The Armour Archive

Tracy Justus

I'm cleaning out some of my fabric collection and putting it here on AA first. Wool -the wools have been washed and are fuzzy enough to obscure the weave structure. Selvages are towards the bottom of the photo. A few pieces have moth holes (1/8" diameter) as noted. Judicious layout should allow...

Tracy Justus

Bjorn-- In the 14th and 15th centuries you find luxurious single garters worn by men on the right leg, such as in nouvelle acquisition franÃ§aise 5243 fol. 26 (a Guiron le Courtois ms. from Milan, c 1370-80). They don't necessarily mean that the wearer was a member of a chivalric order but they are ...

Tracy Justus

The edging on the mouth of the pouch may be twined and stitched yarn. There's a lovely blog on medieval silk work that has a tutorial . A line drawing of the technique is here . It is also possible to stitch on fingerloop braids as they are woven. In the opening sequences of "The Man Who Would ...

Tracy Justus

Cotton batt is preferable to wool. Almost all of the gambesons I make are of ILO-19 linen (from fabric-store.com) inside and outside with a single layer of thin cotton baby quilt batting in between. Most of my clients wear armor over their gambeson. Occasionally I make one for a client who wears min...

Tracy Justus

Knop buttons were made over a core. I've made floss wrapped buttons built over plastic pony beads as in the instructions posted here . A plastic pony bead yields a finished button about 1/2" diameter. For a larger knop you can use a wooden bead for a core, but you'll have to drill out the cente...

Tracy Justus

For the drawstring pulls I suggest you use a decorative knop like these . For the other knobs I suggest you look at commercial bone beads. Fortunately beadwork is popular right now and there are a lot of bead options online. Many years ago I had the opportunity to examine a 16th c purse and the litt...

Tracy Justus

I made some pierced work shoes a few years ago. The only drawback I found was that dust and sand (and occasionally small gravel!) would get through the holes. Wearing pattens may help reduce dirt inside the shoe. I've wondered if sometimes cloth linings were glued inside, which would seal the shoe, ...

Tracy Justus

You find both whittle tang and scale knives in the mid 14th c., though I think that a mid-century German workaday knife would be more likely to be whittle tang. Length of surviving knives of that style and period are 7"-9". If I were purchasing a knife I would get something like the two kn...

Tracy Justus

He's talking about Before the Mast. It's a fascinating analysis of the goods that remained on the Mary Rose, and well worth tracking tracking down a copy.

Tracy Justus

Books were chained to library shelves in institutions like universities and churches. Here and here are examples of surviving bindings. I can't tell from your description whether the chain was attached to the case or passed through the case to attach to the book itself.

Tracy Justus

Here you go. --Clare

Tracy Justus

Where is this collection, Europe or US?

Tracy Justus

Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200 - 1400 by Alexander and Binski, 1987. This is the catalogue of an exhibit held at the V&A. Excellent photos and text, and a useful jumping-off point to explore the artifacts associated with 14th c English society.

Tracy Justus

Ooooh, I've always loved this cup. You can sometimes find some suitably medieval looking goblets on ebay by using the keyword "chalice". You have to educated your eye first so you can pick out the wheat from the chaff.

Tracy Justus

I ordered a copy as soon as I saw this post. These purses have intrigued me for a while, I'm glad to see that Goubitz studied them. Has anyone found any pictoral examples of women wearing this style of purse? To the best of my knowledge they are gender-specific.

Tracy (Clare de Crecy)

Tracy Justus

Anyone remember The SCAtanic Verses?

Tracy Justus

Giotto-- http://www.wga.hu/art/g/giotto/padova/3 ... hris10.jpg

Lorenzetti--
http://www.wga.hu/art/l/lorenzet/pietro ... 1entry.jpg

Martini--
http://www.wga.hu/art/s/simone/3assisi/ ... 0cloak.jpg

Tracy Justus

Recently I've been looking at images of people taking their clothes off (and no, not in that way, get your mind out of the gutter!). I'm interested in seeing the insides of garments, or at least how artists viewed them. In the 14th/15th pics I've seen voluminous gowns are pretty consistently flipped...

Tracy Justus

Yes, in Paris go to the Musee de l'Armee and the Cluny. There's later 14th century armor in both.

Tracy (Clare de Crecy)

Tracy Justus

I've used linen tow, available from Jas. Townsend (under fire starting materials), for a few helmet paddings. It is extraordinarily messy. Plan to work outside, or set up your work area so it can be easily vaccuumed. The paddings I made were mostly hand stitched-- I'd be wary of machine quilting thr...

Tracy Justus

Nice name! And when you take her for a walk, you can be roamin' de la Rose!

T.

Tracy Justus

Wow. Karen Larsdatter, the Duchess of URL. You amaze me with what you have at your fingertips.

Tracy/Clare

Tracy Justus

Wulfe- You are thinking of Young Emperor Maximilian Visiting His Court Armor Shop in Innsbruck . The tool is barely visible on the armorer's bench in the lower right hand corner. A clearer version is on the cover of the Dover edition of The Armourer and His Craft by Charles ffoulkes. Around the armo...

Tracy Justus

Thank you all, that was the sort of information I was looking for. Tasha, email sent!

Tracy/Clare

Tracy Justus

Has anyone here worked with the silk-hemp blend from Dharma Trading? If so, I have some questions for you. 1. Does it loose any sheen from being dyed? 2. From the picture and weight it looks light-but-crisp, like an organza or taffeta. Is that correct, and does the hand change after dyeing? A client...

Tracy Justus

The ends of the Black Prince's vambraces are up inside his gauntlets and the artist didn't sculpt the terminal edge. Surviving 14th c vambraces are either 1) rolled to the outside or 2) not rolled if they had applied edging, such as engraved brass strips. The Chartres harness originally had silver g...

Tracy Justus

Gwen-- You might want to offer button packages for those who want to replace the wooden bead buttons with pewter. Also, I noticed in checking your website that most of your buttons descriptions do not include a diameter measurement.

Tracy/Clare

Tracy Justus

There's a surviving 14th c English felt hat at concealedgarments.org . Right now the site is down but from memory the hat is gray felt, round-crowned and narrow brimmed, and trimmed with silk. It is quite small. The conservation work was carried out by Karen Finch who wrote it up in Textile History ...

Tracy Justus

I've come across a few images of armor being carried: Armor being carried for Pilgrim and the armor being exhibited to Pilgrim from a 15th c manuscript. The same scene from another manuscript c.1400. Armor in a chest from a 15thc French ms . There may be something in the Maciejowski bible, but it wi...

Tracy Justus

He is looking for information on doing reproductions of extant painted tapestries. Ie, what type of cloth they used, how thick, what medium of paint, how big, what time period, etc. Ah, I see, you are looking for technical information about surviving pieces. Your best bet is textile conservation re...

Tracy Justus

A well-written history. Not a good photo , but Eldrid has painted some wall hangings in designs taken from the Maciejowski Bible. The base was gesso on canvas, and the paints were acrylic. We took a color photocopy to the craft store to match the paint and used transparencies and an overhead projec...

Tracy Justus

You ask you husband to polish it, he give it to his new protege as a task, she asks her husband to help her with it and he brings it over to Eldrid's shop to use the buffer and Foredom tool. That's the way to do it!

Tracy/Clare

Tracy Justus

Jehan--- Have you considered a private commission? Mac turns the pewter beakers that Billy and Charlie sell, he might be willing to turn a silver one. Also expand your ebay search to include 'chalice'. I've seen some handsome gothic-style goblets listed as chalices. You might also look for a copy of...

Tracy Justus

What a beautiful turn out! When were these pictures taken? I know Mac made a new helmet for Capwell and reworked his fauld and legs recently, but he's wearing the old hat and I can't tell whether the rest is pre-or-post overhaul. I love all the details- the bridle, the crests- they all enrich the ov...

Tracy Justus

I just heard the news that Walter Karcheski died last week. An obit from the Fraizer is here. I am sorry to hear of his passing and offer my sympathy to his friends on this board.

Tracy/Clare

Wool, linen, silk fabric for sale

Dharma Trading's silk-hemp blend

Walter Karcheski