The Armour Archive

Cunian

I am partial to tire sidewalls, one curved piece on each side of the rattan, firmly taped together and fleshed out with blue foam if desired. Then covered w/electrical tape. Cutting out the pieces is a bear, but the curve looks nice.

Cunian

Pray pardon, for perhaps I misunderstand being a stranger to the pursuits of such deeds. Would it not have been the case that in a pleasant venture born of respect and comradery, rather than a duel, one would in fact have banged away on the other's plate rather than inflicting cruel blows to the arm...

Cunian

Maybe a longer-term challenge to get people in the habit of coming out? Like the 60 fights in 60 days thing?

Cunian

Speaking of overkill - Do you really think a 4 x 4 is desirable for a center pole pavillion of that size? I've got one about that size - homegrown and massively cheaper - that I have used a lot of random lumber for the centerpole of, (mostly because with going to Pennsic with 4 people, 2 sets of arm...

Cunian

No - it would not. It would get all ripped up. So there, nyahh.

Cunian

It looks like that diagonal isn't accidental, but that they are held up by something in the front - maybe a very long tie that isn't shown? Or a pin to under - hosen?

Cunian

Thanks - She does have some nice bliaut ideas. I would need to make it relatively loose-fitting for a bliaut, and certainly not laced, since this fabric would deform pretty quickly given much in the way of strain. I had thought, maybe, of a late Anglo-Saxon overdress with the widening sleeves like t...

Cunian

Yea - two for Manesse. Thanks.

Cunian

That is a nice thing, alright. I will probably do something a bit simpler and female - 'cause now that I have gotten fat and old and have children hanging off me I have a much harder time cross-dressing with any sense of suspended disbelief at all. I had actually been thinking that it would make a r...

Cunian

G Street Fabrics - suburbs of Washington DC. I've gotten most of my really great fabric there over the years, but it's kind of catch as catch can - you can't go in wanting a certain weird weave and knowing you'll get it, but you can be pretty sure to find something worth blowing your money on.

Cunian

Thanks. It certainly would like to be something "drapey". I'll look at the Manesse pictures again. The only piece of fabric I see that is just like it is a copy of a fabric from the 12th century at the Abbey of St Truiden in Belgium shown here m But that is linen, and I am not sure it was from cloth...

Cunian

I got 4 yards of some fabric - nice dark red, wool, diamond twill weave, 60" width, really lovely drape. I would like to do something absolutely right with it, preferably before the 14th century. I know that broken diamond twill worked with a warp-weighted loom, but I don't know about this kind of d...

Cunian

In illuminations and the Bayeaux Tapestry, it's pretty generally shown as a gold band with fleur-de-lis (or round or heart-shaped or ... )shaped upward bits

editted to add other shapes as I flipped through Owen-Crocker's Dress in Anglo-Saxon England.

Cunian

I'm with you on the lazy hand-sewer thing. I haven't space to leave the sewing machine set up anywhere, so its a matter of setting it up, finding a free outlet and extension cord, deciding how to deal with the bobbin thread color, etc....by then the kids need something and I've lost my moment. As op...

Cunian

Strykar had a heavy buckler that he strapped with two parallel leather straps - If he gripped both of them they pulled in toward each other and it tightened up. Not as floppy as one strap, but you had to have a big enough hand for it.

Cunian

I've boiled a fair bit of white high density polyethylene in the past. It gets soft enough for simple curves. You do want to be able to leave it tied or clamped into shape for a while. Salt would probably be a good thing.

Cunian

Was mild. Didn't noticeable pass out. Pupils okay. Had a friend riding home with me, and would have asked her to drive had she been able to do stick. But I told her to spot me. Did avoid getting hit in the head for a while after. I've been stupider.

Cunian

S'Okay, Aaron. I've been hit by Syr Thorvald plenty without any missing memories. There was that one time he caught me flat-footed with a polearm, and I went flying and landed in the grass feeling like just looking up at the sky and resting for a few minutes. But that was my first tourney ever and h...

Cunian

Shield baskets. They're abominations that unbalance the shield, hurt the user, and have not even a shred of basis in historical reality.

Cunian

Another question we could ask would be what they are doing with these cords. I recall "braids" mentioned decoratively. Just - if there are a lot of cord-makers, presumably a fair bit of cord was wanted - so, do we know what they were doing with it?

Cunian

They look like the lucet cord making thingies.

Cunian

There are a few Welsh 12th cen. manuscript pieces that have some decoration that is clearly celtic knotwork. The style is a bit more angular, and there is some romanesque influence, but...

Not that I agree with decorating everything with the stuff.

Cunian

The Ponte Alto Sunday practice is in the park behind the Tysons-Pimmit Library, a few blocks inside the beltway on Rt 7. 1ish or 2ish. Duncan the Elder, who marshals, is good at emailing if things are off for some reason, once you get on his list. It is a nice, hoary practice that is frequented by a...

Cunian

The "just take turns" thing works fairly well, (more or less, kinda sorta). We haven't had much trouble with it at practice. Double elim tournaments aren't a lot worse, since the chances of you actually haven't to fight at the same time are pretty low, and usually you can impose on a friend, househo...

Cunian

I did nothing of use last week.
Short(ish) term - Get past being pregnant.
Long term - Practice enough to be of some use at Pennsic.

Cunian

Mostly linen, I think. Sometimes the small front straps were silk. I usually do a folded and sewn strap, linen for the long rear straps and silk for the front ones. I'll try to pull out some sources, 'cause it's been too long since I actually looked at them.

Cunian

Metal is really the best way to go for cops. Simple, unpolished metal cops are really very, very affordable. That said, if you get plastic very hot - in an oven - you can mold it over a metal cop, or if you are just doing simple boiling, you can cut a roughly rectangular piece of plastic and then ma...

Cunian

Boiling water works quite nicely with plastic, as long as you are sticking with simple curves. It doesn't get "plastic" enough to form it over a knee cop or something like that, but you can bend it around something. I always used it because it was not so stinky and I didn't have a spare oven to dedi...

Cunian

(This is not the real Cunian, just her husband, Gunnar) Diomedes, There have been a number of good posts with advice on your first problem, (pulling your blows). I wanted to address your second problem, (stopping after you tag someone). The two problems are related but not identical. We have a metho...

Cunian

You will surely want some mail. It is very nifty in a tactile way, and with a lot of folks upgrading to rivetted mail, perhaps you can get some butted mail relatively affordably. Size and fit is very forgiving for dress-up purposes.

Cunian

There is a quite detailed description of a Holmgang style fight in Egil's Saga - and if you plug "Egil's Saga" + holmgang into Google, you get a number of hits. The first thing that comes up mentions a cloak 10 ft square being the measure of the fighting area, but I am not sure of its exactness or h...

Cunian

Hi - (as a Northstar apprentice, and someone who was at the booth a lot of Pennsic this year), We didn't have any helms at Pennsic this year, except for one used basinet we were selling as a consignment, so perhaps it was another year, or you were thinking of another armoury? Northstar doesn't have ...

Cunian

What about an open bit in the side seam of the chemise between the front and the gore. (Note: I have no real idea of the patterning of 14th c. chemises; I do early stuff.) That looks like what *might* be portrayed in the picture noted above. That had been seeming like the next place for me to try wi...

Cunian

But the same could be said of carefully putting your old pal back together - the one that feels just so in your hand, and leaps eagerly to the foe. I spend a good deal of time shaping a grip, and shaving my edges. Maybe I use inefficient tools, and I have small hands, so I need to cut down the grip ...

Cunian

There is an event with fighting near there on the weekend of the 17th and 18th. http://acorn.atlantia.sca.org/0409/chalace.htm

What should I make w/this fabric?