The Armour Archive

the 14th century guys have the mafia
the 15th century guys are thugz
We who are interested in the 16th century have become enlightened(tm)

Time to show off you kits hard&soft, If it's maximillion, Henry the VIII, or Elizebethian etc post it!!

Ok... here's some of my kit:


Me on the right in the Yellow, the outfit is loosely based on the French recruitment officer from Paul Dolstein's Diary.


Later 16thC kit, still under development.


Very old Picture, late 16thC Border light horse.

You're going to make me do my best to out-do Murdock's photo count, aren't you? Anyway, here are a few of mine...

I'll even add a couple in a second post, since I've maxed out here.

Cheers!

Gordon

And more... I even sometimes do things dismounted! (Like shootin' things... )

(I know, I'm an attention whore, and love posting pics of myself. What can I say. )

Cheers!

Gordon

I need to take some new pictures to show improvements to my Landsknecht kit. Obviously I do not tie my tassets down but as bad as this looks it is hardly noticable when I fight. Oh yes, do you all like the "marshal" we found for the tournament?

aluminum gets shiny

The only ones of me in kit I have, and taken for my tailor's website so the bare minimum to show it off.


There are 6 yards of cloth in the britches alone, another 3 in the doublet which is I am wilting slightly in this shot


I normally have a leather slashed doublet, shoulder cape, whiffler's sash, gorget and burgonet too plus either bow or lance, depending on circumstance.

Phil Crawley wrote: There are 6 yards of cloth in the britches alone, another 3 in the doublet which is I am wilting slightly in this shot

Cool! Those are GREAT britches! I am officially jealous!

Cheers!

Gordon

I wedge into a portuguese saddle and have geat difficulty getting on or off but, if I fall, they inflate and I bounce

The codpiece now has two metres of braid stitched on it to make it more impressive and a couple of bells too and I have to figure a way to stitch a pearl I have securely to the tip

Just found another of me in my backup rig getting into my brigandine

There's a codpiece on those britches??? Huh... LOTS of fabric indeed!

I know what you mean about being wedged into a Portuguese saddle... see the photo above of me in my waffenrock wedged into mine. Dang but it's awkward getting into the saddle wearing a skirt, though! No wonder women rode side-saddles!

Cheers!

Gordon

Curiously.....there are a growing number of 14th and 15th century living history costume providers but the 16th and 17th century costume field seems to me, to be dominated by renn-faire/fantasy/casually accurate costume makers (ie, Museum Replicas).

Who do serious living history members recommend as the better of the 16th century costume makers....folks who "document" their work, etc.

Durasteel Corporation wrote:Curiously.....there are a growing number of 14th and 15th century living history costume providers but the 16th and 17th century costume field seems to me, to be dominated by renn-faire/fantasy/casually accurate costume makers (ie, Museum Replicas).

Who do serious living history members recommend as the better of the 16th century costume makers....folks who "document" their work, etc.

You're dead on the money there, as I can't think of a single supplier who I could really recommend to anyone for 16th Century clothing (other than some REALLY expensive tailors!) 15th Century, 17th Century no problem. 16th Century? Forget it.

BTW, I would LOVE to hear of a good sutler for such goods, as I sure as heck can't find anyone to recommend to the many folks who ask me about it. Most of the suppliers I've seen either on the web or in person hawk such horrid travesties that I couldn't possibly recommend them in good conscience.

Cheers,

Gordon

Ninya Mikhaila.

Karen, I think I would (and do!) place her in the category of (very) high-quality tailor, rather than a mere a "supplier" of off the shelf goods. I adore her work, but she's not exactly the sort to recommend to someone just getting going (although her book The Tudor Tailor certainly is!)

I wish that there were someone on the order of Historic Enterprises to turn folks towards for good 16th Century clothing. Of course the fact that fashions changed so rapidly, and there were so many national variations makes doing any broad-based 16th Century sort of clothing emporium much more difficult than doing 15th.

For 17th Century, there are places like Sykes Suttlery, though: http://sykesutler.home.att.net/ Also a fair number of folks in Britain supplying ECW kit.

Cheers!

Gordon

Here's a couple I've found... most of it is actually pretty good. I'd go nuts if we had an equivalent to Revival and/or HE... Sykes really needs some major updates... I guess most of the these vendors don't entirely reach the level of accuracy we'd like, but this is some of the best I've seen commercially.

http://www.linenarmor.com/Linen_Armor.html
All of the clothing is linen, so you can't really go too wrong. The doublets and jerkins all have a good Elizabethan-ish look to them. The Venetian breeches don't seem to have much of the characteristic taper to them, but you could do far far worse. The shirts look nice, & have tie closures (a very good thing).

http://www.twinrosesdesigns.com/Mens%20 ... 0Sale.html
I know a couple people who've ordered from here and the service is reputed to be excellent. Their "Renaissance Doublets" are very nice. They come in wool and with button closures- both are very rare in commercial Elizabethan stuff. For a little bit extra, they'll make matching detachable sleeves (another major plus). The sleeve lacing method uses metal grommets, but these can be overcast with thread. They'll custom fit the product to you, and you can select the fabrics (wool outer, linen lining ). Their shirts look decent..

http://www.blockaderunner.com/Catalog/catpg16.htm
Actually an American Civil War vendor, they offer awesome blocked wool felt slouch hats for an amazing price ($18.95). When finished, these hats very closely resemble those from the Elizabethan period. Get a higher crown (6 inches +++) and either trim the brim to be very short (1-2 in.) or block them so they're curved upwards on either side (look up "Derricke's Image of Irelande" and "The Lant Roll/Funeral Procession of Sir Philip Sidney")

http://tattershallarms.org/
Really the one and only place where I've found accurate sword hangers. I purchased the six ring hanger, and love it despite some initial problems. Some of the absolute best customer service I've ever experienced. Very nice product. Avoid the baldrics (earliest image I've seen is 1588)

http://www.armlann.com/shoesandpattens.htm
Lots of good Elizabethan shoes. I plan on ordering a pair before the month is out.

This seems to be going more towards soft kits so this is my Lady Elise and myself:

Karl Helweg wrote:This seems to be going more towards soft kits so this is my Lady Elise and myself:

Actually I was hoping for both hard&soft kits.
So, please carry on!!!!

Gordon, could we see some more pictures of your armour,specifically the arms? also who made them? there is a dearth of accurate 16th century fan styles in the sca so I am curious.

Welsh Knight Errant, c1530




PERCHERON POWER!

Tudor Soft Kit (minimum kit - working hard on a very hot day)

Kaliban (top left), Paul S. (mounted)

Just for the halibut we whipped these up for a an A&S warpoint on the rapier field.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44976703@N ... 189179347/

Leather because we didn't want any whining about blow calling (got it anyway.)

Currently I'm working on getting identical heavy kit, but properly constructed.

iomtalach wrote:Just for the halibut we whipped these up for a an A&S warpoint on the rapier field.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44976703@N ... 189179347/

Leather because we didn't want any whining about blow calling (got it anyway.)

Currently I'm working on getting identical heavy kit, but properly constructed.

Where'd you get those awesome burgonets?

The buff coat, gorget , boots, and mask is mine. Sorry I had to swipe the pic.

http://www.terraefinis.org/Maidens2007/ ... age24.html

LOGOS

I don't believe those are full Death's head Burgs. Only the "face" parts, the rest look like black hoods.

The whole rigs, including the totenkopfs, are lightweight saddle-skirting.

Don'a Lasairiona's kopf was sort of a last minute job, so it's just the face-plate with a black drape. (BTW, she did all the painting on her armour in a painfully short amount of time. She's an incredible artist.)

Esteban and I have full leather head covering. If you look close you can see how crappy it is. Thank god for the ten foot rule!

Actually the leather armour isn't bad looking...I've cut mine apart to re-strap it in a more period fashion, and get a better hang on the legs and arms.

It was a fun project. I can't wait to make the same thing in steel!

Thanks for the acknoledgement and links.

Yes indeed I wish someone like Historic Enterprises or Revival Clothin would emerge. I think I recall HE having some 16th and early 17th work but dropped the line of clothing?

My theory, and I could be wrong, is simply that there are so many renn faire wannabee craftsfolk that it drowns out the serious living history ones, even those who might do stock work. And/or maybe that the type of tailoring involved jumps to rather sophisticated levels, detering much other than the high end folks like Ninya Mikhaila.

iomtalach wrote:Just for the halibut we whipped these up for a an A&S warpoint on the rapier field.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44976703@N ... 189179347/

Leather because we didn't want any whining about blow calling (got it anyway.)

Currently I'm working on getting identical heavy kit, but properly constructed.

very nice!!

LOGOS wrote:
PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:57 pm Post subject: Well, really late 16th c. (17th really)
The buff coat, gorget , boots, and mask is mine. Sorry I had to swipe the pic.

http://www.terraefinis.org/Maidens2007/ ... age24.html

LOGOS

please specify which number in the line up you are

My kit. Soon hopefully, I will get my padded underdoublet and then there will be pics of me fighting in it.

I found some photos HERE in a thread titled "old-new helmet!" it is Ugo's take of a burgonet.

Sha-ul;

The arms were made by Allan Senefelder of Mercenary's Tailor. I had him use his 16th Century arms and fix them permanently to the pauldrons, since I didn't want to have to use an arming doublet and points. Thus I went with the later method. It was mostly 17th Century, but started in the 16th, so I don't feel anachronistic by using them that way. I'm also using one of his gorgets.

The breast and back are from Illusion, but modified by Allan by the addition of gussets in the arm holes. The close helmet is an ancient one made by Jay Bliss of Fresno, CA that I bought at the Burro Creek War in something like 1980 or something, with a (slightly) newer visor by Steve Moffatt (Sir Steven of Norham). Here's another shot of my armour from last year, sans helmet.

Cheers!

Gordon

Rittmeister Frye wrote:And more... I even sometimes do things dismounted! (Like shootin' things... )

Do you have any patterns or other useful info for the bandolier plus the apostles that you were wearing in one of these pictures? I've been meaning to make one for my landsknecht kit but haven't found good sources.

Also does anyone know where to get 16th century arquebuses? I've found places selling 14th/15th century guns as well as 17th 18th & 19th but the 16th c doesn't seem to interest anyone,

Thanks a lot already in advance!

GrimR

Here's a photo of my shooting kit. Dale Shinn, who sadly is now retiring from the business, made my bandoliers, and they were put together by my friend Nick Worthington, who just so happens to be pictured with me. The chargers are "paired" so that one string attaches to two chargers thrugh holes in the bandolier strap, thus you can pull one of them down to facilitate loading, which pulls the other one up. Then you can pull the other down for the next shot, on down the line. Darned handy, that.

An excellent supplier of proper 16th Century matchlocks is John Buck. He can make a matchlock in just about any form you'd like to have, and if you send him a photo he can make it. He already offers a pretty wide selection of styles, and since it's his only business, he does them quickly too. Presently he is making up a few copies of the arquebuses found on the Atocha for a museum, so he understands the geometry of a good 16th Century matchlock. For international shipping, he can always make the arm without a touch hole drilled, which makes it a "non-gun". He also makes chargers for bandoliers, BTW: http://www.musketmart.com/index.html

Another excellent source for bandoliers is Paul Meekins in England. He is a major supplier for the ECW fellows there, and makes a fine product:
http://www.bandoliers.co.uk/

sha-ul wrote:please specify which number in the line up you are

I'm second from the left - leaning against the stanchion. Buff coat, cream suede doublet, brown boots, white belt, blackened steel gorget, and homemade perf steel mask.

Logos

LOGOS wrote:
PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:57 pm Post subject: Well, really late 16th c. (17th really)
The buff coat, gorget , boots, and mask is mine. Sorry I had to swipe the pic.

http://www.terraefinis.org/Maidens2007/ ... age24.html

LOGOS

please specify which number in the line up you are [/quote]


Another picture - in the list facing the camera

http://www.terraefinis.org/Maidens2007/ ... age21.html

Logos

nice boots...how are they holding up and where did you get them? Are they the ones from Museum Replicas?
Thanks,
Edward

Here's my 16th century kits.