:
Leather Bracer: Basic

Leather Helmet:

Leather Helm: Type A - Part 1
Leather Helm: Type A - Part 2

Leather Lorica Segmentata:
Thinking on Leather Armor
Leather Lorica Segmentata Progress
Leather Lorica Segmentata

Tutorials to make your leather look good:
Making Leather Armor Fancy: Paint it
Making Leather Armor Fancy: Stain it
Making Leather Armor Fancy: Burning it

Other useful Tutorials, Articles and Links:
Round Buckles
PVC Armor Stand
Armor Patterns

Popular series from the past: Medieval Pavilion Tent

2011-06-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

What could be better than going to an event than going in a traditional medieval tent? I have always loved Pavilion tents and a few years ago I was privileged to make one for less than $100! This collection of photo tutorials takes you from start to finish on how to make a medieval pavilion tent. If you want to see more photos of the finished tent, you can find them here: Pavilion Tent (click the read more link for list of tutorials)

-Tutorials-

In my early research I found a tutorial that I found very informative and helpful in the making of my tent, I sent the makers a letter and got a nice reply: Small Pavilion Tent: Letter from Max

Popular series from the past: Rag Rug Garb

2011-06-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

To get myself going I am going to post a series of articles linking to my most popular tutorial collections. The first is about my "famous" Rag Rug garb. Rag rugs are very versatile, cheep, and easy to work with. The possibilities of how to put them together are endless, I have come up with 2 methods that work well.

Rag rugs garb, some people love it, some hate it. I call them "poor man's gambesons". Though they don't offer any real physical protection like a proper gambeson they do offer a fighter many of a gambeson's other benefits. They offer a good bit of padding to hard blows that takes the sting off if you have sensitive skin, they offer great padding for chain mail and other armours making them more comfortable to wear and get hit in, they breath very well in hot weather because of the large loos weave, and also provide insulation and warmth in cold weather.

Rag rug garb can be very simple to make, it can take less than 2 minutes to put together a simple tabard/vest and perhaps an hour to but together a full coat. I find my rag rugs at a dollar store (dollarama) for $1-$2 a peace, making the cost range from $2-$8 for a peace of garb.

A rag rug coat.

A spear man in a rag rug tabard.

I am back!

2011-06-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

I am back from the winter brake! I had planed to start posting a few weeks ago, I had written a bunch of posts up and then Blogger had a big crash that lasted a few week and lost a bunch of data so I lost all my drafts! It took a bit of time to make them up so I am just now getting up the emotional energy to go back and write theme again from scratch.

I have begun to work on projects and I am beginning to acclimate tutorials so that I can post new content regularly. I want to be able to make a new post every week for the duration of the summer. Oh, and this summer I will be attending my first ever big Belegarth event (Chaos Wars) and I expect that in itself will create a good number of tutorials.

So start looking for tutorials and new posts in the next week!

Blog on hiatus until spring

2011-01-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

I am taking a break from Belegarth a few months (to help avoid burnout) and so wont have anything new to post until the spring when I start making things again. I will leave you with this one update, at the end of our local fighting season out group got some press, I had the opportunity to test out my back flag, so you can see it in action in this video:

My armor got beet up pretty good this day, and the flag wasn't properly attached to the poles until the second half of the day, but I was happy with it. See you in a few months!

How to make a back flag

2010-10-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

From Stuff Maker Blog

Ok, So I got to work on this project the other day, I am really happy with how it turned out, I cant wait to try it out in combat! Here is how I make it, step by step, and just a warning, I used duct tape like crazy, no glue. Not exactly kosher in foam smiting I know, but I had a duct tape itch that needed to be releaced.

From Stuff Maker Blog

1. Ok, first step was to cap the ends of my main pole in a safe fashion (see step to through the link) though with a bit more zeal as usual.
2. After that I cut out the pommel peaces that were necessary for the ends.

From Stuff Maker Blog

2.5. Here they are taped on, I made sure I taped enough that they would not be going anywhere, but that they would not end up hard as rock due to to much tape.

From Stuff Maker Blog

3. Then I did the same treatment to the other end. (As this is not a weapon, just a stick both side need a pommel in my estimation)

From Stuff Maker Blog

3.5. Here it is taped down securely.

From Stuff Maker Blog

4. Next I cut a long strip of camp pad (do to lacking a pool noodle or pipe insulation) about 3" wide and warped it around the PVC taping it down every 4 or 5 inches so it wont be twisting around on there.

From Stuff Maker Blog

5. Next I covered it with a brown duct tape I found at walmart. Granted, my standard white hockey tape painted with brown stain would have looked better, but this is so much less work I deemed the plastic-y shiny-ness worth it.

From Stuff Maker Blog

6. Then I made loops for the shoe laces to string through that would attach it to my armor.

From Stuff Maker Blog

7. Then I basically did the same thing only shorter for the top bit. The cross peace is simply attached with a shot shoelace.

From Stuff Maker Blog

8. Finished! Well, of-cores I also had to make the flag out of some scrap fabric laying around.

From Stuff Maker Blog

Making a Back Flag: Concept

2010-09-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

Image from Belegarth.com

I have long wanted to make a back flag. You can see in the above image one such flag. I am hoping to put togather a set of "tournament" garb and the back flag is a key part of my concept. I think they look way cool. Here is my mock up:

I will start with the pole and work a simple harness that is semi attached to the flag pole. I put togather a desired materials list:

1/2" L joint
10' 1/2" PVC pipe
1/2" PVC cap
Pipe Insulation 10'
Brown Duct Tape

I went off to the hard where store to buy the supplies, but could only find the PVC and Duct Tape. :( So I will have to be a bit more creative I guess.

The Boy Mechanic, Volume 1 - 700 Things for Boys to Do

2010-08-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share something I found on the net the other day. The Boy Mechanic, Volume 1 - 700 Things for Boys to Do. I looks like a festinating old book.

Wooden Khopesh Tutorial

2010-07-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

The Khopesh is probably my favorite sword, but it is very complex. It was not even made like a slandered sword. Becouse of it complex shape the bronze was often pored in to a mold rather than hammering in to shape. Even drawing it on a peace of wood is quite difficult. So here is how I did it.

I first did a Google search to find an image.

Then I scaled it in am image editor until the handle was about 2.5", that is enough room for my hand.

I printed this out on two peaces of paper and taped them togather, cut out the shape and then traced it on to my peace of wood.

After curing it out with a jig saw and sanding it you get this. I have also used this on other shapes and sword types to get nice looking historically accurate blade looks.

Afghani Dress

2010-06-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

This is the second Afgani dress I have made now. The other being last week, and unfortunately I didn't take any picts of it, this this dress is quite a bit smaller and uses less fabric if you can believe that. What? Why would I be making an Afgani dress? Good question! I don't intend to ware them ether.

For the last 7 years my family and I have taken part in the largest stage production in western Canada. The Canadian Badlands Passion play has a cast of about 150, many with multiple costumes. That is a lot of costumes. This year something different happened, rather than use only the 200 some costumes from previous years the art department said we could really enhance this if we had better costumes. So they ordered a LOT of fabric and began sewing, and I am helping in the process (as making 100 some new costumes from scratch is a very big task).

All the fabric is already cut out when I get it, so I just have to assemble it. Here we have all the peaces for the child's Afghani dress.

Here is pict of the front.

As you can see in this pict the skirt has a lot of fabric, but as I said before, not so much as the last one. You wont be tripping for lack of leg room when you run in this dress! Also, see I have not hemmed the bottom, that is because it will likely be hemmed latter to fit the actress.

And this one is just a random photo of the materiel at the waist.

My little brother in my Lorcia

2010-06-23T07:53:00.000-07:00

I am working on some things right now, but nothing is ready to post, so I am posting these until I have something finished.

Burned Leather Awards

2010-06-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

For our local bit event - Battle for Strathclyde I always make some awards for various feats, such as coming out on top of the dulling turny. This year I made 2, I used my wood burring set and went for a Egypt theme.

These are usually worn proudly on ones fighting garb made fantastic conversation starters.

Leather Lorica Segmentata

2010-05-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

My original side of leather.

Gets cut up in to paces and then submerged in water for to long and goes moldy.

Luckily, I am planing on "baking it" to harden it. To say "baking it" is a bit deceiving though, basically I am turing my oven in it a dehydrator. I set it to about 190f for 3 hours (probably longer than I needed).

I assemble, as I have no rivets on hand I lace the hole thing togather. We will see how long that holds...

I use a dark wood stain to give it a nice color, though, the baking did give it a bit more of a tan look without its help.

Stuff Maker Blog now on FaceBook!

2010-05-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

I have set up a facebook page for this blog on facebook! Please check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stuff-Maker-Blog/122023277832349

Making a Shield - prt.2: The rest

2010-05-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

These 2 shields have turned out the best I have yet made. Maybe not Edhellen quality, but pretty nice if I do say so myself. I basically followed this tutorial so if you want to follow along with it, but see actually pictures, here they are.

First I took my shield blanks I already made. (see here)

Laying them on a camp pad I used them as a template that I "traced" with my knife.

The first of 3 face layers cut out.

Then I cut stripes for the edge layer. Enough for there to be 4 layers covering all edges.

Face layers glued on.

Edge layers from the back.

Edge layers from the front.

Next I taped the seams with duct tape to reenforce them. Be sure to use a good and sticky tape or it wont work. (you can't see it but I taped the face side as well)

You will also note that I added straps. I did this before I glued the first face foam on. Use a strong strapping that you don't have any fear of ripping out, it will be a pain to replace.

Next I took a peace of fabric and marked a circle 5" larger around it. See this tutorial.

Here you can see I cut along that marked line.

And sewing like the tutorial said I made it in to a draw string cover.

Shield one I painted with wood stain and acrylic paint for the details.

The Second I painted with spray paint, black is the base coat, with a red over resulting in that nice deep read. I used masking tape to help define the edges.

Making a Shield: Cutting the Blanks - prt.1

2010-05-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

Peace of wood from the $2 scrap bin at Totem.

It is hard to see, but the pen is attached to a string which is attached to a tack stuck in to the wood to create an outline as a cutting guide.

I used a jig saw (the wood is clamped to the table saw)

Making the slits for the straps. I start by using a large bit and drilling the slit edges.

Then I use the jig saw to cut the slit from hole to hole.

There we are, 2 shield blanks!

Foams

2010-05-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

I made a discovery the other day when I finally ran out of the foam I bought in the USA I went and got some here at home... And low and behold! The American foam is thicker!

I had my suspicions after making my last fiberglass sword and it came out as big as my PVC swords do (previous ones using Canadian foam being noticeably smaller). Well anyway, just thought I would share.

More Sword Guts

2010-04-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Simple Bench

2010-03-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I made my first bench. I want to make a table, and maybe some chairs at some point, but I figured it would be good to start on something simple, that and we always have alack of seating when we have a lot of people over.

I am staining it now and I will add little felt pads to the feet.

I didn't really measure anything, it is all just eyeballed. And it is a bit visible in the legs as they are not quite striate :( Lesson learned? We will see.

2 from one Punch Sheilds

2010-03-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

A few months ago my medium rectangle shield fell apart, the glue gust stopped holding, which left me with a peace of wood and a bunch of sill usable foam. So I cut the wood into two 12" round punches. They are all reclaimed foam from the shields and an old sword who's core snapped but blade was still good.

The only new materiel used as the fabric for the wood slat shield cover. The other cover is made from the old rectangle cover.

Even the handles are made from the scraps left from the old wood backing.

Leather Lorica Segmentata Progress

2010-03-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I have taken the first steps in the making of a Leather Lorica Segmentata, I am not sure how it will turn out, some things are working much better than expected, some things like the lams I am not so sure as they don't layer the same way that steel would being thicker. Also the strapping I am using us much stiffer than the strapping used on an normal steel Lorica.

My pattern. I had this assembled at Christmas but didn't get to anything els until a few weeks ago.

Here is the right side, I think I should have stained it before assembling.

I water hardened the leather to help it keep its shape.

This so far has ten me about a week for the side, it is a lot of work (still not s much as cain but all the little peaces take time, I also took hours at points just sitting there trying to figure out how to assemble it. It is like a big puzzle.) Hopefully I will be able to get the other side done in another week or so.

Yet Another Hat

2010-02-26T17:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't quite got it figured out... This one is the right size up top I think, but a bit short, and the bill is crooked... Not sure why. Definitely the best so far...

Cuff Armor Prototype

2010-02-23T21:22:00.000-08:00

I found a intractable for fingerless gloves the other day. I really like fingerless gloves, I have pare of light leather ones I fight with all the time and love, they offer some protection against burns, still allow good grip and are stylish. But I would like to have bit more coverage and maybe some thicker protection on top. So I am thinking of using parts of this pattern to make a armored glove (Nija Brig stile). This is my first prototype, I like the feel and look of it so far.

I will probably have 3 or 4 leather plates sewn in to pockets, I might think about some thumb protection, and might add a velcro (or some other kind) fastener at the wrist.

Wallet Pouch

2010-02-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

I made my fighting pants without pockets, which leaves me in a predicament as what to do with my car keys and wallet. They are always ending up on the ground or out in the open where anyone could snatch them. I used to have some pouches for my belt, but the wallet was to heavy (but not with cash!) and they eventually broke.

So I finally decided to make a new pouch out of scraps for my wallet and keys. I also decided to forgo the belt loops and just attach ties to it. When it is tide around my waist the mouth of the pouch is tight so there is no danger of anything falling out.

Thinking on Leather Armor

2010-02-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I was hoping to post something more here (thus why this post is so late), but I don't think I will be able to get to anything until next weekend. To be honest, I am waffling a bit. See, a few months ago I purchased a side of leather grade armor (12-14oz) from tandy during a sale.

I had intended to try to sell peaces of it to cover the cost and the peace I would keep. But when I got it, I looked at it, I smelled it, I fell in love with it. I didn't want to sell it. I wanted to make a leather Lorica Segmentata.

So far I have printed off patterns from http://www.larp.com/legioxx/lorica.html and traced it on to my side. It takes up about 1/3rd of the side. The most non-squareed side of the side, but still a 1/3rd.

So here I sit looking at it, wanting to cut it up and make some armor, but without the hart to claim 1/3rd of the price of it as privet expense.

Rag Rug Coat Tutorial: prt 2 - Torso

2010-01-25T13:55:00.000-08:00

This is poart two of my tutorial on making a Rag Rug Coat. See party one here: Rag Rug Coat Tutorial prt 1 - Sleeves

The torso peace is the most complicated of the 3 rag rug peaces. It differs from the vest in quite a few ways. First it is not open on any of the sides but ties up in the front giving more protection and isolation. Second, it is open on the top on the shoulders and doesn't work well by itself, but works best with sleeves.

0. Once again we start with two rag rugs, additionally you will need some strips of cloth.

1. Cut a strip of cloth about 2/3 the length of rugs and sew it on the rug as shown. The red dots show where to sew. I did one additional seam for each side than shown above, for strength. I call this peace the spine.

2. Next on each side fold over a pace of cloth the same size as the spine on each side. Unlike the image above fold it over so that there is cloth on both sides.

3. You can see it better here, as well you will see I have added 4 ties to each side. You don't have to use ties, you could use, loops and then lace it up, buttons, zippers or togals.

4. Next you add the shoulder straps to the spine as shown. Don't be afraid to sew zealously here (once yo are sure you have it in the right spot of corse) as this join will take a lot of stress.

5. Next attach the shoulder straps front. I used ties in this image so I can adjust the straps some, but other times I just sew strait on to the back side of the front. Make sue you measure to get the length of the straps right, and test them before you re-enforce the seams. Make them a bit tighter than you think necessary as rag rug will stretch a bit.

6. And here is what it should look like. A belt makes it look nicer.

Rag Rug Coat Tutorial: prt 1 - Sleeves

2010-01-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

This is part one of how to make a Rag Rug Coat Tutorial. A rag rug coat is a 2 pace garment consisting of a front tying torso peace and a sleeve peace. In this tutorial I will cover how to make the sleeve peace. The sleeves are the simplest part of the coat, and as you can see above if you wish can be warn with a rag rug vest, or even by-themselves.

Rag rug garments are warm and breathable, the coat is no exception and is better for cold weather where than the Rag Rug Vest. Rug garments also provide a good bit of padding, so work well as a poor mans Gambian ether to simply pad blows or to pad under armor.

1. You will need 2 Rag/Bradded Rugs, one for each sleeve. Fold each in half shot ways.

2. Sew along the doted line. You may be able to sew a bit further toward the torso or may need to leave a bit more room depending on build.

3. The double layered rug is very thick, you may want to loosen the pressure of your foot on your sewing machine to get over it better. I did a straight line seam and then a zig zag over that for strength.

4. Next place the 2 completed togather as shown. You want to make a bit of V shape. The angel of the V should by stronger in the back then on the front seam (or the back will bulge a bit). I recommend only doing on seam on each at first as you may want to adjust. The Back seam should also be a bit longer than the front.

After you are sure you have the angel right sew it good at a lot of pull pressure is on these seams. If you can also try to sew over multiple stands of cloth for strength or the rug may begin to separate over time.

That is it. If you have any question, post a comment I would be more than happy to try and clarify anything.

Rag Rug Vest/Tabard Tutorial

2010-01-11T14:51:00.000-08:00

Finally a tutorial on Rag/Bradded Rug fashions!

You will need 2 Bradded Rugs for this project.

Here is what a the Bradded Rug looks like. As you can tell it is quite thick and has a nice texture.

1. Placing the rugs back to back you will sew along the doted lines. Be sure to leave enough room for your head. The lines shown here are a little tight for me, I would not make them any closer togather.

2. The double layered rug is very thick, you may want to loosen the pressure of your foot on your sewing machine to get over it better. I did a state line seam and then a zig zag over that.

3. You will end up with something like this. This side is the inside of the vest. If you want you can call this done here.

4. However, I added one more seam. On the front of the neck I folded the edge over and inside and sewed it flat.

5. And here is the finished product.

Related posts:
More Rag Rug Garb Rag Rug Coat

Another Hat

2010-01-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

And we are back from the holidays! I got depressingly little crafting and making done over the last 2 weeks. But I did get to something last night, I took another go at a hat. This time bit more complicated.

1. I used one of my favorite hats as visual pattern. Looking at it and doing aproximate measurements of all the peaces. (I used an appropriately sized plate for the top pattern)

2. I used leather from a old leather jacket I got from a thrift store. And traced my paper patterns on with a sharpie pen I got for christmas.

3. I used the had once again to look at how the thing was sewn togather and mimicked it as best I could. It turned out pretty good. But unfortunately, it is a fair bit to big. Next time I will need to take off about 1/4" around all the peaces I am thinking.

Mary Christmas!

2009-12-25T09:08:00.000-08:00

Mary Christmas!

5ft Spears

2009-12-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

I made 2 new spears with a poof football I bought wile I was filming a documentary in the states. They are 5ft cores and the same size as my origonal 5 1/2ft spears. You can see them side by side, light grey cover with painted brown shafts. Looking a lot more like spears. I now have 7 spears. I like spears more than swords, even though they are a bit more expensive, they last longer. These new spears use 100% reclaimed foam in the form of ether un-usable scraps or salvaged sword blades from broken swords.

Pillbox style hat

2009-12-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to make us one of these hats for myself for a long time. We use them at the passion play every year and I really like their look. This one is a bit basic, and a snap to make.

As you might be able tell, I made it just a bit to big.

The black fabric is let over from my pants.

The top brown fabric is left over from my tunic.

Leather Helm: Type A - Part 2

2009-11-30T13:58:00.000-08:00

Ah! Just realized I had not written this post yet! I was wondering why blogger wasn't auto posting it.

To make my pattern I started with paper that looked like cross. It was in the shape of the most leather I know I could use. From there I worded on getting the seam from face to top to shape nicely to my face. I taped it togather to make sure it would work. If it wouldn't work or only just barley worked with paper I knew it would not work with thick leather. did a lot of trimming and re-taping at this stage.

Once I cut it out and drilled the holes I sewed it togather with some special ultra strong thread. All the threading it doubled. I then made a skirt of chain mail and linked it to the threading I had done on the outside edges. It felt kind of incomplete without it.

Then I used wood stain to die it. Now I should have done the stain before the chain... but I had lost the stain for a wile, got impatient and added the chain first.

Here you can see it finished. I was happy with the staining, this is the first time I have got the uneven stain strokes to work right.

Check out some of my other leather working tutorial that apply to this one:

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Paint it

Leather Bracer: Basic

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Stain it

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Burning it

Leather Helm: Type A - Part 1

2009-11-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I rediscovered my leftover scrap of leather. I have wanted a helm for a long time, helmets just add that extra something to a worriers look. With or without armor, helmets look cool. I wanted to have some face protection for defense from those pesky projectiles and stray face shot from swords.

I wont promise that this will be a master peace, for instance, I learned that I need to find something better than aviation snips to cut my leather with. THey just cant do the details on the thicker parts.

You will need a peace of 12+ oz leather to have a helm that counts as armor in Belegarth. You will also need: paper pattern, pencil or pen, cutting device (like aviation snips).

My peace of leather was quite small, and mis-shaped. I could only get one grieve out of it or barley two bracers if i had wanted. I was amazed as how much helm I got. I experimented a fair bit to make the pattern. I started with a paper cross as big as I knew that I could get away with, the began to cut away at it to make the shape, continually taping it togather and testing, thin taking it apart and adjusting.

I traced it with pencil, but because the camera could not see the pencil like I traced it again with pen.

I cut it out with aviation snips, and tried a hack saw, but it didn't work all that well ether. But it did get done.

Since I am going to be lacing this helm togather I used an electric drill to make holes every 2cm along every edge of the helm.

To be continued.

Topsite.UltimateSwordFighting.com

2009-11-18T09:21:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, we are now listed on Topsite.UltimateSwordFighting.com as you might have seen by the counter on the right of the page. Please go to Topsite.UltimateSwordFighting.com and vote for us, right now we are #2 lets see if we cant get to #1!

Team Tabards

2009-11-16T11:01:00.000-08:00

I made up these tabards with the remains of the green and purple cloth I had got from Mog to make the other tabards I posted. They are what I call "sports tabards", more commonly known as skinny tabards. The idea is they can be used to help differentiate teams at practices.

The little orange things are rope flags. The Airdrith logo is acrylic paint, and the black stripes are spray paint.

Edit: It took me a few hours to make the green tabards and a few to make the purple tabards, and were made very quickly. As I didn't want to spend much time making them (and was short on bias tape), the first few tabards have simple single folded edge with a zig zag pattern. However I got brave a pulled out the hemming foot for my sewing machine and within a few tabards had figured it out. It makes wonderful tight little hems.

Pro Foam Fighter: Foam Tech - Mog's Cover Design

2009-11-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

Ok, I made this up the other day, depending how things go I might make some more and turn it in to a series of sorts. As far as I know the sword cover method shown in this video is original, I have never seen it on another weapon before. I really like it, and hope to cover my future weapons in this manor as the benefits are so large.

If you want to know how to install grommets or eyelets see my tutorial: Eyelets Are Easy

Ax Hammer finished!

2009-11-03T08:12:00.000-08:00

You may remember this Ax Hammer from way back in January:

Well, I finally got to gluing it the other day, and it has become our realms favorite weapon. It is a lot of fun to fight with.

The cover was a bit of a tricky job, and done in a rush, so not as good as it could have been.

More Rag Rug Garb

2009-08-31T21:56:00.000-07:00

I am wondering about selling them online, what price would you expect to see somthing like this for?

The plain color rugs have been out of stalk for a wile so I got some more scrap rugs to try some other things:

A Rag Rug Tabard/Vest:

I have been wearing this one under my chain mail, and man does it make good padding! I can hardly feel the chain anymore when hit hard, where as before a hard strike to the edge would put me on the sidelines for a short bit (Oriental 4 in 1 half vest).

And I have made a sort of poncho that can go with it (or the base peace of the coat), didn't turn out quite as I had hoped so I am going to get some more at some point and try again. I have yet to need to wear it (our warm weatherjust decided to hit-ish).

7' Spear

2009-07-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

From Stuff Maker Blog

7' about, brown wood stain on white hockey tape. Used a poof football for the tip I got in LA for $4 just for this.

Rag Rug Coat

2009-07-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

Here is jacket I made out of 4 Rag Rugs from Dollarama. I have a few other designs I plan to try some other designs as well, if things go well I might try and sell some.

From Stuff Maker Blog

Pavilion Tent Test

2009-07-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

I had my tent up for 3 full days this last weekend with its new modifications, it held up very well, it never got that windy, but it was reassuring to see that it did not blow down!

This is the new setting up system I made, I can now set up and take down the tent myself in about 15 min without any help or trouble, except on the windiest days.

Still need a few modifications yet, but it is getting there.

New Sword

2009-06-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I sat down and made a sword out of the first half of the fiberglass core got a few weeks ago. I love it.

It comes in at around 32" despite the fact I cut it at 27". There is a stabbing tip on it, but I am thinking it is not soft enough. My next sword will be shorter and have a stabbing tip in Darr's design I think.

I used white hockey tape and wood stain to get the brown. I hope it holds up because I love the look.

The grip was first obliged with foam strips and for 7g tier weights. Then wrapped in thick rope (same stuff on my longer brown sword), then wrapped in white hockey tape stained and then in leather from an old leather jacket. It is quite nice.

Thoughts?

A Tunic & Tabard

2009-04-12T19:18:00.001-07:00

Well, with our event coming up quickly and expecting a large % of new people in attendance without any garb, we felt the need for a lot of loaner garb. So one of our members got a LOT of fabric in 4 colors at fabric land to make some in exchange for a tunic for himself. So last week I made 4 fancy ones, and still have a lot of fabric left for more.

Here are some picts:

And the tunic I made for Moginheden:

Mexico House

2009-03-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

For the last 10 days I was away to the south. Our church took 65 teens (total group of 75) to mexico to build houses of over spring brake! In 5 days we had built 5 homes for 5 families. It was a fantastic experience!

Making a Knights Helm

2009-03-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this video is not the making of a Knights Helm:

But it is by the same guy as this video: http://www.armuredube.com/armuredube.com/Armet_vidéo.html

I love watching armor get made. Call me crazy, it should be boring as anything, but I love it and sit there watching forever. And yes, the video of the making of the "Knights Helm" does indeed take forever. But it is worth it! Enjoy!

P.S. These videos are pretty much tutorials without words, so if you ever wondered how they do it...

Chain Mail Progress

2009-03-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

So, this is a bit belated, but over the Christmas holiday I made my brothers chain mail I had given him a year before wearable again. I had given it to him half finished, and worked on it of and on. Unfortunately in an error in judgment I made it unwearable at one point for much of the year by making a flap on one side thus making it un even and un evenly distributing the weight. To top it off, I ran out of wire (1/4 mile) and everywhere was sold out for months! Well, he can where it again, and it is long enough to so that a belt can be worn with it now to, which makes it not flap around so much. Looks good if I do say so myself.

^New^ click to enlarge ^Old^

A swords guts.

2009-03-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry all, this is not the post I intended to make this week, but the week got away from me! So in lue of what I meant to post here is 2 photos of swords I have made. One showing their construction (glued), and the the other with covers. If you ever wondered what a swords guts looked like, now you know. :)

Full size

Full Size

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Paint it

2009-03-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

Another option for coloring your armor, is to paint it.

Acrylic paint can be purchased for $1 or $2 at most dolor stores, craft shops, and stores like WallMart.

I did not paint over the stain. But made sure not to stain the parts I intended to paint, so I painted directly to the leather.

Now, I used a clear sealer paint stain stuff over both bracers. The one reacted oddly. The sealer is even, but the color under became strange. I still don't know why. I believe the sealer will keep the paint longer, but it does seem a bit unreliable in result.

Some things to remember:

Paint thin, to thick and it will make it easier to chip.
Paint will not last as long as die or stain
Avoid painting high impact and friction arias.

Cheep Club and Flail - Progress 2

2009-02-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

Tutorial: Take a stick covered in foam. Rub it on your face. Valah! You have a ugly stick!

Monster Helm Design

2009-02-21T12:12:00.000-08:00

The other day I decided to make up a helm pattern. A realm mate of mine was wondering about helm ideas, and since he is the monster type I decided to make a mock up monster helm. I am now growing very fond of it myself, and think I might just make one for myself at some point.

It needs some revisions ATM, the back of the helm particularly, but also the chin needs more coverage, and the forehead part needs some stream lining. I also have some ideas for the teeth.

When I first made it I expected it to have horrible visibility on account of the teeth, but they are a non factor really, and because of the wide mouth, you have very good prifial vision.

A Tutorial By Arrakis: Making Your Own Bias Tape

2009-02-13T10:28:00.000-08:00

This tutorial os posted with permission, originally posted here.

Ever want to seal your hems in a really easy, really clean way? Double-fold bias tape is one very good solution! But it's expensive to purchase, most of the time, and often hard to match to your fabric (unless you want contrasting tape). So, make your own! Here's how I do it:

(I think I've seen ways to do continuous bias tape, but this method is more than sufficient for most purposes.)

First, get out the fabric you want to turn into bias tape (any width or amount is fine). Get out a good pair of scissors, a ruler, and your trusty framing square (you DO have one of those, right?).

Next, mark a 3" wide strip of fabric on the bias (at 45 degrees to the weft and weave of the fabric; just do forty-five degrees from the selvege edge. An easy way to find 45 degrees is to measure the down the length of the fabric from one corner and make a mark there at the width of the fabric [typically 58 or 44 inches]. A line drawn to the opposite corner from that mark is a 45 degree line). I draw a 45 degree line through one corner and then make a few marks at 3" in from that line. Then, I lay my framing square and strike a line. Chalk works well for me.

Cut your strip out:

Trim the ends to squares.

Now, get out your iron (you've got one of those, too, right?) and put a little water in it. This is the part that puts most people off of making bias tape, but it's really not hard.

Now, fold your fabric strip in half like a hot dog bun and press it closed. Pressing is like ironing, but don't just slide the iron down the length; pick it up and press it down, then lift it back up, scoot down some, and press it back down, and repeat. That will prevent the tape from warping.

This will result: (This is called single-fold bias tape, by the way.)

Now. Open your folded strip up partway and fold each edge of the fold in to meet the crease in the middle.

Now, close the fold you've already ironed. You should have this:

Iron the whole thing flat. You should now have a piece of double-fold bias tape! It will be four layers of fabric thick.

To use double-fold bias tape, just wrap the main fold around the edge of whatever you want to seal and stitch it down! The fact that the tape is cut on the bias means that it will curve around even heavily curved edges.

That way, you bind the entire edge such that no unfinished edges are still exposed. Your garment will not have little stringy bits falling off all the time, won't rip from the edges in, and won't unravel when you wash it.

Good luck making and using your very own custom bias tapes!

(Garment shown is my new gambeson (still in progress).

Roman Camping Gear and more!

2009-02-09T09:18:00.001-08:00

Check this thread out from the Dagorhir Forums! Very cool stuff being posted. http://www.dagorhir.com/forums/index.php?topic=12054.0

Some links posted during the discussion:
http://www.florentius.com/tent.htm
http://web.utk.edu/~cohprima/tent.html
http://web.utk.edu/~cohprima/loculus.html
http://www.geocities.com/zozergames/roman4.html

Cheep Club and Flail - Progress

2009-02-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

I am in the process of making a mace/club and a bag head flail. These are a bit of an experiment, I am trying to make them as economically as posable. I am using pool noodle a lot on these. Wile pool noodle is alone not high enough quality to hold up in combat, however, I think under certain conditions it is a suitable construction material.

Ax Hammer

2009-01-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

I spent all Saturday designing cutting and taping what will be one beast of a Red weapon! I was inspired (as I believe many were) to create such a weapon after Arrakis Posted his hammer ax design on the web. I am very pleased with the way mine is looking so far. I always take one day assembling and cutting my peaces and another day for gluing. Masking tape is a fantastic tool.

I was tempted just to go with a mini glaive, as after the 4rth blade layer it appeared to be functional. So all the that ax and hammer nonsense on the is extravagant show. This will probably be my most expensive weapon, costing over $20 in materials so far... (that makes me feel sick...)

From Stuff Maker Blog

My Ax as it is so far...

Arrakis' design

Links Tunic

2009-01-24T10:40:00.000-08:00

My apologies for the lack of posts the last wile, I have some things to show ,but life is busy, and one of the cameras with pictures on it... I can't find the USB cable for to get the pictures of it. OY!

However, despite all that I I have something to post! See I remembered that I had not shown you something I made for my brothers birthday back in june! A Link Tunic (From the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princes) . This is one of my best peaces of garb I have made I think. I Did my absolute best to get as close to the actual thing I could.

The Fabric was in the Fabric Land Bargain Bin, and I believe, from what I can tell it is actualy a linen! So I was pretty exited!

Ok, use this image as Legend to show all the details I attempted to replicate on this tunic.

This little "flap" covers the end of the split in the sleeve, and adds a lot of character.

The top of the sleeve is not sewn together but rather left split and hemmed. And then "laced up", the holes for the lacing up are offset from each-other to create this unique look.

The Neck is one of the only places I didn't duplicate the large stitching with leather lacing. The Leather lacing is fairly stiff, and would have been uncomfortable. Even so, I think I did a fairly good job replicating the look.

All the hems were don inside out, if you look at the art above, you will see that the edges are all very thick, and have some fanys. I decided the best way to replicate this was with a thick hem.

5.
One of the most interesting things I think, about Link's tunic is how the sides are not sewn up, but left open and hemmed, then laced up in 2 places on each side.

Ok, stop looking, there is no #6! I just wanted to point out a few other things here. One being the nice texture of the material and how nice the seems look (I am very proud of those!). The other is the thread. I didn't match the thread exactly for 2 reasons, the first being, I didn't have matching thread. The Second being, I never match thread. Why? Thread of a slightly contrasting shade or color, adds a bit of detail to a nice seam, and a bit of character on top of that.

Ok, that is all for now!

New Pants

2009-01-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, not much to give you here, but I finally made some pants for my self.

I am quite happy with them.

I used the same pair of pants I liked before they were ruined beyond repair, and have used as the pattern for most all my other pants, as the pattern.

I think my sewing has improved, the lines are striater, and everything in general just looks better.

PVC Armor Stand

2009-01-05T20:23:00.001-08:00

I was looking on the Armor Archive and saw that someone had posted a tutorial for a PVC Armor stand. I think I will more than likely take a go at myself!

Disclaimer: This isn't my tutorial, I did not make it, the link below to the tutorial is not my site.

View the tutorial here: http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=91358

Marsh Mellow Blaster

2009-01-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

Not exactly on topic with the blog, but I did make it. For Christmas the hole family got Marsh Mellow Blaster parts and instructions to make the gun. They shoot mini Marsh mellows very far, and amazingly accurate as well. I fancied mine up a bit!

Marry Christmas!

2008-12-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

Blessings on you all. I pray you have a very Mary Christmas!

Armor Patterns

2008-12-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

Ok I have been promising a post on patterns. Well here it is!

Well to start off I do a google search and check a few sites that I know of:

http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/

http://armorgeek.com/Default.aspx

And some times these are good enough, and I am finished here. I print it off, cut it out and trace it on to my material.

However. Usually I want to make my own design. So I sue my printed out pattern as a template to start modifying.

Now paper is very playable week substance. So I often I will transfer to cardboard or something else, that wile still payable, give some rigidity to the template. Some people use craft foam.

I always try the template on to see if I like it. If I am not satisfied with the cardboard version, what are the chances that I will be happy with the steel or leather version? Slim. Thats what.

If you will be attaching peaces together (with rivets say) you should always test with your templates first. Even if all you have is tape.

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Stain it

2008-12-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so what if you don't want that lovely skin tone leather, and prefer a more traditional looking leather color. Like brown. Or maybe you want a red, blur or even green color?

Well normally you would have picked up some leather die from the leather shop, but you forgot, or changed your mind on the color. THe leather shop is far away, but the hardware store is right close! So run on over their and buy your self some stain in your desired color!

Some quick tips:

I have been told that stain can make leather stiffer, however, it does very litle of that in my experience.
It lightens a bit as it dries.
Use thin coats, and add multiple coats to get a darker colour.
Stain cost about $6-$8 a mini can, about the same as leather die. When you can, use the real thing.
Spread as evenly as you can, before leaving it to dry (this came be the difference between an hour to dry and 3 days to dry)
Make sure the serfice of the leather is clean.
Don't stain leather that will contact skin (like the back side of a bracer), it will make it rough and uncomfortable.

I use a cheap sponge paint brush that I can throw away afterwards to apply the stain. You can also use an old paint brush, or an old rag to apply the stain.

Here are some picts of my stained leather bracers:

Arderyth in the paper

2008-12-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

Dallas Lammiman, centre, is joined by a group he formed for the purpose of fantasy combat with a midievel twist at Nose Creek Park in Airdrie.

Our local realm of Arderyth, got in the local paper again. A full page this time! Very cool.

View the article here: http://www.airdrieecho.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1339728

A big shout at to Covy Moore for writing such a good article after such a poor interview I gave him!

If you want to discuss this article visit: The forum and the thread made for its discussion by clicking here. Boy, that was way to long...

Garb 101

2008-12-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Burning it

2008-12-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

So you have a Basic Leather Bracer, ok that is good, you are protected for dangerous objects. But what good is it to wear armor if it doesn't look good? No, that what. So here is the first way to make armor fancy!

The main bit to this tutorial is a wood burner. You should be able to find one at a hobby shop, or a quick search online. They plug in, and have multiple tips that screw on.

For this tutorial you need:

A wood burning kit (or a really hot peace of metal)
Leather Armor (to make fancy)
Pencil
Paper
Ruler
A burn proof work space

First things first, you need a design. My "client" wanted a bracer with "a border of curlicues and that sort of thing as well as in the middle put three bobcat faces each above the other." So, lets start with the bobcat faces.

I did a quick google search, for bob cat faces, same up with some lame results, except for the bob car printed on the upper part of the pace in the pict above.

I wanted it more front facing, so I made a grid using a ruler. The grid is made of .5' squares.

I draw half my bobcat face in the grid. Then using the grid as a guide I draw the other half.

The grid is important. I is a techequ I learned about when studying ancient egypt.

Make a grid on the armor with a pencil.

It is kind of hard to see, but, I have used the grig to help transfer the image from the paper to the leather.

Ok as for the edges, the client requested curlicues. I gave his some options and he asked for #4. I draw everything on with pencil.

Ok, now back to the bobcat face. I decided to go with another method for tracing them on. I made up the faces on my computer, scaled two of them down a bit, so that they get smaller each face.

I cut them out. and taped them with very little tape. I then traced the faces on. and then removed the paper cut outs.

Once the wood burner is hot, you don't have to press hard to get a nice burn. If you press hard, you will indent the leather and get a darker burn. However, it will make a lot more smoke and stink more.

I simply traced the lines with my fine point tip, then used the wide tip to fill in the faces.

The smell is smiler to cooking/toasting meet. And not to bad.

Here is the fist face done.

And all 3 done.

Here is another bracer I did, telling a story.

Burning Leather

2008-12-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

I will do a tutorial on this in the future, but for now, here are my test results.

Leather Bracer: Basic

2008-12-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

^ The Bracer this tutorial results in ^

So, first off you need some leather. I play in BMCS so I need 12oz leather min, for the rules, if you are playing any game were you need actual impact protection, go with 12 oz or higher. Many LARPs and Boffers don't have such strict requirements, so you can get away with much thiner leather. But even then you may want a bit thicker, as it just feels more like armor.

For this tutorial you need:

12oz leather
Aviation snips
Pattern (provided)
Pencil
Electric Drill, and Bit
Something to lace them up with

Ok so first off, I traced my bracer pattern on to my leather. I traced in to the back side of the leather. The pattern I used is a modified version of this one from the armor archive.

Pattern I modified.

Use the Aviation snips to cut it out. Ok, so it is a bit of work to cut it out, but, not nearly as hard as steel.

Next I decided on the lacing pattern I wanted to use, and drilled the holes. As you can see I marked the holes, and have wood block under the leather so I don't reck the floor. It was surprisingly easy.

Here you have it, now just add laces, and you have functional basic leather bracer!

Edit: I don't know why, but I always seem to get the holes wrong. See how far the first lacing hole is from the "wrist end" of the bracer? That = bad, I will probably have to drill another hole. The way I here it here, the bracer will slide down the arm until the wrist lace hole is over the wrist, the causes the bracer to restrict wrist movement.

Stile'n!

Edit: I have edited the post add-ign a few comments.

Leather Armor, coming soon!

2008-12-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

I got some leather! Whoohooo! Apparently Calgary has a Tandy Leather Factory I didn't know about. THis makes me very happy.

I got an ugly peace of 12-13oz leather, but I think it is beautiful! I can't wait to make some armor out of this!

Armor Stand

2008-11-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

I have often wanted a stand for my garb and armor to be displayed on, rather then just hiden away in my closet.

Now what I would really like is a quality mannequin, but, those are pricey beyond belief, and I can build an armor stand. Now, don't get to exited, I probably wont for a wile yet still, but I came across a good design for one today I though I would share.

Click here to visit the site it is from.

Strathclyde Resource Store

2008-11-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

"Strathclyde has just taken one giant step in the Belegarth world, proving that we are very serious about what we are doing, and committed to doing it with excellence."

Introducing the Strathclyde Resource Store!

I have been spending the last few weeks working on something very cool, something I think is groundbreaking, and the likes of which Belegarth has, up till now, not seen anything like (at least, to my knowledge)! The Strathclyde Resource Store provides downloadable content and recourses to help supply realms, units and fighters, new and old with what they need to take things to the next level.

We have a dream of Alberta being a Belegarth icon, leading the way in this great game and sport. This is just the first step of many toward that goal.

Asides from the store opening itself, we are taking things even further, simultaneously releasing another ground braking product. The New Realm Starter Kit which is also a ground braking product, giving realms a jump start and that little bost they need to get off the ground. "The kit will be constantly evolving and expanding as we find new resources to add, in fact we are already looking at some exiting new additions that might be added as soon as January!"

Very cool, check it out!

Lest we forget.

2008-11-11T12:20:00.001-08:00

I found an interesting article that I think is worth reading regarding Canadian Remembrance day. Read here. Here are some bits:

I didn't get a poppy this year.

I didn't get one last year, either. In fact, this is my fourth straight year without a poppy. It's one of those little things that you take for granted until you leave home, like a Louisiana native who can't find good crawfish in Chicago, or an expatriate German who misses the sausages from home. But this isn't about food. It's about my poppy.

Unless you are Canadian, or have visited Canada in early November, you have no idea what I'm talking about.

...

So why poppies? Why not roses, or tulips, or daisies?

Poppies have a tendency to flourish in lime-rich soils. During the Napoleonic wars and World War I, heavy bombardment caused the destruction of many limestone buildings, creating the ideal conditions for widespread poppy growth on the killing fields. This spectacle caught the attention of Brigade Surgeon John McCrae, who served with the Canadian Field Artillery in Ypres, Belgium. Dr. McCrae spent 17 days at Ypres, tending to wounded and burying the dead during one of the bloodiest battles of World War I. His poem, originally titled We Shall Not Sleep, was published in 1915 and had an immediate impact on those who had lost loved ones.

...

Canada suffered tremendously in World War I. One Canadian out of a hundred died in the war, on a battlefield far from Canada's shores. Picture a modern-day war – if you dare – where 3 million American soldiers die in combat, and you start to understand the magnitude of the sacrifice.

Steel Greaves

2008-11-06T08:54:00.001-08:00

greave |grēv|
noun historical
a piece of armor used to protect the shin.

ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French greve ‘shin, greave,’ of unknown origin.

There are a few peaces of armer that get used most, Bracers, and Greaves. The Bracers protect your forearms and wrists, and the Greaves protect your shin aria. These arias are quick and easy targets, and although not usually fatal on there own, will usually decide a fight.

For this project I used all of the techniques in these previous tutorials:
Cutting Steel With a Jig Saw - Making a Simple Pauldron: Pt. 1
Smoothing jagged edges - Making a Simple Pauldron: Pt. 2
Rolling Edges - Making a Simple Pauldron: Pt. 3
Basic Forming with a Hammer - Making a Simple Pauldron: Pt. 4
Hammer Forming - Making a Rerebrace: pt. 2
Hammer Forming 2 - Making a Rerebrace: pt. 3

Here is the Pattern traced on to the steel. And the equipment I used.

See how I expect it to fit. A article on patterns coming soon I promise!

So, not a lot of pict (I for got sorry!), but here they are under construction. I broke a jig blade an dulled another one cutting these out, don't know why it was so hard.

And here they are finished!

Ask questions as needed.

Armor concept design

2008-11-06T08:53:00.000-08:00

I was inspired by a guy in the Dag boards, named Lizerd King, armor. It was a leather brig mantel. It reminded me of Egyptian mantel armor. It got me thinking, and I liked it. It was good shoulder and upper torso protection, could have good mobility and would be made cheeper, possibly with scraps. The more I thought of it, the more I liked it.

Anyway, I got carried away. And ended up designing an armor concept, that I may try some day in the future when I get the money for leather.

I think the "plates" of leather on the mantel would be thinner (width not thick) to give better movement, and maybe sectioned in to 3 from neck hole to edge rather than 2.

What do you think of it? Is it good? Bad?

Also I make fantastic food.

2008-11-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

Also I make fantastic food.

From Stuff Maker Blog

My boffer armory

2008-10-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

Ok here are some Pictures! Whoohoo!

Here is Jesse holding my 8ft+ spear. Jesse fights with us in Belegarth on fridays.

And here I am in may garb, with my "revitalized" short spear. Note the stile'n greaves. I Made this week. More on this in a later post.

And here is my Armory. Short: 1 Short sword (in my sword belt) and a jav (lost in the park, but found by a nice kid who returned it to me).

In total I have:

three 4ft Javs

two 5ft spears

one 8ft spear

one spike (dagger)

one long-er sword

two medium swards

three short short swards

one Mallet/hatchet

one curvy sword (for sale)

one flail

one red sword

one PVC bow and arrow (not bel legal)

Where have I been?

2008-10-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

I apologize for my lack of posts lately, not only have I been very busy, but I have not been working on making much lately. Along with that I have been without a camera for the last few weeks. I hope to nab one soon here to get some post up of what I have been working on.

Right now I am working on a pair of steel greaves, as well I have made some foam weapons in the least few weeks, and will be making some more soon, so hopefully there will be some foam something tutorials up soon. Have patience I there is some good content coming... as soon as I get a camera!

The Rope Maker

2008-10-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

The other-day I was at an alberta history place, and there was a guy making rope. I was very intrigued, and after spending a bit of time at the both, I decided I want to make my own rope making contraption! IT is pretty simple, and I took picts of everything, here they are:

The tools are not to complicated. Hopefully a tutorial on how to make one of these and how to make rope with it will soon be on the way in the coming months!

Report on Zotefoams from Mountain Equipment Co-op

2008-10-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

So I went to Mountain Equipment Co-op over the weekend to examine and pickup some foam. So here are my findings!

First off, the Blue Foam and the Evazote foam appear to be suitable foam for weapon construction, they are both a bit softer but spring back right away, and are not prone to easy damage.
Yo can see the cells easily in the blue foam, but not in the yellow stuff. However, to the touch, the yellow is defiantly tougher than the blue.
.5cm is really to thin, I think you would have to double it up, but the bum pad foam is thick enough. Also, there we an even thicker Evazote pad at the store (that wasn't on the site) for $33. It looked like it was probably .5" and would defiantly work, though would make larger weapons.

I purchased the $22 Evazote yellow 1cm thick pad. I beleve it will work just fine.

Mountain Equipment Co-op requires you to present $5 membership in order to buy anything. Just a heads up.

So, for all you Albertans, (and Canadians) rejoice! There is at least one place in country you can get suitable foam!

Why are there no new posts?

2008-10-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

I must apologize guys, time has just not been on my side for the lest few weeks, I haven't been able to make anything at all, which I kinda need to do to post anything. I probably won't be able to get anything done this week, hopefully you will see a post by mid week next week.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Small Pavilion Tent: Step 6 - The Center Pole

2008-09-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

This tut has been unusually difficult to put together, and as such it is likely I missed some things and possibly am not as clear as I could be at times, so pleas feel free to ask for clarification if needed!

With a single pole pavilion tent, it just follows that the center pole is the most important part of the structure, it really holds the hole thing together. Mine is made to split in to 2 parts, and is really, rather simple.

Supplies:
I started with a 10' 1.5" hard wood pole. 10' because I designed my tent to be 10' high.
I bought a thing called a ________. I found it in the plumbing section of Home Depot.
I also found a dowel in my basement.

Tools:
Wood/Carpenters Glue
Power Drill
Drill Bit the size of the dowel
Sander
Saw

The ____ is the key to the center pole. Here is what it looks like, I could have got a longer one, but would not wont to get one much smaller. It is really just a copper tube with a lip.

Pay careful attention, this sounds a bit complicated but really isn't. The hub will sit on top of the "lip" of the ______ (The coper pipe). The outer diameter of the _____ is exatly 1.5", same and as the center pole, meaning the inner diameter is a wee bit smaller. This is good, this means that it cant just slide down the pole, I have to do a bit of sanding to get it to slide on.

I want the pole to split in to two peaces for transport, so I want to cut the pole in two.

I want the hub and spokes to sit 6' above the ground, however I want the bottom part of the pole to only slide half way up the ______ (the coper pipe).

So I sanded and end of my pole down to it would fit about half way in to the tube, when I had the tube on as far as it would go I measured 6' from the tube lip down the pole to find out where I would cut! Simple!

In order to keep the roof on, the top of the center pole needs a little peg. I used a dowel I found in my basement cut it at about 4" and then drilled a hole about the same diameter about 2 1/2" deep. I used wood glue to make it stay put.

And that is it! Naturally I sanded all the rough ends to make them smooth and not so splintery.

Where to Buy foam

2008-09-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

Ok first off, sorry I missed a post, I am trying to get a tutorial on the center poles of the tent up, but I need some more picts and some other things that are holding that up, hopefully by friday.

In other news, I have been looking for foam to make weapons with! As you may know Walmart stopped selling their Ozark Trail brand Blue Camp Pad last fall, and we have been looking for replacements ever since, well I might finally have some answers! Most of them being on line stores, but, if you live near Calgary or Edmonton, I may have another solution.

Unfortunately, I have had to guess what the shipping is for canada, and from the few rplys to my inquires I have received, I guessed to low.
Also, unless otherwise stated, the prices are amused to be in US dollars.

Edhellen 2lb. Single Layer Foam

20x72"
$12 + aprox. $10+ Shiping = $22
$2.20 sqft.
______________________________

Foam For You 1/2" Full Plank

24" x 108"
$15.86 + $18 shipping = $33.86
$1.88 sqft
______________________________

REI.com

24x75"
$23 + aprox. $10 Shiping = $33
$2.64 sqft
______________________________

Zotefoams Blue Foam Sleeping Pads

This foam looks promising, though it is a wee bit thin, but not much, I have yet to see it first hand (but will be checking it out soon!). However, the store that caries it can be found in Calgary and Edmonton!

Zotefoams Blue Foam Regular Sleeping Pad
140inch x 50inch
$12.50 no shipping
$1.65 sqft CAD

Zotefoams Blue Foam Long Sleeping Pad
50x190 inch
$23.00 no shipping
$2.24 sqft CAD

Zotefoams, Bum Pad
50x48 inch
$6.25 no shiping
$2.41 sqft CAD
______________________________

Zotefoams Evazote Standard Sleeping Pad

50x150 inch
$22.00 no shipping
$2.72 sqft CAD

This foam also looks promising, though it is a bit more expensive, I have yet to see it first hand (but will be checking it out soon!). Good news is, the store that caries it can be found in Calgary and Edmonton!
______________________________

And now for a simple overview:

Edhellen
$2.20 sqft

Foam For You
$1.88 sqft

www.rei.com/
$2.64 sqft

Zotefoams Regular
1.65 sqft CD

Zotefoams Evazote Standard Sleeping Pad
$2.72 sqft CAD

There you have it, I will let you all know when I actually check on the Zotefoams.

That is all for now!

Small Pavilion Tent: Letter from Max

2008-09-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

I sent Max an e-mail thanking him for their Max & Mickel's Easy, No-bake Pavilion article, here is the response I got.

Hello Dallas,

Your first camping trip with the new tent was certainly more exciting than most! I'm not sure if my tent has ever seen that kind of wind.

In a 1" flat felled seam each panel goes past the center of the seam by half an inch, and then folds back a full inch from there. That's 1.5" of allowance for a 1" seam. Perhaps the rolled seams you used were different?

Thank you for posting pictures of your tent! I'm glad that my article was useful to you.

Max

Judging from this I would say that I am using a different flat felled seam than they are, and that is probably the main reason for the loose fit of the tent to the frame. So if you decide to follow these tutorials, ether follow Max's description of a flat felled seam or if you follow mine, only give a 1" seam allowance not 1.5".

Small Pavilion Tent: Step 5 -The Spokes

2008-09-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

Now comes that part where I got so rushed I didn't have time to take picture in action, so I have taken some supplementary pictures hopefully they will fill in the gapes well, if not, pleas ask for clarification.

In this Tut I will be making the spokes, the spokes "plug-in" to the hub, and hold the walls and bottom of the roof out away from the center pole.

From Stuff Maker Blog

Ok, and before we get going, here is my tent diagram, the reason I am bringing this up again is you can easily check back here to see where i am getting my dimensions from.

I purchased four 8' poles, these will be my spokes.

They are each 1 5/16"

Ok, this is a supplementary pic. I measured from the center of the center pole hole, 4' out.

I used my jig saw to cut it, but really, any saw will do, a hack saw would work great for example.

I have a jar of odd screws I found 8 longer ones...

..then get out my power drill and bit that matches

And put a screw in one end of each of the 8 poles/spokes

The screws each go through one of the 8 Grommets at the bottom/valence of the roof.

The other end of the spoke needs to be sanded down to fit in the spoke holes in the hub. This will take a LONG time by hand so you will likely want to use some kind of automated sander. You can see the cheep vibrating sander on the left, but personally, if you already have a drill, you could get a drill sander attachment which I prefer, it is cheeper and a lot nicer to use.

Here is a sanded spoke fitting in to a hub.

Ok,that is it. I hope that all made sense!

Small Pavilion Tent: Step 4 -Making a Hub

2008-09-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

Next up, lets look a the hub. The Hub is very important to the structure of the pavilion., and rivals the center pole in importance, as it hold the hole thing together. The walls and roof of the tent are held out by spokes, that are held in place by the hub. Think of a giant wagon weal. The hub rests about 6ft up the center pole, and is what all the spokes are held in place by.

Once again I am extensively using Max & Mickel's Easy, No-bake Pavilion tutorial for my tent. Read it to gain afull understanding of what is going on, and more details I may miss.

Wile Max & Mickel's Easy, No-bake Pavilion suggests against using this method it was the only one I was able to do. I found 4 precut round paces of plywood (or is it chip wood?) at Home Depot for about $5 each, I used carpenters glue (a lot of it to) and glued them together, I was planing on using 3 clamps, but could only find one... So one side is glued better than the other. I was happy with the result, I don't think these will be coming apart... ever. However, I do plan on putting in about 4 bolts (with washers) just to make sure.

Now, the the dowels I am using for spokes are 1 5/16" and the center pole is 1 1/2"

Drill Bits don't come in 1 5/16" sissies however, so I had to settle with 1 1/4" and naturally I got a 1 1/2" bit as well.

Find the middle of the hub (for the center pole) with a math compass (the device on the left), and the angles (for the spokes) with a protractor (the device on the right).

Put on safety gear now! Giant slivers in the eyes is no fun! Also, thicker gloves will help slow the inevitable vibration caused numbing of your hands.

I had to get my mom to hold the Hub wile I drilled, as it wanted to spin.

Drilling the Center pole hole was easy enough, but drilling against the grain of the chip/ply wood is quite a struggle, mess and a work out. My arms were complaining quite a bit afterwards.

I drilled about 2" deep on every hole.

There you have it a hub!

Choosing foam for making weapons: Testing the Foam

2008-09-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

People in my Realm and in Strathclyde in general have been asking about foam, and since Walmart changed brands to World Famous (Junk), I cant just refer them to Walmart, so, here is one thing you need to look for when choosing your foam.

1. The two things you are looking for are first safety, and second durability.

Safety:

The foam needs to be able to condense/claps a reasonable amount and then immediately re-take its original form. In other words it needs to able to soften blow, and then be immediately ready to soften another.

Durability:

Your weapon needs to take a beating, for example, pool noodles are the right kind of foam, but to cheep, they break down within a few short hours of use and become unsafe. If you see damage in foam at all as a result of testing it in store, more on, it ant worth you money.

From Stuff Maker Blog

2. This pict shows the old Walmart Ozark Trail brand (Dark Blue) next to the SuperStore brand (Light Blue). Both are Closed Cell foam, notice however that you can see the cells in the dar foam and not in the light. Look for Foam where you can see the cells.

3. The first test you should do on foam is to press your thumb in to the foam. If it springs back immediately, then you are good to go on to the next test (note how the light blue does not spring back, and shows sines of cell damage, very bad) .

4. The next Test to perform (see video above) is to scrape it with your nail, and maybe try to tear it. If it shows sines of damage, or tears easily, this bodes poorly for its durability.

5. Another thing to consider is how thick the foam is, I would not suggest any thinner than around 7mm or 6/16"

Hope this helps!

Small Pavilion Tent: Step 3 - Grommets are easy!

2008-09-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

grommet |ˈgrämit|
noun
1 an eyelet placed in a hole in a sheet or panel to protect or insulate a rope or cable passed through it or to prevent the sheet or panel from being torn.

Next I put in some 3/4" Grommets, this tutorial will be much the same as my earlier Eyelets Are Easy Tutorial.

We need:

Hammer
Wood Block
Reenforcing thick cloth backing
Swing machine or thread and needle (optional)
Grommets (front and back peaces)
Grommet anvil
Grommet hammering thing
Tent

I purchased a 3/4" Grommeting Kit (with 5 grommets) for about $14 at Home Depot and 4 sets of 10 3/4" Grommets for about $5

From the top hole on the roof I measured and marked 2" on the wight seems and 4" on the green seems.

Now, my tent material might hold, but it might not, I don't want to take the risk, so I am going to back the grommet with some thick durable material to reinforce it and help prevent it from ripping out. See here I have cut a square out a bit bigger than the grommet.

You don't have to sew it on, but I would strongly suggest it, the extra seems with like strengthen the tent.

Now get out that grommiting kit. It looks like a giant eyeleting kit.

THe Grommet kit came with a "punch", which was nice. You need the peace of wood for this bit, you simply hammer a hole for the grommet. However after punching holes for about 15 grommets, it was very dull. Almost unusable. Sizers are your friend.

The hole punched!

Place the front/good/out side of the grommet on the grommet anvil.

Place the hole in your roof on the anvil also so the grommet sticks through. (I put the roof on upside down here)

Place the bottom grommet peace on top of that.

And the hammering thingy on that. Whack the to of the hammering thingy a few times with a hammer.

And you should have this! A nice professional looking grommet!

Here are pict of all 8 of the roof peek grommets in.

Measure the bottom of the roof (the valence) at 12" and mark it.

And add cloth backing and grommets.

Like so.

That concludes this tutorial!

Small Pavilion Tent: Step 2 - The Roof

2008-09-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

This Tutorial will start off from the last paragraph on the post Small Pavilion Tent: Step 1 - Getting started:

Next using the dimensions and instructions from the side above I made this template for the roof peaces. I used the dimensions from my sketchup diagram, and added 1/5" to all edges, which seems like an awful lot, but I guess I will find out why I need it. I also added 1ft to the bottom of the panel.

I used string to find the original dimensions of my sketchup model. Two peaces of string 5' 8" and one 3' 10". tapping this to the paper I then marked 1.5" from all the edges of the string and cut along those lines.

As well as a few other instruction found on Max & Mickel's Easy, No-bake Pavilion page.

After I make my template, I lay it out on my material. I make sure to place it in a way so that I will not be wasting any, as I want to get all 8 roof peaces from it.

I pin the template to the material. The material in this case being the fly of a larger tent.

Next use then sizers to cut out along the edge of the template. These sizers sewing sizers I only use them for cutting material and thread. They are very effective.

Rinse, and repeat.

Lay the two cut out roof peaces over top each-other. The "good sides" or the sides that will be facing outward should be touching each-other. You can see here that both green sides are facing upward, that is because I want a "striped" look to the roof where the panels alternate colors (wight, green, wight, green...).

Pin the side you will be sewing together.. together.

Since I want a 1" flat-felled seam I measure 1" from the needle, and mark it with masking tape.

Move the material up to the tape, the tape will now be your guide. Put the foot down.

Don't forget to back stitch!!!!

There! Sewn together! A seam. Now lets at the flat-felled part.

folding the excess 1" over sew along the outside edge. You will be sewing through 3 layers at this point. After this you could be done, but, lets add just one more seam.

I flip the material over (the "good side" is now facing up) and sewing on the side of the origonal seam. I often use the foot as guide.

When finished I was surpassed and happy with how small the roof compressed!

Fini!

Further Reading:
Here is a tutorial on how to do flat-felled seams

Small Pavilion Tent: Testing

2008-09-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

First off my apologies for not getting a post out on friday, or monday, it was the long weekend, and, I was finishing the pavilion tent on friday. That is right, I made this tent is 3-4 days. It was hard, and a bit of a time crunch, but it got done. I even got to put it up on the week end!

From Stuff Maker Blog

I found that I made the frame a bit to small, although it was exactly measured. Their are several factors that may have led to this:

Max & Mickel's Easy, No-bake Pavilion called for 1.5" of seem allowance, but only for 1" rolled seems.
I was going as fast as I could and a bunch of little missed measurements made it just a bit to big.
I measured a bit to low on the lower roof grommets, about 1" higher would have made a big difference.

I am not sure which one. Also, my dad could not get his camera to focus right, really odd. We made the door just seconds before running out our house door to camp. We made it with 2 ties on each side, it was not hemmed and thus had no seems. A quick temporary fix.

From Stuff Maker Blog

Me and my brother in front of the tent before it got blown over by gail force winds, it felt like we were close to a tornado, but I don't think their was even a funnel cloud...

From Stuff Maker Blog

The storm coming on...

The tent fell down, it held up surprisingly long. We set the tent up not expecting heavy wind (rare for the aria), and the tent door happened to face the wind, and with only 6 places attached to the rest of the tent (at the tope and the 4 side ties) it acted like sail. It blew over. When inspected, there was on real damage to the tent. 6 of the 8 plastic stakes had snapped, the week fiber twine I had used on the stakes had snapped.

I am very happy with the progress, I didn't expect to even be able to set it up before the long week end even if I did, I expected it to fall over. It held up to crazy strong wind for 10-15min before falling over with several big defects, I would say it was a success! And with a few small adjustments it will be able to stand up to almost anything!

I will be posting tutorials on how I made the tent, with tips now how to avoid my mistakes over the next few weeks! stay tooned!

Small Pavilion Tent: Step 1 - Getting started

2008-08-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am finaly just going to up and do it. I am making a pavilion tent. The test vertion befor I make the "good one" and reck it and waste all kinds of money on canvas!

The first thing I did was to collect a few tents, one my parents where going to throw out, and another from a giveaway take away. Cost 0$

Their are several way to hold up a pavilion tent, the main two are by ropes, and the other by a "spoke" design (almost like a wagon wheel). I didn't like the spokes simply because of the amount of space they would take up for travel. So I designed a small tent that used only ropes and one center pole.

As you can see however, the guy wires take up a LOT of extra room, even with my design indented to minimize the extra rope footprint! And the peek is stupid high. Yuck!

After a wile though, I discovered that spoke tents just look batter and can have a much smaller footprint. So I came up with this design. Which is what I will be using.

After a lot of searching I finally found a pavilion tent I like the looks of. Not rally the "looks", but how it is constructed and works.So I will be trying to follow this sites instructions mostly. Max & Mickel's Easy, No-bake Pavilion.
http://www.sacoriver.net/~freegate/Pavilion.html

Next using the dimensions and instructions from the side above I made this template for the roof peaces. I used the dimensions from my sketchup diagram, and added 1/5" to all edges, which seems like an awful lot, but I guess I will find out why I need it. I also added 1ft to the bottom of the panel.

Ok, so that is all I have for now. I am soooooooooo exited! Woohooo pavilion tents!

Designing a collapsible cot like bed help

2008-08-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

Things get crazy around here as the summer draws to a close, and it can be hard to post on time! At least I am still posting on the right day...

On friday I posed about an idea I had for a bed: My chair and a Bed. When explaining it to my dad he said "Oh, you invented a cot! We used sleep on those all the time when I was a kid!" So I did a google search of cots, and yes, that is basically what I dreamed up! Only, I couldn't find one that worked like this. At all. Cool.

Lets start of with a look at my chair. Click on the picts for enlarged versions)

It is a simple chair I got as a gift from some of my film students. A directors chair, or beach chair. What is unique about it is how it holds together.

The seat is canvas, and is pinched between two peaces of wood on each side.

The two peaces of wood are hinged.

The "pinch" is kept tight by the back of the chair. Another pace of removable fabric.

The idea being that you could change the colors of the canvas, or take it off to wash it. It also allows the chair to become quite compact.

So my idea is simple. Why not extend the chair? Maybe widen it a bit to give a bigger sleeping space.

I drew it out on paper:

But then I got thinking, the frame will be fairly long even wile compact and might not fit in a car. Why not make it two paces, wile still only having one peace of canvas, and why not make the legs detachable as well?

After that I used Google Sketch up to make a mockup 3D design (google sketch up is a free 3d program get it here: http://sketchup.google.com/ ).

Over the week end I have already found a flaw, I am quite sure I will need to put on bed ends (a head board and a foot board) basically like the back of the chair, to keep the canvass pined down.

I wont be making this to soon, but it is now defiantly on my list of to make stuff! If you have any ideas on making it better or more efficient, or see any flaws in the design let me know!

I will try and get a tutorial up for Wednesday.

My chair and a Bed

2008-08-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

Well I don't have enough time to wright of a fill post like I planned on this morning, bet let me at least give you something for the weekend.

This morning I woke from a dream. It was about how to make bed. See, I want to make a pavilion tent at some point, and, I think it would be lame to say here is my pavilion tent and it is full of modern looking ugliness. Follow me? Well, one of the things I would to have to go in this pavilion tent, I will one day make, is a bed. However, I, unlike the knights of old, am concerned with space. No, not the space in the tent, but the space it takes to get things places, the space in my car! So, I cant just up and take any bed with me, and I don't want to be using an air mattress on one of those air mattress beds. So what to do?

I have been raking my brain for the last year on how to make a efficient, easy to set up, durable, transportable bed. Well I think I have the answer finally! And it has to do with this chair:

I will now leave you hanging until next week. Start guessing! (AKA: make posts you silly people!)

How Accessories can make bad garb good.

2008-08-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

"How Accessories can make bad garb good" might be a bit deceiving title for this post. Really, "How Accessories can make decent garb look good and bad garb look decent"might be a better tile, but is far to long. In this post I am going to talk about about accessories.

For the purpose of this article we are going steer away from expensive Accessories like armor (which can be can be very Useful, make you more Versatile on the field, and be Attractive) and focus on simple little things that can help transform your garb from second rate, to... much better, maybe even spectacular!

Accessories: a thing that can be added to something else in order to make it more useful, versatile, or attractive.

Why use accessories? Well first of they are easy and cheep. But other than that accessories...

...tell a story about you, giving your garb depth
...are fine details that add richness to otherwise mundane garb
...add functionality to your garb

The first thing to consider when looking for accessories is functionality or Usefulness. For example, I don't have any pockets in my garb pants. I soon realized that I had no where to put my wallet or keys, so the first accessories I acquired were 2 pouches to put on my belt, one for my wallet and one for my keys.

Useful accessories might be:

Pouch, to hold stuff
Chinese hat, keep the sun of
Gloves, if you punch block allot
Satchle (also known as a man purse), for holding even more stuff
Water boatel sling, so you can stay hydrated all the time
etc.

Second we look for what might make us more Versatile. Here we look for things that might make us more versatile on the field. Armor would be under this category. But another example is a sword or dagger belt. I fight with spear often, when a shield man gets to close to me, I can't use my spear anymore, a sword is sufull in these situations, and sword belt gives me one.

Versatile accessories might be:

Sword belt, to hold an extra sword so you are never without
Knee pads to protect your knees
sun glasses to help you see, disguised naturally
Wrist binding if you sword keeps getting cot in your sleeves
etc.

After that we want to look for accessories that are Attractive. Now, attractive doesn't have to mean pretty, but rather that it adds to your "look". At this point we are looking for things that fit you, or your persona. Trinkets, and things that don't necessarily serve any other purpose but for show. Fantasy and historical trapping fit here.

Attractive accessories might be:

Necklace, stay away from plastic, metal links, wooden and glass beads "work" best
Wrist-lit, or just something around your wrist, for example a peace of leather
Sash, you don't have to be a scot to wear on of these. There are many ways to wear a sash and not look skittish at all
Bandana, on your head, your arm, tucked in your belt
Cloth ankle binding, get those baggy pants under control, or just on bear skin, one leg or two!
Extra belts, always look cool, don't limit them just to your waist!
Rope, is it a belt, a wrist binding, or a sash?
Trinkets, medallion, lucky rabbits feet, a little whistle, you name it it works.
Neck scarf, keep the sun of or the cold out!
etc.

When you make your garb, don't just stop at some trousers and a tunic or tabard, add some accessories and make it truly your own!

Extra Reading:

Magpie's Basic Garb Tips (Also, Melannen also has a good reply worth reading.)
Ora's Quick & Easy Garb Some of the simplest garb you can make.
Eriador Garb Requirements Article

Beyond the article:

You might try looking at costumes from movies you enjoyed, or do search on google to get ideas. When you find something you like, take a look, what kind of accessories do you see?

Mini Satchel Tutorial

2008-08-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

First, let me state here right now. I am not teaching you how to use a sewing machine, nor am I even teaching you how to sew. I will show you some thing on my sewing machine, but almost every machine is different so it may not apply to your machine!

Here is the pattern I am using. I made it up.

Pin the pattern to you material.

I am using a fake leather brown vinyl stuff, with a soft backing.

Now... where was I? Right, pin it down.

Now cut it out! Simple!

I had to change my needle to a leather needle. After a lot of fighting with the machine not working. I put the needle in the right way (it was sidewise).

Here is my sewing machine.

Place 2 edges together, the good (what will be the outside) in. the good sides, in my case the vinyl side, should be touching the other good side. The Fuzzy side it out, up and down.

Make sure the foot is down or the seam wont work. Fist pict is the lever that puts it up and dow, the second is the foot in the up position.

There are many kind of seams you can use. U use 6, and 9 predominantly.

here is the trigger for sewing backwards. Sew backwards once as the biging of a seam and once at the end, this will crate a knot that will stop the seam from pulling out.

Once seam done!

See, I am sewing as tight as I feel comfortable going.

All 4 corners done!

Now, I realize I am doing this backwards. I should have done the edges after the in side bit.

Here is what it looks like so far.

Ok, so here I am sewing in the divider.

The divider in. Also you can see the edges rolled over and sewed down giving it a nicer finished.

To secure the flap I used one of my wooden Toggals as aposed to a button.

And see how it works wit the flap.

here is the hole the toggal goes through.

To make it functional you could add a shoulder strap, however I wanted to wear it on my belt.

See here how it is sewn on.

Finish!

Straps - Making a Rerebrace and Making a Simple Pauldron: Pt. 5

2008-08-15T11:00:00.001-07:00

Ok, so lets look at how we put this doggy, or puppy, or whatever, on!

For the straps I used some strapping like material I found at the fabric store. It is just a simple cloth strap. You might also use leather from an old jacket or purses from the thrift store, or even use old belts.
Sew on you buckles before you rivet them on! Just trust me on this one.
You may want to add holes for the buckle using my Eyelets are easy! Tutorial. I just push the buckle thing through my cloth (but this will eventually reck the straps), if you are using leather you could pound a nail through to make holes.
For attaching the straps use my Rivets out of roofing nails tutorial!

Ok, lets look at how a Pauldron attaches to your body.

The Pauldron itself is primarily secured by 2 straps that run across your chest and under the opposite arm pit.

The straps should intersect near the arm pit, but error tward the chest side so you can see them when you are putting the pauldron on. I may at some point put a buckle on, but for now I am just tying it in a bow, and it is working great.

The Rerebrace is attached by ether one or two straps around the arm. The Rerebrace is also attached (not seen here) to the Pauldron, this not only stops the Rerebrace from sliding down the arm, but keeps the Pauldron stable.

Note: See the square buckles? Don't do it. Trust me, us the ones from my Round Buckles Tutorial.

But were exactly should I put the rivets? Where should the Straps attach to the armor? Lets look first at the Pauldron.

Ok, so here is a pict of the top of the pauldron. I would like to comment on where I put my rivets for tying straps that cross my body (under the arm pit). Se how they are side by side, compared to the strap that connects to the Rerbrace? That is a mistake, as it weakens the strap. Oops!

And from the bottom! You can see that I added some padding to make the Pauldron sit better the way I wanted it to. I used out door carpet tape, a double sided tape, to attach it.

And the Rerebrace from the top. Some places I have only one rivet, others I have two. I did this mostly for looks, but you may want to take in to consideration how much stress the strap will be under.

And from the bottom. See how I reinforced the straps with a little bit of leather? I was having trouble with the rivet breaking/destroying my thin cloth strapping. The leather fixed that problem. I got the leather from an old leather jacket from the thrift store.

And here they are fastened to together. I would highly suggest making the strap that conects the two peaces buckled straps so you can adjust it.

Valah! A finished Pauldron and Rerbrace! This concludes the Making a Rerebrace and Making a Simple Pauldron Tutorials. If you have any questions or I forgot something please let me know!

Looking for your Content

2008-08-13T11:00:00.001-07:00

I am looking for your help with the site! I want to see your stuff! I am sending out a call for content! Here are some ideas:

Have you used any of these tutorials (even only a little bit)? Send me a picture of your results!
Have you made something cool you want the community here to see?
Made a cool tutorial?
Seen a good tutorial or tutorial site out there that others might find useful?
Gat a better idea than my lame list?

Then send us picture (or what ever is applicable) all of us here would love to see it!

Also? Happy Birthday to ME! :D

Round Buckles

2008-08-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

To day we make Cib's Round Buckles! These are the most basic buckles I know how to make, they take very little time, are very easy, and seem to hold up very well. As far as I know they are also my original design. Lets get started!

You Need:

REALY Thick Wire (I use 12 Gauge)
Thick Wire (I use 16 Gauge)
Aviation Snips (also known as tin snips)
Gloves
Goggles
3/4" PVC
File (Optional)
2 sets of Pliers (Optionaly get 2 needle nose and one standard one)
Drill
Bit (same size or a little bit bigger than your thickest wire)

1. Take your PVC and drill a hole right through it. You might want to clamp it down, I dont have trouble without clamps though.

And out the other side, like so.

2. Take your thickest wire (12 guage in my case) and thread it through the hole a bit. If this is to hard just quit now. ;)

3. Wind it around the PVC. How many times is totally up to you, how many buckles are you making?

4. Put safety gear on NOW!

5. Cut here..

... and here.

And you will have a nice spring (better known in armor world as coils).

6. Cut them apart. Place a glove over the rings as you cut them, they can (and will) go flying every once in a wile across the room. They can break things.

7. Optionally, you can file the ends to make them flat and fit better.

8. Take ring in pliers like so. I would substitute one of the needle nose pliers for a regular one, much easier.

Was the picture to hard to see? Here is a closer one...

It should look like this !

9. take the thick wire that is not as thick as the thickest wire (16 gauge in my case), thread it through the big ring about this much.

10. Fold it over like this.

Continue to to fold it over till it is like this.

11. Cut off the extra little bit.

And then cut about here.

Vala! A buckle!

Extra reading err... I mean viewing:

How to make a really nice rect buckle out of a nail with nice equipment I don't own. However I would highly suggest you chek out this video to get ideas.

I need your help! Feedback wanted!

2008-08-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

Well it has been 3 months since I started and I think it is time to refocus, see... We have a problem. I am making tutorials faster than I can make stuff!
Well I haven't been able to work on any new stuff for a wile now, and 3 tutorials a week is causing me to run out of material fast. Don't worry I will still have new tutorials for next week. However I am going to have to rethink posting tutorials 3 times a week, probably tapering it down to 2 times a week. Just giving you a heads up. I will still post 3 times a week however, but I need ideas for relevant content.

I want to make this site what you want it to be. So I have some questions:

What do you think of the tutorials? Lame? Good?
What would make you post comments?
What kind of tutorials would you like to see?

So what else would you like to see with this site/blog? Here are some ideas for other things I might like to post on and about:

Cool tutorials from other sites
Reviews on other cool tutorial sites
News from the making stuff world
Your submitted tutorials
Showcase projects you have made using tutorials on this site

Would you be interested in these things? If not let me know! If yes, maybe you have some ideas?

Stuff Maker Blog

Yurt

Weapons Rack

Popular series from the past: N00b Steel Armouring Basics

Steel Greaves

Rivets out of roofing nailsSanding to make it shine (brushed steel look)Round BucklesPVC Armor StandArmor Patterns

Popular series from the past: N00b Leather Armouring Basics

Leather Bracer:Leather Bracer: BasicLeather Helmet:

Popular series from the past: Medieval Pavilion Tent

Popular series from the past: Rag Rug Garb

I am back!

Blog on hiatus until spring

How to make a back flag

Making a Back Flag: Concept

The Boy Mechanic, Volume 1 - 700 Things for Boys to Do

Wooden Khopesh Tutorial

Afghani Dress

My little brother in my Lorcia

Burned Leather Awards

Leather Lorica Segmentata

Stuff Maker Blog now on FaceBook!

Making a Shield - prt.2: The rest

Making a Shield: Cutting the Blanks - prt.1

Foams

More Sword Guts

Simple Bench

2 from one Punch Sheilds

Leather Lorica Segmentata Progress

Yet Another Hat

Cuff Armor Prototype

Wallet Pouch

Thinking on Leather Armor

Rag Rug Coat Tutorial: prt 2 - Torso

Rag Rug Coat Tutorial: prt 1 - Sleeves

Rag Rug Vest/Tabard Tutorial

Another Hat

Mary Christmas!

5ft Spears

Pillbox style hat

Leather Helm: Type A - Part 2

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Paint it

Leather Bracer: Basic

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Stain it

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Burning it

Leather Helm: Type A - Part 1

Topsite.UltimateSwordFighting.com

Team Tabards

Pro Foam Fighter: Foam Tech - Mog's Cover Design

Ax Hammer finished!

More Rag Rug Garb

7' Spear

Rag Rug Coat

Pavilion Tent Test

New Sword

A Tunic & Tabard

Mexico House

Making a Knights Helm

Chain Mail Progress

A swords guts.

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Paint it

Cheep Club and Flail - Progress 2

Monster Helm Design

A Tutorial By Arrakis: Making Your Own Bias Tape

Roman Camping Gear and more!

Cheep Club and Flail - Progress

Ax Hammer

Links Tunic

New Pants

PVC Armor Stand

Marsh Mellow Blaster

Marry Christmas!

Armor Patterns

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Stain it

Arderyth in the paper

Garb 101

Making Leather Armor Fancy: Burning it

Burning Leather

Leather Bracer: Basic

Leather Armor, coming soon!

Armor Stand

Rivets out of roofing nails
Sanding to make it shine (brushed steel look)
Round Buckles
PVC Armor Stand
Armor Patterns

Leather Bracer:
Leather Bracer: Basic

Leather Helmet: