I have 2 bits of anecdotal evidence which may help you out: First, here's a picture scanned and uploaded by my sister of a Victorian ladies' fencing class. It describes, if not exactly depicts, what a lady fencing for exercise would wear (the artist was clearly not interested in drawing women in gloves and masks!). Here is the link: http://i48.tinypic.com/2la7cd3.jpg Unfortunately the date was cut off, but I might be able to ask my sister later.
Second, I used to go out with a man who fenced (I told you it was anecdotal!). I remember he had very callused hands, but he also did a lot of other manual labor, like carpentry and moving furniture.
Ooh, thank you! I'd actually pictured her fencing robes to be kind of similar to that - but maybe crossed with kendo-style robes. If you do find out the date, I'd love to know. Even without that, though, what's there of the blurb provides a lot of useful information!
Especially the buckskin plastron. I'd forgotten that in my class, the girls had a protective chestpiece "(it was a heavy plastic) that we wore under our clothes. I'm not sure if it would be an important detail in my book, but it's definitely something she would have.
Hi, tasllyn, I'm orange_fell's sister! The fencing class image is the cover of the April 6, 1889 issue of Harper's Bazaar. The full beginning of blurb that I partially cut off is, "Ladies' Class at the Fencer's Club (4.6.1889, cover). Some two years ago a number of ladies who had witnessed the grace and dexterity of their male friends, in an exhibition of fencing..."
I found the image in Victorian Fashions & Costumes from Harper's Bazaar: 1867-1898 ed. Stella Blum. You can read the full article on Cornell's website, but I can't link because it keeps being eaten as spam (just searching the date and Harper's Bazaar turned it up). So sorry if you got double notifications while I tried to post!
When I was fencing competitively, I definitely had calluses from it. Most of the manipulation and control of the weapon is done with the thumb and index finger. The biggest calluses I had were the pad of the thumb and the inner side of the index finger in that center segment. I also had smaller ones on the palm right at the base of my middle and ring fingers, but the ones on the thumb and index were most pronounced.
Thank you! That sounds about where I thought my girl would have calluses, if she had any. I didn't think of the palm area, though.
When you were fencing competitively, did you wear gloves? Do you usually use your own equipment in competition, or do they usually provide standardized gear you'd have to use? Did you do anything to try to prevent calluses?
Also, do you think having calluses affected your fencing at all? I mean, in terms of sensory nerves in those areas? For some reason, I'm thinking if you accidentally got hit on the hand, the blow might not sting or hurt quite so much if it landed on a callus as opposed to uncallused skin.
I always wore a glove, whether training or competing. The glove protects the hand from injury, and you always tuck the sleeve of the jacket into the cuff of the glove to keep a blade from getting up inside of the sleeve
( ... )
When i fenced, I didn't get many callouses because of my glove, but my right arm, especially the forearm was really muscled. Even after I stopped lessons, years later you could feel the difference in muscle tone.
Ooh, that is a good point. I don't think I'd mentioned it in the book, but I might have her being ambidextrous, because I'd want her arms to be the same, I think. I could see both of them being muscled and toned, though, and that could be something else that would be noticed by the soldiers. She is trying to blend in, but as someone who is kind of a rookie. (She's posing as their communications specialist, a branch that is very new, and its members are currently widely regarded in the army as "not real soldiers."
First, I have to say that I've had maybe 4 or 5 hours' worth of fencing lessons over the course of my life, so I can't speak to the calluses practicing to proficiency would create, per se. However, I've practiced martial arts for almost 25 years now, and am proficient in many other weapons (including, most appropriately, perhaps, the katana and the bo). In addition, I have always had physically demanding jobs (carpentry among them). All this said, I've always had very smooth skin. I mean, I do have some calluses, but they aren't very pronounced-you can't really see them, and you have to search to feel them, even. This is just to say that it may be possible for her to have smooth hands, as well, if it's a plot point of which you are overly fond.
(I do have numerous scars all over my hands, however-many of which I received during training, and I am sympathetic with the above poster: my right arm is visibly more toned than my left.)
Thanks so much! It's not such a huge plot point that I wouldn't change it if needed, but I wanted to make sure I characterized her properly. She is posing as a rookie who hasn't seen any real fighting (which is true - she fences professionally, but has never shot a pistol in her life, and has never been in a real sword fight), so that was a little detail to help with that.
I'm glad you mentioned the toned arms, and the fact that you've done a lot of martial arts training and physically demanding jobs. My girl is in disguise, so I wouldn't want anything that might call attention to who she is (especially as the guy who is currently commenting on her hands has a celebrity-style crush on her, but has only really seen her from a distance.) She is a foreigner in this country, but has taken somewhat drastic measures to alter her most easily identifiable traits. I was starting to be afraid the toned arms or calluses might give her away, but it seems she could have had that for a variety of reasons. Thanks!
Yeah, I imagine that toned arms (and legs) would only aid her in her deception, actually. If she is posing as a younger guy enlisting in the army, it's likely she could be portraying someone raised on a farm, or someone who has had to work at a trade from a very young age-work that would conceivably tone but not bulk up an individual. All in all, I think her training benefits her subterfuge. Good luck with your story!
Also, on the subject of being a trained fencer v. actual combat experience...
One of the greatest fencers of the early 20th Century, and Italian named Aldo Nadi, got himself into a duel with actual rapiers. Nadi, who at the time was considered to have flawless form in his sport fencing, quite frankly looks like the bastard love child of a drunk and Frankenstein's monster when you take his shirt off and put a sharp, pointy blade in his opponent's hand...
Creams would probably help a lot (heck, she has specks of sparkly sand embedded in her skin from her home country - part of her disguise is basically using a concealer type cream to hide those).
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Second, I used to go out with a man who fenced (I told you it was anecdotal!). I remember he had very callused hands, but he also did a lot of other manual labor, like carpentry and moving furniture.
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Especially the buckskin plastron. I'd forgotten that in my class, the girls had a protective chestpiece "(it was a heavy plastic) that we wore under our clothes. I'm not sure if it would be an important detail in my book, but it's definitely something she would have.
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I found the image in Victorian Fashions & Costumes from Harper's Bazaar: 1867-1898 ed. Stella Blum. You can read the full article on Cornell's website, but I can't link because it keeps being eaten as spam (just searching the date and Harper's Bazaar turned it up). So sorry if you got double notifications while I tried to post!
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When you were fencing competitively, did you wear gloves? Do you usually use your own equipment in competition, or do they usually provide standardized gear you'd have to use? Did you do anything to try to prevent calluses?
Also, do you think having calluses affected your fencing at all? I mean, in terms of sensory nerves in those areas? For some reason, I'm thinking if you accidentally got hit on the hand, the blow might not sting or hurt quite so much if it landed on a callus as opposed to uncallused skin.
Thank you so much!
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(I do have numerous scars all over my hands, however-many of which I received during training, and I am sympathetic with the above poster: my right arm is visibly more toned than my left.)
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I'm glad you mentioned the toned arms, and the fact that you've done a lot of martial arts training and physically demanding jobs. My girl is in disguise, so I wouldn't want anything that might call attention to who she is (especially as the guy who is currently commenting on her hands has a celebrity-style crush on her, but has only really seen her from a distance.) She is a foreigner in this country, but has taken somewhat drastic measures to alter her most easily identifiable traits. I was starting to be afraid the toned arms or calluses might give her away, but it seems she could have had that for a variety of reasons. Thanks!
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One of the greatest fencers of the early 20th Century, and Italian named Aldo Nadi, got himself into a duel with actual rapiers. Nadi, who at the time was considered to have flawless form in his sport fencing, quite frankly looks like the bastard love child of a drunk and Frankenstein's monster when you take his shirt off and put a sharp, pointy blade in his opponent's hand...
http://kendo-blog.typepad.com/photos/fencing_pix/nadi_4.html
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Thank you! :)
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