The Armour Archive

Black Swan Designs

Manesseschen Liederhandschrift (Codex Manessa) 273r: Herr Neidhart Stated dates for the document vary a bit, but the one I see quoted most often is sometime about 1315. Just a few observations- Assuming the chausses are cut on the bias, the stripes would come out diagonally striped rather than stri...

Black Swan Designs

I have 2 pieces, both of which are a lightweight black wool ground. One has a deep rasperry red double strip and the other a deep royal blue double stripe. I bought a roll of each before Pennsic and have been thinking about what to make of them. I had considered chausses but was worried noone would ...

Black Swan Designs

White belts on non-knights....wait, that's a while new thread! I absolutely love the idea of the diagonal striped chausses and have some gorgeous stuff in the shop right now to do them with, so that's a real possibility. The white belt on the other hand.... If you ever decide to try that let me know...

Black Swan Designs

COIFS Maciejowski Bible c.1250, Paris Folio 3 Recto The tower of Babel Working men with coifs [img]http://www1.tip.nl/~t401243/mac/mac03rA.jpg[/img] Manesseschen Liederhandschrift (Codex Manessa) c.1315 A coif on the soldier on the right (Gotta love all the stripes and a PLAID!!) [img]http://www.te...

Black Swan Designs

Meaning no disrespect, because he has an MA in medieval literature doesn't make him a costume expert. Specialties don't always cross over. The best response to this is that the coif-under-other-headwear is a widespread SCA custom, based on the idea that "in the Middle Ages people always wore somethi...

Black Swan Designs

The folks on the right side of the photo, not in the fancy chairs. Silver headwear.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Who are the folks to the left of the fellow in glasses? (His left, right side of the photo)

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

My brother Dominic was in command of the 3rd conroi, in the centre behind William, next to the papal banner. Did anyone get pictures?? (I hope, I hope!) It would be so cool to see him in action!!!

Thanks-

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

You could jump start your search by Gooling "knightly virtues". A whole raft of information will come up and you can sort through it in pretty short order. That's what I did when I was researching it a few weeks ago and it worked a treat. I think you'll find that although knightly virtues figured pr...

Black Swan Designs

Just heard back from the North American Authenticity Officer for Regia Anglorum, who is in charge of everywhere that does not have a Regia group. She has approved all of the fabric samples I sent her, and commented that she liked the complex weaves on some. (Cool! ) Although she's familiar with my w...

Black Swan Designs

Yes, Jeffrey will be the very first idiot to be jousting with them, as soon as they arrive.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

From the website: ----------- A fully turned poplar jousting lance, replicating designs used in the 15th century and first half of the 16th century. Designed to accept a replaceable insert approximately 3 feet long, giving an overall length of about 11 feet. Made in two sections for ease of shipping...

Black Swan Designs

They're fantastic if you're going to a fancy dress party with a historical/Hollywood/fantasy theme.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Like I said, I have a few things up my sleeve, so stay tuned! Pete from the Vikes sent me a nice list of additions and corrections which I'm working on. What a great guy! If you want to go Dark Ages and are trying to find a group to join, I recommend the Vikings. Their AOs are fantastically helpful!...

Black Swan Designs

Or maybe the stuff was just OK as it was. The Vikes guys were pretty jazzed to find they could buy stuff off the peg, and liked the fabrics. Several asked if they could buy just the fabric, which I took as a great compliment! The Vikes UK AO seemed pretty shocked that a "Viking tunic" was available ...

Black Swan Designs

Edited to add that specific garments have been approved by both the UK and US AOs for the Vikings. We've gotten positive feedback from the RA-US officers we've found, but they don't seem to have a "central office" I can send samples to. I've finally tracked down the head AO in the UK and sent him an...

Black Swan Designs

I'm bumping this up one more time before it falls into the abyss. Even if you've run out of time to make kit for Hastings, if you act now there is still time for us to ship you something. We will rush any Hastings order through for delivery before you leave. I also have a few swatch packets left, so...

Black Swan Designs

I've just prepped a number of swatch packets for distribution. These are swatches of fabrics used in the above cited garments, as well as some new fabrics which just arrived this week. If you would like one for your Dark Ages group, please email me at gwen[at]historicenterprises.com and I will send ...

Black Swan Designs

Yes, they definitely fall into the "gored kyrtle" guidelines as well. These are longer though, so depending on your height you'll probably have to hem them to get a correct length. We will hem them for you for a nominal charge if you provide a shoulder to hem length. Be careful of the colours, you'l...

Black Swan Designs

It's going to be a week until I can finish scanning all the fabrics in this batch, and get the info on the website. Honestly, I'm not in a huge rush to get pictures of the items because it's the fabrics that make this stuff work, not the cut. The wool Bockstens look the same as they always do, the t...

Black Swan Designs

Hi All- Getting our Dark Ages offerings up on the website is taking much longer than anticipated, so I thought I'd post some info here. Some of you may have planned to go to Hastings, and this is about when it becomes clear what can get done before and what can't. Perhaps these garments will help so...

Black Swan Designs

'How a (wo)man shall be armed' Poster is now up on the website.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Thanks to Frederich for his order and very generous donation. Hurray! I had originally planned to extend the original offer for one week, which would make it end today. My vet had to come out and xray one of my horses today and she didn't charge me for 2 of the plates, "just because". I've decided o...

Black Swan Designs

Throw a cup of salt (regular nuthin fancy table salt is fine) into the wash water- it will help set the dye. Some dyes set better with salt, some with vinegar. When in doubt, use both. Especially with red- red is a bugger.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

It's not on the website yet. It's part of the new release we're currently working on getting up by the end of the weekend.

Sorry for the delay but we are hard at work, I promise!

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Hi John- I don't think you have to worry about the "authentidrone" syndrome quite yet. Maybe someday, but not now. And the new colours are *fabulous*. Lessee- buttons on the brocade are as pictured. They're fancy metalized polyester or some such. I decided not to use metal buttons because doing so w...

Black Swan Designs

Hi Fergus- What is your chest measurement? Suprisingly, we're discovering this garment is a good bit more forgiving that originally thought. If you have broad shoulders and a barrel chest, it won't matter too much if you have a little extra around the middle. Because of the cut, almost anyone can pu...

Black Swan Designs

Is that Rick Pelicano? What is "rate your horse"?

It sucks, even horses get points deducted for being girls.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Woohoo!!

I knew that you could do it!!

Check your email, we're taking the historical jousting discussions underground to avoid the background noise.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Hey Jason- can you send me your email address? I just got home from fabric shopping in LA and DUDE! we gotta talk!

gwen at historicenterprises.com

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Sorry, internet was being weird last night and I kept getting failure messages. I've removed the million duplicate posts.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

More photos from Leeds

Professional photographer Jonathan Hodd has a nice collection of photos up on Flickr.

Enjoy! There's even a photo of Arne getting his lid ripped off.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Congratulations to John MacFarlin, winner of the Teague Family Benefit Auction!!! John will receive a Charles the Blois doublet in his choice of fabric, and the Teague Family will receive a check for $350. Thanks for everyone who placed a bid, your support is very much appreciated. But don't go away...

Black Swan Designs

Hey Arne- Yeah, the rock gets mighty heavy sometimes and I let it get to me. I apologize for the big left turn I took last night. I spent too much time near the computer- I was cleaning closets and could check my email every little while for most of the afternoon and evening and without anything mor...

Black Swan Designs

It isn't about being a saint or criticizing, it's about dealing with the fallout. You can't get insurance, because the insurance companies have an unrealistic expectation of what you're trying to do. You can't find venues, because the promoters don't understand what you're doing is different. You ca...

Dark Ages clothing from Black Swan Designs

Historical Jousting in the US

New Teague Family Benefit