A big thank you needs to go out to Leo Medii for giving her permission to make the same belt, which he had commissioned for his wife, for another person.
The plaques are in a similar size as other vendors 1.5" x 1.5" but in lead free pewter which is nice and bright. Each plaque has 4 posts for mounting on to a belt. I told her I wanted to use a blank I had and to just send the plaques. Isabella suggested bending the posts to cinch in place, but I decided to peen each one. They fit nearly perfectly using a 1/8" burr for pop-rivets and a rivet setter. The pewter was perfect for peening soft enough to peen but not so soft that the plates would distort greatly. Ones that did bend were easily tapped back into shape without distortion. I still have a couple of plaques left to peen along with the clasp/hinge.
The only issue I noted was that some of the posts were quite short. But because I used a 5 oz. piece of leather for a backing, the shortest posts were just perfect for the task. This would have been problematic if I had tried to apply to a veg tanned blank with burrs.
Back side of belt with peened posts and burrs.
I ordered the belt late in December (the 27th) and received an email about 10 days later that it was complete. I actually received the plaques over a week ago, but have not had time to put these together until this weekend. She gets 5 stars from me for speed of completion, quality of product, communication and price.
There is that saying about "You can have it fast, good, or cheap. Pick any two." But she delivered all 3.
-Cian
I will fiddle with the back plate again and see if I can get a little more length out of the pegs. I'm not sure how everyone else makes theirs and I've been beating my head against the wall trying to find a solution that was speedy and not complicated. My husband did all the casting, I just did all the deburring because I was working on banners at the time. Since I had the molds already it explains the quick turn around time.