The Armour Archive

Black Swan Designs

Chris, if you have legs the shape and size of an exotic dancers', you are in the wrong line of work my friend. Hubba hubba.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

I think it is quite clear that there are drawstring closures for each individual bag/compartment and then something, possibly an independent thong, possibly the other end of the drawstrings, that buttons into the flap on the handle. In other pouches from this period the convention is to have a draw...

Black Swan Designs

'm inclined to think we're dealing with several separate pouches, each with it's own drawstring and a handle that they can be "buttoned" onto to manage them as a single unit. Ummm, have a look at the extant examples, I think you'll see that arrangement is not likely. Individual drawsting/...

Black Swan Designs

A caveat on Power and Profit. Spufford is a history professor whose specialty seems to be medieval money and economy. As such, his information on economics appear to be sound. However, he (or whoever wrote the captions for the images whch illustrate the volume) demonstrates an appalling lack of comp...

Black Swan Designs

Actually, if you go to the first link, there is a function that allows you to magnify the painting and move around to look at any portion you'd like. I've just spent the last 20 minutes examining it in minute detail (the clarity is unbelievable!), and can see the purse does close in 2 areas- at the ...

Black Swan Designs

Yes, an image of a purse of this type appears on on page 59 of 'Power and Profit, The Merchant in Medieval Europe' (Peter Spufford, Thames and Hudson, 2002) The caption says 'These fifteenth century leather purses are rare survivals of once familiar objects. They were so common there were even guild...

Black Swan Designs

[img]http://photos-207.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sctm/v171/120/110/593316207/n593316207_883421_8810.jpg[/img] The American Sword of Chivalry Tournament April 26 & 27, 2008 Poway Valley Rider's Association, 13446 Tierra Bonita Road, Poway, CA Amicis prodesse, nemini nocere To do good to my friend...

Black Swan Designs

Tickets are now on sale for this event-

Tickets for the Sword of Chivalry Tournament

Hope to see you there! B)

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

So it's actually Bohemian, not English at all?

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

He gets a bit of a cramp now and again, nothing that some dit da jow doesn't relieve. His hand is pretty much back to 100%, and he's back to doing everything he usually does, including polo- [img]http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v183/120/110/593316207/n593316207_936186_5667.jpg[/img] [...

Black Swan Designs

Its first outing will be at the RA Sword of Honour joust March 24/26, then he'll use it again at our Sword of Chivalry Tournament April 26/27.

Come on out and you can see it in person......

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

[img]http://photos-207.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sctm/v171/120/110/593316207/n593316207_883421_8810.jpg[/img] The American Sword of Chivalry Tournament April 26 & 27, 2008 Poway Valley Rider's Association, 13446 Tierra Bonita Road, Poway, CA Amicis prodesse, nemini nocere To do good to my friend...

Black Swan Designs

A few details I forgot to include- -You must be 18 years or older to work on the field (ground crew). -Prefer (but not require) ground crew to have some experience working with horses; the ability to ride is not necessary. -If you're local to SoCal and want to help off the field, you must be a minim...

Black Swan Designs

[img]http://photos-207.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sctm/v171/120/110/593316207/n593316207_883421_8810.jpg[/img] The American Sword of Chivalry Tournament April 26 & 27, 2008 Poway Valley Rider's Association, 13446 Tierra Bonita Road, Poway, CA Amicis prodesse, nemini nocere To do good to my friend...

Black Swan Designs

[img]http://photos-207.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sctm/v171/120/110/593316207/n593316207_883421_8810.jpg[/img] The American Sword of Chivalry Tournament April 26 & 27, 2008 Poway Valley Rider's Association, 13446 Tierra Bonita Road, Poway, CA Amicis prodesse, nemini nocere To do good to my friend...

Black Swan Designs

Hi Kali- Based on this and Patric's other questions, sounds like you would be well served to track down Sarah Thursfield's The Medieval Tailor's Assistant It will give you patterns and all the additional information you need to make a good start for clothing of the period you're doing. Good luck! Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Delivery received, he's very happy with it! Thanks.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

PM sent, looking for a delivery for Arne Koets?

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

There were a couple of RenFair jousters who *looked* like Morgan Fairchild there......

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

I have a philosophical difference with Paypal- they take your money the moment the order is processed, and out policy is not to charge until the order ships. Charging at the time of the order is fine and dandy if everything is in stock and the order can be shipped out immediately, but a significant ...

Black Swan Designs

You know, we tried getting the website to accept Paypal and it didn't work very well. Given that, I don't think we'll be able to process payment in body parts....

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

As a fibre, silk breaks down from contact with perspiration and sunlight. Perspiration contains salts that can damage fabrics, especially silk. Perspiration is acidic and turns alkaline on exposure to the atmosphere. This can cause the fabric to change colour and may disintegrate and weaken it. If y...

Black Swan Designs

Ditto of Proxus' review from me. Top drawer all the way.

Be kind to your arteries- skip the Big Mac lunch this week and get yourself an avatar. It is $10 absolutely guaranteed to make you healthier!!

Besides- Effingham needs the $10 more than MacDonald's does anyway.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Since we lost the pictures I had posted before, and since yesterday I found a CD of photos I didn't know we had, I thought I'd post some images to whet your appetite for the upcoming Sword of Chivalry Tournament. Jeff on Leo [img]http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v171/120/110/593316207/...

Black Swan Designs

There is a minimum order through the website. You can add a pack of pins, one of Graham Turner's cards, a bar of soap or some other small item to the bundle to meet the minimum. Alternatively, you can call in orders for smaller amounts during business hours, or leave a message and Francena will retu...

Black Swan Designs

I just added a bunch of Fabric Bundles to the website, a product of my end of year workshop purge. These fabrics are short ends and leftovers from production. A number of the 'bundles' are whole 5 yard lengths, and there is one wool piece in there as well. Fabric Bundles [img]http://www.historicente...

Black Swan Designs

It's also longer and tighter. My model was 6'4", and I didn't know that until *after* they shot the photos. On a guy who is 5'10" to 6'1", it comes closer to the knee. I have to be careful not to make it too long on guy in the average height range or the complaint is it looks like a d...

Black Swan Designs

OK, it took a couple of days but we got a front view of Walter Heylon up on the Coathardie page- http://www.historicenterprises.com/misc/walter_helyon.jpg Walter's garment is quite a different shape that the Charles of Blois, even though they are roughly contemporaneous. I believe some of that is du...

Black Swan Designs

I'm going to jump in here to clarify a few things about the garments we offer. We actually offer 2 mid-14th C. garments that seem to be under discussion either simultaneously or interchangeably in this thread. We offer what we call a Coathardie , which is based on the funeral effigy of Walter Helyon...

Black Swan Designs

Buy an avatar! I just did.....

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

As I understand it, it's not a the same as a Victorian french seam. The seams I've looked at don't look like Victorian seams. But I don't really care enough to fight about it, so I'll stand corrected.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Although popular, French seaming is not a medieval technique. It is generally thought to have developed in the mid 19th C. along with the sewing machine.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Hang on! Before anyone gets the wrong idea, it's not like Jeff doesn't want your work Chris. He has 2 full harnesses on the books; since he schedules a year of production for each harness, any new work would have a delivery date of at least 2009. Neither of us will schedule work that far out as we j...

Black Swan Designs

The ones I used on Jeff's cape are gold plated charms. They are diamond shaped with a 'wiggle graved' design on the body and 'file work' on the edge. I stumbled across them and they looked so good I didn't see the point of making my own.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Yes, thanks for the invite John, we do appreciate the offer--it's just that we don't play dressup like that any more.

We're planning to use the tent as the 'Knight's Tent' at the joust we're having in October, so it will actually see the light of day this year!

Gwen

The American Sword of Chivalry Tournament

The American Sword of Chivalry Tournament, 2008

The American Sword of Chivalry Tournament, 2008

The American Sword of Chivalry Tournament, 2008

Photos from the World Invitational Joust

Fabric Bundles just added