The Armour Archive

Black Swan Designs

Thanks for posting that Brent,I had forgotten about it!

Black Swan Designs

Just rediscovered this on YouTube-

Tobias Capwell: A Jouster and a scholar

Black Swan Designs

Hey Iain- I have 2 racks full of 15th C. wardrobe, if rental rather than purchase is an option for you. Shoot me an email with some more details and I'll see if I can help you. I know I have some XXL Burgundian livery left from the Red Company that I could sell outright around too. gwen @ historicen...

Black Swan Designs

Oh, I forgot to mention that in addition to participating in the tournament, Toby Capwell will be giving a talk on Heroic Armour of the 15th C. This is Toby's first time jousting in the US in 17 years, as well as his first American speaking appearance. Save yourself the cost of a trip to Europe, and...

Black Swan Designs

An update to say we're about 7 weeks out from the event and planning is just cruising along at top speed. Things are dropping into place, and it's shaping up to be a fantastic event! We have about 8 new guys who will be participating in the skill at arms to start their IJL ranking. The Festival of H...

Black Swan Designs

Tautline hitch I'd never seen it, but that's a great one! I've always used a Trucker's Hitch on things like tent ropes because the midline knot makes it easy to pull the line tight. Fantastic for tying down loads on your car or truck, and around the house for things like clotheslines and tying up o...

Black Swan Designs

Thank Cherylyn Crill for that one. She sent it to me during a costume conversation and it was so good I had to save it. It is brilliant, isn't it?

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Black Swan Designs

Your waist is your waist- it doesn't change places. You can wear your clothes anywhere on your body you want, but your waist stays in the same place. http://hphotos-snc1.fbcdn.net/hs199.snc1/6733_121527516207_593316207_3460309_7485914_n.jpg As far as girdling your self to produce a waist, I have 2 s...

Black Swan Designs

The group's leader has contacted me and we're set. Thanks for the suggestion.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

The group's leader has contacted me, so we're all set. Thanks.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

I'm trying to contact the group leader for the Sons of Fenrir in Calgary, Alberta. Are there any members here, or can anyone point me to the person in charge of the group?

Thanks-

Gwen
gwen (at) historicenterprises.com

Black Swan Designs

I'm trying to contact the group leader for the Sons of Fenrir in Calgary, Alberta. Are there any members here, or can anyone point me to the person in charge of the group?

Thanks-

Gwen
gwen (at) historicenterprises.com

Black Swan Designs

Perhaps by 1911, but it seems that in the period under discussion it referred to a doublet type garment. A word's meaning can evolve quite a bit in 400 years. 'Sick' now means good, but it meant home in bed with a fever when I was a kid, which was considerably less than 400 years ago. Bertus, I was ...

Black Swan Designs

I thought it was a pourpoint, and worn *under* the coat? JB, absolutely. In this case, the usage goes straight back to Brian Price and TOMAR, as someone else pointed out. The same book shows pictures of my underwear with the notation that the chausses tie to the shirt-- thankfully that one didn't ca...

Black Swan Designs

The dictionary offers lots of definitions- take this one for example- Pedantic - marked by a narrow, often tiresome focus on or display of learning and especially its trivial aspects: a pedantic writing style; an academic insistence on precision; a bookish vocabulary; donnish refinement of speech; s...

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There were these two paltocks in a plane and one of them says to the other.....

Black Swan Designs

Steve, I think you're safe using a pourpoint to hold up hose- there is plenty of evidence for it, both visual and written. Although we disagree, chef seems to feel that there's evidence for the pourpoint to support harness, so you have that for your armour. I'm not really sure what point the Italian...

Black Swan Designs

Nice job Cian, the purse looks great! :thumbs up emoticon:

Is anyone selling purse frames of that style? I think I'd like to make one myself.

Karen- I am a duck, I am a duck, I am a duck.....

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

I admit that in a pinch I use the braided nylon boot laces that are 2 coloured and resemble leather laces: http://www.baileysonline.com/prod_images/25958_L.jpg They usually come very long, so they can be cut and the ends melted. Wet your fingertips and roll the hot end into a point. A pair of 108' l...

Black Swan Designs

I was generalizing, and in doing so excluding all but the middle of the bell curve sample from the group I was referring to. Of course there will -always- be examples of expressions of individuals style, especially when garments and accessories are not standardized by mass production methods .Class,...

Black Swan Designs

I'm curious- I see an evolution in the way hoods and hats were worn in the 14th C. The Manessa Codex shows hoods being worn as a hat, with the mantle (the part over the shoulders) in the back and the point hanging over the edge in the front: http://www.brandenburg1260.de/otto4.jpg http://www.hs-augs...

Black Swan Designs

We're currently out of the chapes, but should have some in fairly soon. Once I have the chapes I can make up more hemp arming point kits. The kits come in a range of colours so you can make solid or multi-coloured points like these: http://historicenterprises.biz/journal/06/images/armingpoints.jpg T...

Black Swan Designs

Yeah, that's the one my friend bought, except his is all white. He rigged it up with an 'umbrella' arrangement (center pole with radiating struts to hold the corners out) rather than the 4 corner poles. He was quite comfy in it.

G

Black Swan Designs

Try rolling the face and donning the hat with the cockscomb hanging down the back, rather than the side. Wrap the liripipe around the head, catching the comb and holding it down against the back of the head. Tuck the loose end f the liripipe/tail in so it doesn't escape. This arrangement appears fre...

Black Swan Designs

A friend of mine bought a 10 x 10 for Pennsic for $150 (yes, you read that right) and he was quite happy with it. It's not an uber-historical shape, and for that price comes without a floor cloth and all the extras, but it was a great value for the money. He could have spent that amount or more for ...

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Believe those who are seeking truth; doubt those who find itâ€

Black Swan Designs

Regarding J & N, agreed 100%. I'd throw Sarah Thursfield into that class as well. Anyone who publishes sets themselves up for sainthood and damnation at the same time. One of the reasons I've never been brave enough to do it myself.

G

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JB, I love you. I'm copying that and saving it for a rainy day. Yes, yes, yes, YES. Nina and Jane are mortal, and they make mistakes. Jerry Embleton is mortal, and he makes mistakes. Just because it's published in a book, doesn't make it right. Check your sources yourself. Even Jesus said that- find...

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Yes, but the barber surgeon coif is worn alone, without a hat over it. The chap above is not a barber surgeon, and he's wearing a coif with a hat over it. Different thing.

Black Swan Designs

Unfortunately, almost anything can be 'proven', from black underpants to flutes coming out of people's backsides, because you can always find an allegorical image, or not understand symbolism or scale in artwork of the period. It's a hard thing, because there's no quick fix- the only way I know to b...

Black Swan Designs

Since most 15th century re-enactors portray those decades to commonly wear such a garment in such groups is not in keeping with the evidence. Yup, couldn't agree more. Show me a dirt farmer or mason in one and I'm all over it, but a bunch of 'nobles' sitting around in them, not so much. But reenact...

Black Swan Designs

I'd vote for something like this- http://hphotos-snc1.fbcdn.net/hs155.snc1/5773_139623311207_593316207_3787412_865000_n.jpg Get yourself some embroidery silk and go crazy with the tassels. Fingerloop braid the drawstrings while you're at it, and card weave the edges if you know how. G

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What status are you trying to portray, and what age group? Those things come into consideration, if you're looking for a historically based answer.

G

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She's c. 1490-1500, and Austrian. REALLY???? I find that hard to believe. Is it possible the citation is off? I mean, I know Holbein was a wunderkind , (like Durer, have to wonder if it wasn't something in the Austrian water) but this is so crude compared to what else was coming out of the region a...

Looking for the Sons of Fenrir (x-post)

Looking for the Sons of Fenrir (x-post)