Roz gets armored

• Metal pommel and cross-guards. Mandrake armory sells a Viking style cross guard for $40 (no matter brass, pewter or aluminum) and the pommels for $20. I know these I have the technology to make, so why not? Boy, do they look good.
• Sun Shade. We roasted at H&H. I have my tent fly, and all the poles needed to rig a shade, so why did we roast? Silly me. UPDATE: I re-worked my tent fly into a sunshade very similar to what we were talking about making. Price: $6.45 for another 12' 2x6, which I ripped in half to create the cross poles. Worked great yesterday at Crown List.
• Tables. Easily transportable tables. Period would be nice. Unfortunately, I think I will end up having to compromise with 14th Century sawhorse tables, since no one has come up with documented Viking stuff. I guess it is 14th Century alter-persona time……

Here is a good step-by-step pictorial: http://www.arador.com/construction/spangenconstruc1a.html

More good info:

http://www.missouri.edu/~rls555/SCA/research/helms/helms.htm Halvgrimr's Viking/PreViking Helm Presentation/Webpage

http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/armor/NormanHelmet/top_index.htm Titled “Making a Norman Helm” but it actually has some good shop tips.

http://stores.ebay.com/Poor-Boy-Blacksmith-Tools Poor Boy BlacksmithTools (an eBay shop)

Plastic lamellar. Ugh.

The brown ones pass the 10 foot rule (they look like leather if you squint). I ordered two bags of the “Auk” plates over the weekend, they were shipped on Monday, and arrived Thursday. The only issue I have with them is the little sharp points from where the plastic is injected. It isn’t a big deal to use an Xacto to scrape it off, which I heartily recommend doing. I was sitting on the couch in shorts, lacing them up. My thigh felt a little strange, and that was when I noticed how scratched it was. So, already having 120 of them laced, I scraped them. All David could say was “wow, coooo.” Hehe And, in the course of one evening (about 3 hours of work) I already have the 200 laced up. That was with figuring out how to do it. I anticipate that it will go much more quickly now that I have the hang of it. Time to order more.
Did I mention this is getting expensive? Anyone need any jewelry? ;-P

I want a Coppergate style Spangenhelm. And I am cheap, and broke.

I priced out steel Tuesday at Lowe's. I believe I can use the 18x24" sheet and get most of a helm, and it costs just $17.00. OK, so that might be a little more expensive than buying it as one huge 4x8' sheet, but at least it is available locally, and is of a manageable size. I am fairly certain I can cut it out with a jig saw, and drill the holes with the hand drill. I just need to find a source for the metal rivets. The steel is 16g, which is passable. I am going to do brass inset plates (over the top of the steel ones) so that should add enough thickness to the steel insets after it is thinned out. I have ordered my rivets from R. J. Leahy Company http://www.rjleahy.com/ (they were shipped Tuesday). I have bid on a Whitney punch (there were several very reasonably priced) on eBay. I will be cutting out and beginning dishing on Sunday.....

Val is going to make the gauntlets. He is really into leather working, and I am not going to turn down any help. Here is the pattern he is going to use: http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/gauntlet_clang/ .

The "base" glove is going to be the mylec gloves. You can see the gloves here: http://www.mylec.com/590-3.htm Lot's of SCA folks use them, they're basically just a leather glove with padding on the cuff, back of the hand, and tops of the fingers. Then cuirboulli over the top of those to make them legal without basket hilts. They will be way cool. I do wish I had looked at the website before I ordered the plastic lamellar. They have a chest protection rig that has integral shoulders and arms for $50 or so- which is what I paid for 1/3 of the number of lamella plates I anticipate needing. Since I am only doing the plastic lamellar to get onto the field ASAP, I would have preferred the other. Oh well. On the plus side, the lamellar looks better, and I can always sell or give away the rig one I make my cuirboulli lamellar.

// posted by Roz @ 1:19 PM 0 comments

During the course of the chat with Val at H&H, I came to some (what should have been) obvious conclusions:

If I am actually getting authorized for Pennsic, I need my armor together now. Not next month (or the month after, for that matter). I have just a little over two months to be completely ready to fight in the tourney, and that would include training. I had to agree with Val that if I tried to get the “perfect” kit, I might never get on the field. He is absolutely correct. So, it’s compromise time.

I really wanted to do the cuirboulli lamellar, but that is just not going to happen in time. So, doing a little more research, I found http://www.plasticlammelar.com/. Now, good reader, before you freak out, this is not the end of the world. While it isn’t a perfect solution, it is less expensive than the metal plates (which are out of stock in any case) and will get me on the field the fastest. I ordered them yesterday, and got an email that they were shipped today. Free shipping, too. :-)

Spent a wonderful day Saturday, relaxing and chatting with Val, Fiora, and Maeva at Heroes and Heroines. It was really nice to sit back and do nothing. Nice change of pace to not be running around like a mad woman.

It was equally nice just watching the fighting. Amazing thing, that. I haven't been interested on what is going on in the field in ages and ages. ;-p None of us had brought a pavilion (more on that later) so we borrowed a bit of shade from the Chirugeons. We saw several armor styles that I think I am going to incorporate into my kit. Rather, we saw styles of helms or body armor that fit the "mood" of my kit.

Val and I had a nice chat about our relationship, and although we haven’t done anything official, he (and by extension thru him, Fiora) are now members of my household. We are not going to do the Laurel/Apprentice thing at this point, and we really aren’t sure what to call it, but it is a household relationship of some sort. Suffice it to say that we are both sure we can learn from each other. Isn’t that what it is all about anyway?

OK then, I said I have learned a lot since I have started this particular journey. I feel like I need to make a list:

• 43 isn’t old, let alone dead.
• Lamellar is really cool body armor. It can be made of metal or cuirbolli. Or Plastic.
• The water in a vase of roses is very cold when used in a baptism at 3am.
• Cuirbolli will also work for elbows and hands, and if you can figure out how to do it, can be much cheaper than buying them made of steel.
• It is much cheaper to make things yourself than to buy them.
• Corollary: It is only less expensive to make things yourself if you have the knowledge, skill, and a ready source of materials than it is to buy the thing.
• Do not pick the wood to make your forms in the rain. Especially if the wood is wet. Disappointment is sure to follow.
• Heralds do not like slot-machine heraldry (already known). The Norse did not use heraldry much if at all….
• If you boil leather too long, when it is totally dry, it breaks easily. Very Easily (glad I wasn’t wearing the gorget when it broke in half.
• Gesso is (or used to be) a white pigment mixed with rabbit skin glue. One puts it over whatever surface one is painting, where it essentially acts as a primer/sealer. On boards, one can sand it or leave it rough.
• Gouache is essentially opaque water color (sometimes called "designer's colors"). Used to paint scrolls, for instance.
• Tempera is essentially what all paintings were done in prior to the invention of oil paint. It is the pigment of your choice mixed with egg yolk as a binder. It produces a very bright finish, but you have to use it quickly (rather like acrylic).

More to come, I am sure…..

No, I didn't get out and actually start working with the shield. I made a trip to Michael’s (the craft store) and picked up gesso and tempera paint. Yes, gesso- not gouache. I have to say, this whole getting armored thing has really been….. enlightening. I have learned a plethora of things since I started working on getting armed. More on that in another post--- I was talking about shields.

As previously stated, I am following the Sir Galan Schol method of shield preparation. I dug out the shield blank that he cut out for me ages ago (I have to talk to him to find out what kind of wood it is), but I can say it is ¼ or not much more. As I recall, it was not cheap, so it must be something besides pine plywood. Much better than pine plywood. Anyway, I cleaned up the scrapes and dings and such. I applied my first coat of gesso this evening, and have to wait 24 hours until I can sand it to do the second layer. Then I can start the shield decoration, of which I am still unsure. Unsure what I am going to use as the decoration, that is. Since the Norsefolk didn’t generally use heraldry as we think about it, I am for sure not going to use my current, totally non-period arms. Did I mention there is a possible name change in the works too?

I’ll keep you posted. ;p

Maeva (my foster apprentice*) and I were talking about getting and staying motivated, on this long hard path to getting armored and authorized. Well, one of the things that we decided was it would be cool if we could get an email when one of us posts to our blogs. Caitlin and I had been talking about just that--- and if I can figure out how to use my news reader at work, I would go with RSS (that way, anyone who wanted to keep up with us could “subscribe” to our blogs, but I can’t figure out how to do that either….).

Anyway, since I own www.artisansrow.org and actually use only about 1% of the features to host the Artisan’s Row website, I thought I would give this a whirl. What I did was set up a mailing list on the artisansrow.org domain. I am setting my blog to that address. In theory, when I post this message, an email will go to that address, which will get forwarded to those of us who want to know about such posts. We will have to see if it works. (Note: some of the folks got the email, but the formatting was winky. I didn't get the mail at all...)
If it does work, I will set up a subscribe email address, so that any of our friends who want to can also subscribe. Sound like a plan??

* Maeva is Mistress Caitlin of Enniskillen’s apprentice, who I will be fostering once Caitlin moves to Atlantia. Boo hoo.)

Trying to figure out this whole gouache and tempera paint thing Sir Galan was telling me about for painting lasting shields. It has been forever and a day since he cut out the shield blank for me, and about that long since he gave me the instructions on what to do with it.....

As I recall (and he and I spoke briefly at Dreamstone...) he said to put down 3 or 4 coats of gouache (however you spell it), sanding in between each coat, to get a very smooth surface to paint on. Then, tempera paints to do the design, then several coats of varnish. He also told me about using rawhide dog bones rather than hose to do the edge. He has a great suspension system, which again if I am recalling correctly, is also period.

Of course, I have to decide on what to paint on the shield. I have registered Arms (registered in 1982 Gules, on a pale embattled between in chief an Irish harp and a Scottish thistle argent, in base a horse's head couped gules) but it is not just un-registerable today, it is totally un-period for my evolving persona, and my spiff new armor.

Am kind of leaning toward something simply geometric. I really need to do some research on what kind of painting would be appropriate for Isle of Lewis in approximately 1005 (I think that is where I am going to settle my persona there). There is another great group of folks- those of the Norse list- that are a wealth of knowledge. I think I will go ask there. ;p

There is a really great article on a grave find from the Isle of Lewis that is motivating me to move my persona there. Go check out the article "A Viking burial from Kneep, Uig, Isle of Lewis"

David got into the scissors Friday at school--- made a nice mess of his hair, he did. I have no complaints with the teacher, since she has done such a phenomenal job with him. But still…. So David got his first “real” haircut Friday evening. He looks like a cute little Marine. Believe it or not, that was not really my idea, but the girl was having a bit of a problem cleaning up the mess that he had made of it. So, his hair is a regulation 0" to 3" (he doesn't have to worry about his mustache going past his mouth yet....)

So there I was, yesterday evening, kind of annoyed with the mess David had made in the den. Using my most stern voice, I said, "I want these toys cleaned up. NOW."

The little devil comes to attention and says "Sir, yes sir."

Too much TV? Must be, because *I* certainly didn't teach him that. I about fell off the couch--- almost hurt myself trying to suppress the laughter that was ready to shoot out.