A&S Shield

[Halbrust]

Well, I have been working on an accurate reproduction of a "Viking" round shield for more than a few months now.
I finished it up last week and entered it in an A&S competition Saturday. I won! I took first place with a score of 95 out of a 100.

I think I did a good job, but I sure didn't thinkit was that nice. One of the few negative comments I got was that my rivets weren't peened evenly. Made me chuckle out loud, because they had no idea those 20 something rivets were the only ones I have ever peened!

Pictures coming soon (tomorrow night I hope), and I plan on posting my documentation on-line also.

-Halbrust

P.S. - My entry of a Maslin bread won first place in it's category as well. It was an amazing feeling. Two first place finishes for the first two A & S entries.

[CiaranBlackrune]

Congratulations!!! Woot!!!

I am really looking forward to photos. Say, was this at Festival Of The Rose?

[Halbrust]

Congratulations!!! Woot!!!

I am really looking forward to photos. Say, was this at Festival Of The Rose?

Yes it was.
Please don't tell me you were there.

[Halbrust]

Here's pictures of my daughter holding the shield.
Not the best pictures, but you can at least see it.

[Derian le Breton]

Your documentation was excellent as well; well done!

-Derian (one of the judges).

[Hrolfr]

'Grats!

And you even impressed Derian

[Konstantin the Red]

Vivat! Cute little shield-maiden ya got there too -- grrr! (particularly the top picture)

[Effingham]

Rivets? What did they expect? Machine-perfect replication?

I think we sometimes lose sight of what "hand-made" means.

Well done!

[Sasha_Khan]

Rivets? What did they expect? Machine-perfect replication?

I think we sometimes lose sight of what "hand-made" means.

Well done!

I think that quite a few people DO expect that - I was showing some of my reenactment Roman gear to some friends, when a semi-local Laurel (who doesn't do any of the arts I used to create the pieces, and who has a reputation for butting into other's conversations rudely and offering critique - rudely and un-asked for...) sniffed and said that my work 'wasn't very good - I smiled (the special sharky grin) and said 'of course it wasn't very good looking - since I was replicating historical pieces, using period-appropriate tools and materials, and NOT making SCA armour with its unnatural symmetry and reliance on powered rotary polishing tools...'

I went ahead and hammered the last nail in my coffin when I added that I was holding myself to a higher standard - that of trying to be as historically accurate as possible - rather than making something 'shiny' and catering to modern ideals.

The look on her face made it seem that I had shat in her coffee cup, or perhaps kicked her puppy. ::shrugs::

[Effingham]

I love you, man.

That's the thing. We're so used to machine-engendered perfection, we fail to take into account the human element in the equation.

Think of scales for armour. (I think Japanese, your mileage may vary. ) We want EVERY scale to be an exact copy of every other scale -- all the holes the exact same size, in the same place. As if they were all cast from a single mold (well, like Noble Plastics' "Effingham kozane"...). But look at a real suit UP CLOSE. Those things are snaggle toothed, poking in different directions, with a bit of variation. They did what they could without wasting, and in a hurry.

People judging things today have unrealistic expectations, sometimes.

[Sasha_Khan]

I love you, man.

That's the thing. We're so used to machine-engendered perfection, we fail to take into account the human element in the equation.

Think of scales for armour. (I think Japanese, your mileage may vary. ) We want EVERY scale to be an exact copy of every other scale -- all the holes the exact same size, in the same place. As if they were all cast from a single mold (well, like Noble Plastics' "Effingham kozane"...). But look at a real suit UP CLOSE. Those things are snaggle toothed, poking in different directions, with a bit of variation. They did what they could without wasting, and in a hurry.

People judging things today have unrealistic expectations, sometimes.

One thing that really changed how I look at armour was working for Jeff Hedgecock - I'd known Jeff forever, and when I was working at HE, I spent time talking to him about armour (huh! imagine that!).

He pointed out the same things you did, and that even the nicest extant pieces are often crooked and asymmetrical - but that because of modern prejudices and aesthetic senses, they are often photographed in a way that minimizes that, giving us an unrealistic view of the way the armour actually looks.