The week of (frantic) costuming
Most of you know, I took all of this week off to do nothing but get caught up on many things. I got up at 6 am and crafted until 9, 10, sometimes 11 at night.
I loved it. I need to make Neroon LeatherArts my main source of income so I can do this *every* week. That's a long way away though.
So, here's what I accomplished:
-Finished the Horn of Gondor except for the strap- wicked_swann you need to let me know how long you want that to be.
-Trimmed up the breastplate for the Scout armor. Running a minimum of 2 miles every day for weeks makes for armor that fits! Currently it has black leather trim glued to it pending sewing so I can roll it under and edge the dang thing so it looks better.
-Patterned the skirt portion of the armor (BITCH)
-Boiled up the leather for the skirt portion of the armor. It's all hanging from doors drying slowly in the swamp cooler.
-Hacked out the block for the handle for my sword. Split the block and need to start over.
-Carved out the wood portion of the scabbard.
-Dyed all the pieces of the quiver and painted the Telperion portions.
-Created the leg strap for the quiver.
My workshop is a disaster.
I know everyone is eager to see THE HORN, so at the risk of having everyone stop reading after these pics, The Odyssey:
You saw the progress of the crown piece, here it is all cut out and ready to be attached to the brass
The interior. The silver parts of the crown and midpiece took at least 3 hours *each* to get all the detail repoussed into the metal.
Sorry for the blurry, but you get the idea:
A little clearer. The funny ridged clear bits are leftover superglue from attaching the brass that was later covered by the connecting silver pieces. After this pic was taken, the brass was sanded and the crown attached with epoxy putty.
Which had an *amazing* effect on the brass- weathered it right up and it looks like it's been There and Back Again.
Close-up of the detail.
So, after putting it on with the putty and attaching the connecting pieces, it needed to cure. It needed to sure for 24 hours and I wanted to be sure it cured evenly. It's round, it's not like I can put a book on it. So I improvised:
And this came out!
Note the middle is still nekkid. That was the last part. I had to do both ends first so I could find the balance point and place the midpiece appropriately or it would hang strangely.
And now, the repousse for the midpiece. I don't mind telling you this part was a bitch. The horn twists *and* tapers at the point the midpiece needed to lie.
Detail on the repousse. The arch on top is blocked, the one on the bottom is finished.
Aaand right side up:
Someone decided to help me:
Cutting of the midpiece:
Finally! Held in place before putty-ing:
And puttied in place. Note the brass has "aged" just like the crown.
Then after all that, I decided I hated the way the mouthpiece looked, so I ripped it all apart and tried again. It looks *much* better now.
I present to you, THE HORN OF GONDOR.
BBoromir can play it however he likes, cuz it does. Play, that is. That's a French Horn mouthpiece on it, so anyone with a brass lip can play!
Now on to the other stuff I did this week.
Carving out the scabbard. This was MESSY. I need a dustbuster.
And this was after some cleanup!
This is the shape of the handle. Pay no attention to this piece of wood otherwise, this is the maple block that split.
So I was feeling pretty frustrated about the block and was at Home Depot to get the wood for the scabard. They didn't have it, I had to go to Michael's, BUT DIDJA KNOW their hardwood flooring samples are FREE?? These will be my new handle. With some tweaking.
And: the Skirt! Well, ProtoSkirt! I boiled up and ENTIRE HIDE in 4 pieces and hung them over the doors to dry. Pretty color, no?
Here's the quiver. It's mostly done, just need to get gold cova color paint from Tandy, set the gems, finish the edges and assess whether Gil-Galad's heraldry will go on this or the armor. On the armor is closer to the movie. The pouch piece also needs to be finished and attached. It is the least thought-out part of this piece and you can tell. :(
Detail of the leg strap. The strap took me about 45 minutes to cut, stamp, dye, and attach the hardware.
That's all I have for now (!!)
I loved it. I need to make Neroon LeatherArts my main source of income so I can do this *every* week. That's a long way away though.
So, here's what I accomplished:
-Finished the Horn of Gondor except for the strap- wicked_swann you need to let me know how long you want that to be.
-Trimmed up the breastplate for the Scout armor. Running a minimum of 2 miles every day for weeks makes for armor that fits! Currently it has black leather trim glued to it pending sewing so I can roll it under and edge the dang thing so it looks better.
-Patterned the skirt portion of the armor (BITCH)
-Boiled up the leather for the skirt portion of the armor. It's all hanging from doors drying slowly in the swamp cooler.
-Hacked out the block for the handle for my sword. Split the block and need to start over.
-Carved out the wood portion of the scabbard.
-Dyed all the pieces of the quiver and painted the Telperion portions.
-Created the leg strap for the quiver.
My workshop is a disaster.
I know everyone is eager to see THE HORN, so at the risk of having everyone stop reading after these pics, The Odyssey:
You saw the progress of the crown piece, here it is all cut out and ready to be attached to the brass
The interior. The silver parts of the crown and midpiece took at least 3 hours *each* to get all the detail repoussed into the metal.
Sorry for the blurry, but you get the idea:
A little clearer. The funny ridged clear bits are leftover superglue from attaching the brass that was later covered by the connecting silver pieces. After this pic was taken, the brass was sanded and the crown attached with epoxy putty.
Which had an *amazing* effect on the brass- weathered it right up and it looks like it's been There and Back Again.
Close-up of the detail.
So, after putting it on with the putty and attaching the connecting pieces, it needed to cure. It needed to sure for 24 hours and I wanted to be sure it cured evenly. It's round, it's not like I can put a book on it. So I improvised:
And this came out!
Note the middle is still nekkid. That was the last part. I had to do both ends first so I could find the balance point and place the midpiece appropriately or it would hang strangely.
And now, the repousse for the midpiece. I don't mind telling you this part was a bitch. The horn twists *and* tapers at the point the midpiece needed to lie.
Detail on the repousse. The arch on top is blocked, the one on the bottom is finished.
Aaand right side up:
Someone decided to help me:
Cutting of the midpiece:
Finally! Held in place before putty-ing:
And puttied in place. Note the brass has "aged" just like the crown.
Then after all that, I decided I hated the way the mouthpiece looked, so I ripped it all apart and tried again. It looks *much* better now.
I present to you, THE HORN OF GONDOR.
BBoromir can play it however he likes, cuz it does. Play, that is. That's a French Horn mouthpiece on it, so anyone with a brass lip can play!
Now on to the other stuff I did this week.
Carving out the scabbard. This was MESSY. I need a dustbuster.
And this was after some cleanup!
This is the shape of the handle. Pay no attention to this piece of wood otherwise, this is the maple block that split.
So I was feeling pretty frustrated about the block and was at Home Depot to get the wood for the scabard. They didn't have it, I had to go to Michael's, BUT DIDJA KNOW their hardwood flooring samples are FREE?? These will be my new handle. With some tweaking.
And: the Skirt! Well, ProtoSkirt! I boiled up and ENTIRE HIDE in 4 pieces and hung them over the doors to dry. Pretty color, no?
Here's the quiver. It's mostly done, just need to get gold cova color paint from Tandy, set the gems, finish the edges and assess whether Gil-Galad's heraldry will go on this or the armor. On the armor is closer to the movie. The pouch piece also needs to be finished and attached. It is the least thought-out part of this piece and you can tell. :(
Detail of the leg strap. The strap took me about 45 minutes to cut, stamp, dye, and attach the hardware.
That's all I have for now (!!)