Roz gets armored

What a great weekend! I have to say, this was the best Fourth so far with David. I thought he was going to flip out with the fireworks! Couldn't get him to leave, not even when the fireworks were over, because Mother Nature decided to provide her own light show.

I have borrowed this nifty, cool digital camera from Jessie, and am able to post pictures of my projects, among other things.... . This is my grandson David--- isn't he a cutie?

This was a productive weekend. I made a couple of things (non-armour, but that is ok on occasion), one in the wood shop, the other in the jewelry studio......

Every dead Queen deserves a cool squire's belt (particularity if she is a squire). With the upcoming natal day of one of our favorite dead queens quickly approaching, the Muse struck (and She cannot be ignored...). The rose mount is now finished. The picture really doesn't do it justice (the closeup function doesn't *really* work for jewelry). I am using a mostly non-period methods of production on this project. I pierced out the roses from a sheet of 14 gauge brass with my saw, and used files and my flex shaft to shape the two pieces, which I then soldered together. The hole in the center is for the rivet. I have made a rubber mold, and have begun shooting waxes. I will use lost wax casting to cast the 35+ roses and the buckle and belt tip in Sterling silver.

When giving a gift, the presentation plays a large part in the enjoyment of the giving. I just happen to know that this paricular dead queen does not have (or did not appear to have) a nice jewelry case for her SCA jewelry. Using ye old trusty six-board box pattern, I constructed this box out of Red Oak. The boards themselves were fairly inexpensive at Home Depot, in the cut craft board section. Actually already had the wood on hand, from a previous project, else this might not have gotten done... The overall dimensions of the box are 8"Wx8"Tx5.5"D

Note: when you need to get the right color on something, but don't have the person nearby, DMC floss works great....