The Armour Archive

Uilleag

It looks extremely good....has Giselle, the Atlantian Deputy Earl Marshal for Youth Combat, seen it....she lives in your neck of the woods (The DC area). It would be a really really realy good thing for you to show it to her. I will also post pictures of it to the Atlantian Youth Marshal list. Also...

Uilleag

OH-MY-GOD I am so in love with that. Here's a question....how dio you keep your brow band and support ribs even and smooth? I havent made a single brow band that stayed in a nice smooth shape. Course it may just be I'm still sucking at it, and you don't....lol Sweet sweet sweet..... Christopher I g...

Uilleag

Veg tanned leather works better. Allum or chrome tanned leather will loose its tannins by soaking and will revert to rawhide. It will be very hard and sturdy, but uncomfortable to wear. It will also absorb liquid easier in that state which will make it soften during use. veg tanned leather will stre...

Uilleag

Can hardened leather helms be used for youth combat? I'm not sure. That is a question for your local youth combat marshalate. Although I'm sure an online search of the kingdom's website might turn up the armour standards for youth combat as well. I know in Meridies it varies depending on age....but...

Uilleag

Greetings all, Just in time for the holidays, here is a commission that I just completed today for a fellow archiver's little brother for Christmas. <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/progresspics/nsspangen1.jpg"> <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/progresspics/nsspangen2.jpg"> <IMG src="h...

Uilleag

I was also looking at another fine piece by Terry Nix... m It is so defined, I wonder if it is accomplished by some other means like some sort of mould press, or the equivalent of vacu-forming for leather??? Any ideas? That piece is beautiful!!! Exquisite form and attention to detail. However, if I...

Uilleag

Animal, You honor more than I can express. I would add to what you advised Deathbird, but you pretty much nailed it. It is very pleasing to me to see one of my students has learned the techniques I teach as well as you have. The only thing I might add is a suggestion to read through my tutorial, m T...

Uilleag

Are you asking what to expect, or how different armourers normally conduct business to model your own practices from. For my part, I ask for a 50% deposit up front. This covers expenses of the project, (materials at any rate) and gives the buyer an insentive to make the final payment once it is done...

Uilleag

Typically, I believe articulated gorgets had two neck lames. (Someone correct me if I am wrong.) The top lame, (the one nearest the chin), rides under the next lame and the bottom lame rides under the collar. Sort of a reverse shingle, for the reason you thought of. The lames do not necessarily need...

Uilleag

The arm harness is pointed to a gambeson. The straps are there to keep it against the arm, not tight, so the arm will rotate as needed, inside the harnes, with the straps keeping everything in place to keep joints protects. The elbow articulation is a simple compression/extention process, which pivo...

Uilleag

I recently had my jeep stolen. Luckily we recovered the vehicle and have it back, but our pavilion, all of my merchanting tables and a brand new shield boss are all missing. I can definately feel your pain. The good news is that I have several pieces of armour in stock and would be willing to loan t...

Uilleag

Pippin, I have attached the URL to my shovel greave tutorial. This includes shaping, dyeing, and water hardening processes. It can be used as a step-by-step process on how to make a pair of greaves, but the process also works for every other type of armour you would care to make with this method. m ...

Uilleag

The cops do have darts in them. I did not stitch them, I rivited them.

Uilleag

Greetings all, I wanted to share my latest armour development. Until recently, my articulated arms did not include upper cannons or rerebraces. Having fought with this style for some time, I find that upper cannons would make the arm harness operate a little more comfortably and have more protective...

Uilleag

Thomas, The skull is one piece. Progress pics showing it being raised can be found on page 8 of this thread. I think that the crease shown in the picture on page 9 is what is making folks think that the sloped portion is welded on, but it wasn't, at least not from what I saw of the progress pictures...

Uilleag

Uillieag, Hope your move went well! Question - you say you darted the breastplate, and then dished it to get the right curvature. If you used a thinner class of leather, *could* you then completely dish it instead of having to dart it? I know it might not be feasible for armor - i'm asking in order...

Uilleag

I bake at 180 - 200 degrees, (my oven isn't very precise at that low a setting) for as long as it takes to dry, usually 2 hours or so, checking for scorching every 15 - 30 minutes. This is very IMPORTANT, failure to check the leather may result in a crispy bacon-looking mess, completely useless for ...

Uilleag

I managed to get the bottom of the breast cup to retain its shape by dishing it into a dishing form. This piece, as well as all of my work, is water hardened. I used to harden with wax but stopped doing that because the armour would get torn up a lot faster with the wax than with just water hardenin...

Uilleag

Ok, here is the finished project, along with the straps that will get mounted onto the cuirass he ordered from another vendor. <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/gallery/gorgets/mbartgorget1.jpg"> <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/gallery/gorgets/mbartgorget2.jpg"> <IMG src="http://www.ho...

Uilleag

I should have pics of the straps for you tomorrow as well. I wanted to finish those up today, but just didn't get to it. I'm glad that you are happy with the progress so far.

Uilleag

Owen, Well, most of my clients don't live with me. I ship out quite a bit of my orders to other states, so pics with the person wearing it are entirely up to the client after they recieve it. I have no idea what the rest of the harness will look like, they didn't order it from me. Charles, I case my...

Uilleag

Here is a female body armour I finished up today. <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/gallery/bodyarmour/wyfemalebodyarmour1.jpg"> <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/gallery/bodyarmour/wyfemalebodyarmour2.jpg"> <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/gallery/bodyarmour/wyfemalebodyarmour3.j...

Uilleag

As promised a month ago, here are the progress pics of Milliniumlancelot's gorget. I should have hardended, polished and assemble tomorrow.... The first two pics are the front of the piece: <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/progresspics/mbartgorget2.jpg"> <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.co...

Uilleag

Cool. It looks really, really nice. Do you generally have good luck with that sealant? I always worry about sealed leather either becoming brittle or the sealant coming off (as you can tell, I've not had much experience with tanned leather working...) Effingham I generally have good luck with it. I...

Uilleag

Appropriate colored shoe polish, (in this case, black) and a buffing wheel. I sometimes use resolene acryllic sealer which has a nice satin finish, that depends on what kind of embossing and painting goes into the piece.

Uilleag

Its not overly difficult, it really depends on the availability of tools. It takes a lot more patience than skill. (Two traits I struggle with constantly)

Uilleag

Gold acryllic paint, sealed with an overall coat of resolene acryllic to protect it.

Uilleag

There is a copy of it by Georges Buby, "William Marshal The Flower of Chivalry" ISBN: 0-394-75154-X

Copyright 1987 Random House, Inc. Printed in Mar of 87

You should be able to get a copy of it on Amazon, or check your local bookstores, they may have a copy.

Uilleag

Here is another project that I finished a while ago, but finally got around to getting the pics posted. It is a cuirass, bauzubands, demi gaunts and a gorget. All of the pieces have been embossed with chinese designs provided by the client. <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/gallery/bodyarmour/...

Uilleag

Here is one of the latest pieces to come out of the shop, a custom tooled musculata: <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/gallery/bodyarmour/rwmusculata1.jpg"> <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/gallery/bodyarmour/rwmusculata2.jpg"> <IMG src="http://www.houseofthewolf.com/gallery/bodyarmour/...

Uilleag

Deleted double post

Uilleag

Cat, I love your design! Yes, I have made a version similar to what you are developing, but don't worry about that. It is signifigantly different from mine that I don't think that there is a conflict. Hell, if you offer it at a decent enough price, I might recommend some of my clients to check out y...

Uilleag

Greetings all, I wanted to post, in my own words what some folks may be grumbling about. Lately, I have found myself a good 2 -3 weeks behind in commission delivery dates. October through November has been rather brutal on a personal level. Without going to deeply into details, we have had to do a s...

Uilleag

We finished up the move into the new place today and I am building my shop back up. I have twice as much space so I am putting in another work bench and getting all the stuff sorted out. I expect to be armouring this evening and Matt's order is very near the top of my priority list of things to get ...

Uilleag

Animal,

Just moving up the road about 5 miles to Greenbelt. We really needed to get out of the old neighborhood.

Children's Spangen (Pics)

Articulated arms w/ upper and lower cannons

female body armour (Finished pics)

Articulated gorget (Progress pics)

Custom order w/ Chinese embossed designs

Leather Musculata (Pics)

A quick explanation