Yurt

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.

Weapons Rack

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

     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.

Popular series from the past: N00b Leather Armouring Basics

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:

Popular series from the past: Medieval Pavilion Tent

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)

Popular series from the past: Rag Rug Garb

     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.

• Rag Rug Vest/Tabard Tutorial
• Rag Rug Coat Tutorial: prt 1 - Sleeves
• Rag Rug Coat Tutorial: prt 2 - Torso

I am back!

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

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

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.

Making a Back Flag: Concept

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:

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

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

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.

Afghani Dress

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). 

My little brother in my Lorcia

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

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

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!

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

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

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!