Aventail question

[Gawain Velimere]

Hello,

I'm looking for a pattern or suggestion for making an aventail.
I just ordered a bascinet it comes with the vervails.

I was looking for suggestions for attaching using a leather band around the helm, patterns for the aventail and any helpful suggestions.

Thanks

Scott

[losthelm]

There are realy two options when it comes to the avaintail, one consists of 5 trapazoid pannels, the other is more of an oval with the expansions stagard through out the design often in the area that spreads out over the sholders so its more oval when laying flat.

The collar section is usualy just climes up from the pentagon or oval to the vervells.

The Strap and mounting of the avaintail verys a little depending on where the vervelles are and how your avaintail comes out.
Usualy its just a leather strap cut in the shape of your helm with holes punched for the vervells and sometimes a line of holes to stich everything down.

[Konstantin the Red]

I'm looking for a pattern or suggestion for making an aventail.
I just ordered a bascinet it comes with the vervails.

I was looking for suggestions for attaching using a leather band around the helm, patterns for the aventail and any helpful suggestions.

Welcome and well come, Gawain Velimere. You're equipping for SCA combat, right? (We get absolutely everybody here, and if they are new fighters they usually don't know who else is out there nor what they hit their friends with -- it varies!)

You've come to the right spot -- search this site on "camail strap" and you'll have a double scad of hits, more than a few with pictures. And guess what: for making a pattern for a camail strap to hang your camail from, attaching to the vervelles, you've just found another use for Ductape! Well, yay and huzzah! Actually, masking tape is a little better for the job because it's easier to remove, but duct will do if that's all you have. You've got your vervelles, and the vervelle line is the line that connects the dots (the retaining wire follows this line). Run tape along the vervelle line and as far to either side of it as you want your camail strap to be wide, totaling at least an inch to an inch and a half, unless you want to get fancy. In that case, see below. Lay the tape on there neatly and as smoothly as possible, poking holes in the tape to let the vervelles through. When it's all stuck well down and smooth, put two more layers of tape on for strength, and do any trimming necessary, like shaping the ends of the camail strap if desired. They did not always leave the strap wholly plain.

[ETA]Now I'm finding they did use narrow camail straps also, though much less often. Widths could be as little as 3/4".

Carefully peel the layered tape up, don't tear it, and there's your pattern for your camail strap. Stick it on your leather and cut your strap out with shears or X-acto knives. Mark where the vervelle holes are, remove tape, and punch the holes. A rectangular hole shapes very closely to the head of the vervelle in most cases, but suit your hole shapes to whatever profile your vervelles make.

Sew the camail to the camail strap with artificial sinew or stitching awl thread, taking a couple-three stitches per link so the butted links can't slide off the thread by their joins. The mail should be fairly compressed up at the strap, and it can expand out more down its width away from your bascinet.

Depending on whether your bascinet is fixed-grill or some kind of movable visor, either Klappvisier center-hinge or temple hinges, your treatment of the part of the camail that covers your chin and jaw will vary -- advise us on which you have.

The camail itself is built very like the cowl of a mail coif, minus the hoody portion but with some of the neck. If your vervelle line layout is the usual kind with a dogleg rising to each temple, triangles of mail will be included to meet these risers, and there are several ways to arrange those triangles, too.

Making it out of trapezoids leaves visible seams spreading out; making it circular or oval with expansions leaves no visible seams. Ever made anything of mail before? Smallish links in fairly fine wire look more historically accurate than big links in fat wire.

[Konstantin the Red]

And below: fancier camail straps.

One way you can make camail straps is double-wide and folded over, sandwiching the top edge of the mail in between their edges and sewing the whole thing shut.

The edges of the camail strap may be prettied up in all sorts of ways. Mostly the decorative cutting was done on the lower edge, the one at the mail: dags either rounded or pointed, maybe pierce-work. Go for a gothic artistic sensibility -- like the decor in the fancier kind of Episcopalian church. Sometimes some linear tooling or a handsome cord or braiding of wire for the retaining cord or wire. Colors, too, if you are using vegetable tanned leather that will take dye. Chrome tanned doesn't, and comes pre-colored anyway. Can be effectively used as an underlaid border or something -- worth a thought if you have some around. It's an aristocrat's helmet you're getting; it's allowed to look ornate.

[Gawain Velimere]

Thanks for the suggestions and examples. I have done some chain work before, but wanted to make sure I did a good job on this project. So I was looking for a guide. I'll give the search suggestions a try.

Yes the armor is for SCA, I am just getting back into it and having to build a whole new kit.

Thanks again

[Konstantin the Red]

Well, give a holler if you have a specific question after your reading.

[Konstantin the Red]

For Gawain has emerged with a bascinet he is re-lining.