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Mr. Mailman
Apr 13, 2005

The thread may not always deliver, but I do!
**double post - I'm a tard**

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Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE
I'm going to keep making dumb posts in this thread until I get things through my thick skull.

So against the general advice of this thread and elsewhere I picked up the 4-in-1 awl set to get me started, attempted to sharpen one of the awls, and I think I've pretty much ground it down to being useless at this point in an attempt to get it sharp. I knew what I was getting myself into, at least, so it wasn't a total waste.

At this point I'm just looking for a serviceable awl. I don't really want to spend $100+ on a Douglas awl or something at the moment (especially given my inexperience with sharpening), but I'm ok with spending a decent amount knowing what it'll get me.

What are my options? I don't even really know where to start looking or for what to look.

Pagan
Jun 4, 2003

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

I'm going to keep making dumb posts in this thread until I get things through my thick skull.

So against the general advice of this thread and elsewhere I picked up the 4-in-1 awl set to get me started, attempted to sharpen one of the awls, and I think I've pretty much ground it down to being useless at this point in an attempt to get it sharp. I knew what I was getting myself into, at least, so it wasn't a total waste.

At this point I'm just looking for a serviceable awl. I don't really want to spend $100+ on a Douglas awl or something at the moment (especially given my inexperience with sharpening), but I'm ok with spending a decent amount knowing what it'll get me.

What are my options? I don't even really know where to start looking or for what to look.

Can you post a picture or two of what you're talking about?

Is it this : http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/3209-00.aspx ?

Sharpening knives is kind of a universal skill; do you know how to sharpen a kitchen knife or a pocketknife?

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE

Pagan posted:

Can you post a picture or two of what you're talking about?

Is it this : http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/3209-00.aspx ?

Sharpening knives is kind of a universal skill; do you know how to sharpen a kitchen knife or a pocketknife?

Yes, that's the one. I picked it up from Springfield Leather but it's the same thing. The only real difference I can tell from any of the pictures I've seen is that, with the exception of the scratch awl piece, all the blades were (painted?) black.

As far as sharpening: I haven't a clue how to do it, really. I did a bit of research specifically for the awl and think I did the sharpening correctly (in general), but I just could not get a worthwhile edge on the drat thing and ended up taking it down to about 2/3 of its original length--I took way more metal off than I intended. It was an experiment so I'm not really broken up about it.

I don't really have a way of getting pictures up of what I did to it at the moment.

Pagan
Jun 4, 2003

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

Yes, that's the one. I picked it up from Springfield Leather but it's the same thing. The only real difference I can tell from any of the pictures I've seen is that, with the exception of the scratch awl piece, all the blades were (painted?) black.

As far as sharpening: I haven't a clue how to do it, really. I did a bit of research specifically for the awl and think I did the sharpening correctly (in general), but I just could not get a worthwhile edge on the drat thing and ended up taking it down to about 2/3 of its original length--I took way more metal off than I intended. It was an experiment so I'm not really broken up about it.

I don't really have a way of getting pictures up of what I did to it at the moment.

Well, depending on the blade you picked, you want to sharpen the awl like it was a 4 sided kitchen knife, or a wee little babby sword.

The best tip I can give for sharpening.... Use a sharpie on the blade, draw a line just on the cutting edge. Then when you stroke the blade across the stone, you can see exactly where you're sharpening. This video explains it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kzGvtX-h8g

A gentle touch is what's important. You really shouldn't be taking much material off the blade, but I think you realize that at this point. Also, the tip is the most important part. :quagmire: Yes, having sharp edges is nice, but if the tip is sharp, you're in good shape. So don't worry too much about the sides, just get the tip even and sharp.

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE
That's really clever, actually. Thanks for the tip!

Goofus Giraffe
Sep 26, 2007
You should make sure that you're sharpening the awl in the direction if its use, i.e. up-and-down the length of the blade. I would also recommend that you sharpen just the 25% of the blade nearest the tip, perhaps even less; you might actually want to round out the edges on the rest of it. That way, you'll have it sharp enough to pierce the leather, and then the awl past the sharpened part can glide through and expand the hole without slicing it up or widening it too much. The less cutting that the awl does as it pierces the leather, the better the leather shrinks back up around your stitching.

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE
I actually originally used this video as a guide for sharpening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvY9beqObiQ

I couldn't really tell how hard he was rubbing on the stones, though, so I guessed pretty hard (and guessed wrong, as it were). But yeah, he suggests the very same thing, Giraffe.

Linear Ouroboros
Mar 30, 2007
Sweet loving Ginger!
I make leatherwork professionally, so I spend most of my time making stock and taking commissions (which I may or may not want to do). So I rarely get a chance to make the things in my head. I'm an artist again at DragonCon, and it's really my one excuse to sort of let loose and be really creative.


Enchantress by Fine Line Leather Design, on Flickr
The hooded cowl is suede and embroidered. The bracers are DragonBelly style. Both of those are my normal stock.
The book is what's going in the art show. It's huge, features a large taxidermy eye, sculpted leather, and the background is this fleshy, touchable sheepskin I found and distressed. Coptic bound.


Iron Dragon by Fine Line Leather Design, on Flickr
Sculpted dragon head. Made from about 6 different types of leather. I made the backstory that he guarded an iron mine for years.


Necromancer's Chest by Fine Line Leather Design, on Flickr
Chest. Leather, another eye (I like eyes) but this one I hand painted. There's more eyes around the opening. Lots of brass bits, lined it in black velvet.


Carribean dragon by Fine Line Leather Design, on Flickr
Another sculpted dragon head, this one is blue/green/purple. Normally my friend the photographer picks up colors better, but this one was sort of washed out.

TheNothingNew
Nov 10, 2008
I don't have to tell you, but you've got some gorgeous work there, Linear Ouroboros.

Shop talk time: I do what you do, but part-time and not nearly as well. If you don't mind a couple of questions:

1. Coptic binding vs. Longstitch binding. I use longstitch because I hate the spine being open like that. However, everyone else I've seen does Coptic, and I'm wondering if there's a reason I've missed. Care to comment?

2. What do you use to wet-shape the facemasks on? Last time I went looking, the only thing I could find was some guy on youtube making straight-up Commedia del'Arte masks on a hundred-year-old wooden head with replaceable noses. Obviously something like that is out of my ability to purchase, so I'm wondering what you use.

3. Do you do your own embroidery? It's fantastic.

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE

TheNothingNew posted:

1. Coptic binding vs. Longstitch binding. I use longstitch because I hate the spine being open like that. However, everyone else I've seen does Coptic, and I'm wondering if there's a reason I've missed. Care to comment?

I, too, am curious about this, as bookbinding is my other major interest!

Linear Ouroboros
Mar 30, 2007
Sweet loving Ginger!

TheNothingNew posted:

I don't have to tell you, but you've got some gorgeous work there, Linear Ouroboros.

Shop talk time: I do what you do, but part-time and not nearly as well. If you don't mind a couple of questions:

1. Coptic binding vs. Longstitch binding. I use longstitch because I hate the spine being open like that. However, everyone else I've seen does Coptic, and I'm wondering if there's a reason I've missed. Care to comment?

2. What do you use to wet-shape the facemasks on? Last time I went looking, the only thing I could find was some guy on youtube making straight-up Commedia del'Arte masks on a hundred-year-old wooden head with replaceable noses. Obviously something like that is out of my ability to purchase, so I'm wondering what you use.

3. Do you do your own embroidery? It's fantastic.

I do use longstitch binding on some of my pocketstitch books as well, and actually know and teach several other methods. But in all honestly, I prefer Coptic over the rest for a few reasons.

It's a portable technique. Now, on that giant tome sized one, it takes up room, but on a normal sized book, I can comfortably do it on a small tabletop. There's no crazy things like looms, no messy glue, all I need is an awl, a needle thread and paper. You can also comfortably set it down mid binding and come back, tighten up your last stitches, and go. I've Coptic bound books in hospital beds with an oxygen mask on, no problem.

Creatively, the covers become these self containted and flat pieces of artwork that I can work on individually without working on the layout of the final project. Aesthetically, I find that people tend to register that it's "handmade" more because it's so obviously NOT machine done. I looks gorgeous, but also labor intensive, archaic and just not "the norm". The history of the binding is a major selling point. I have a sign (which needs repair) that talks about the Nag Hammadi texts and the ancient, sacred nature of the binding. Anything I can do so that people don't compare my prices to Walmart is a great thing.

Plus, I demo it and it's like magic to customers the way that the book comes together. There's people who just can't quite get the idea, I'm just weaving paper and somehow a book comes out of the end.

I also find it a drat useful binding. It sits flat, so it's a great lefty book, a good sketchbook, a good book to read from (spellbooks and songbooks and whatnot). On camera, it sits open naturally so it makes a good prop. And I've found it is probably sturdier than you'd think. The only real risk is if you had stress on the spine when its wet. I've used several over the years for idea books, autograph books, and even my family cookbook without any real issue.

Uhm... yeah, I like Coptic books.


The dragons are actually seperated. I sculpt the top, sides and back of the head on a hat form. The nose for these actually came from a purchased mask to get the snout and nostrils even. The eye areas, ridges, fins etc are all free formed and later added to the piece. I use really thin leathers, which wouldn't be able to hold their weight hung up for long periods of time, so they are actually filled and supported with styrofoam insulation. I want to do a full tutorial on them at some point.

I have already made full sculpts out of apoxy that I used to mold over. It's simultaneously perfect and hideously high in cost to do large sculpts though, so I'm looking for a new product to use.


Finally, the embroidery is done in my home by my machine, yaddah yaddah, but what you see there are purchased patterns. I'm still learning to digitize my own patterns and most of them are simple one color deals because I'm not very good at it. Those patterns came from Urban Threads, credit where credit is due.

My machine is a 10 pin BabyLock I had remanufactured to be able to stand punching through leather. The backs of the leather is treated with a flexible polymer to reinforce it being punched through so many times.

TheNothingNew
Nov 10, 2008
I'm pretty sure that I dismissed Coptic binding when I was looking techniques up in the first place because of just what you say: it's voodoo. Still, the point is well-made, and I think I need to revisit my techniques now that I have a better understanding of materials.

Thanks for the info, and yeah, if you want to do a tutorial on anything, it'll have at least one avid reader.

TopherCStone
Feb 27, 2013

I am very important and deserve your attention
I've been on kind of a hiatus from practicing my leatherwork because it's super inconvenient for me to get to the only leather store in the state when its open. I've ordered some scrap leather off ebay to tide me over until I'm ready to buy a whole side or whatever.

McBeth
Jul 11, 2006
Odeipus ruined a great sex life by asking too many questions.

TheNothingNew posted:

Coptic binding

Keith Smith has a series of bookbinding books which are really good resources. Also youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue52htX3j0k

TheNothingNew
Nov 10, 2008

McBeth posted:

Keith Smith has a series of bookbinding books which are really good resources. Also youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue52htX3j0k

Thanks.

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE
When back-stitching, I know piercing the thread when coming through a hole is a huge no-no in bookbinding. If I'm doing a back-stitch with really tiny holes on a piece of leather, should I avoid piercing the thread, or does it matter much? Seems difficult no to, but not impossible.

TheNothingNew
Nov 10, 2008

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

When back-stitching, I know piercing the thread when coming through a hole is a huge no-no in bookbinding. If I'm doing a back-stitch with really tiny holes on a piece of leather, should I avoid piercing the thread, or does it matter much? Seems difficult no to, but not impossible.

Best to avoid, but the reason for avoidance is that you cannot effectively tighten your stitching once you've pierced the other thread. However, since you are backstitching, that should already be tight, and so it probably doesn't matter so much. I try to make the effort not to, but eh.

TopherCStone
Feb 27, 2013

I am very important and deserve your attention
How about stitching leather on a sewing machine? We have one in the house, a Brother, but I'm not really sure how to use it. My fingers are usually sore after a long day of manipulating paper and then practicing guitar, so hand stitching is actually painful for me

TheNothingNew
Nov 10, 2008

TopherCStone posted:

How about stitching leather on a sewing machine? We have one in the house, a Brother, but I'm not really sure how to use it. My fingers are usually sore after a long day of manipulating paper and then practicing guitar, so hand stitching is actually painful for me

Pretty much out of the question unless you are working with chrome-tanned "fashion-weight" leather, or your sewing machine predates World War 2 by a good bit.

Your hands will toughen with time. Then you'll get distracted and they'll soften without you noticing, and then you get to start over again. Wee.

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE
After some putzing around I finally got around to making a thing:



It's a super simple notebook slipcover, to go with the notebooks I've been making. This is the prototype so it's undyed and there are numerous gently caress-ups (see if you can spot them all) but overall I'm happy with the result and have some idea on how to improve. Either way it feels pretty great.

Exterior is undyed veg-tan leather, interior is some sort of pre-dyed moderately stretchy lining leather.








Before all that I made my own stitching pony. Good lord does this thing make stitching a breeze. It also cost me less than :10bux: to make.




And of course, being this was the first project I'd used an awl on, I stabbed the poo poo out of both my thumb and forefinger, naturally.

Baron Fuzzlewhack fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Sep 5, 2013

TopherCStone
Feb 27, 2013

I am very important and deserve your attention

TheNothingNew posted:

Pretty much out of the question unless you are working with chrome-tanned "fashion-weight" leather, or your sewing machine predates World War 2 by a good bit.


Well, I can't do anything about the age of the machine but I guess I can get some wimpy leather. Just for fun I tried putting a bit of leather through the machine (not threaded, just piercing it with the needle) and it seemed to have no problems. I might get a leather needle and give it a try.

Mr. Mailman
Apr 13, 2005

The thread may not always deliver, but I do!

TopherCStone posted:

Well, I can't do anything about the age of the machine but I guess I can get some wimpy leather. Just for fun I tried putting a bit of leather through the machine (not threaded, just piercing it with the needle) and it seemed to have no problems. I might get a leather needle and give it a try.

While it may have pierced it, it won't last. The motor just can't handle that much resistance, and you'll burn it out fairly quickly, and/or strip the mechanical bits inside.

Mr. Mailman
Apr 13, 2005

The thread may not always deliver, but I do!

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

....and there are numerous gently caress-ups (see if you can spot them all) but overall I'm happy with the result and have some idea on how to improve. Either way it feels pretty great.


Next time, wet the leather before folding the cover to avoid all the cracks and wrinkles. Bend it back and forth a bunch of times while it's damp. Then condition the leather (after dye and everything) with Atom Balm. It'll give it a nice shine, and help keep the leather supple and bendable. Looks fantastic otherwise!

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE

Mr. Mailman posted:

Next time, wet the leather before folding the cover to avoid all the cracks and wrinkles. Bend it back and forth a bunch of times while it's damp. Then condition the leather (after dye and everything) with Atom Balm. It'll give it a nice shine, and help keep the leather supple and bendable. Looks fantastic otherwise!

This is actually something I was wondering about. Should I just be wetting the fold or the entire piece? How wet should I get it, soaked or just enough as if I were going to tool it?

If I'm going to condition it, would neatsfoot oil work? I've experimented with it before and it seems to darken the leather significantly, although I may have used too much.

e: I should also mention that I cut a V-groove down the middle of the flesh side of the undyed piece in order to help it fold better (more as an experiment than anything). It seems to have helped the fold, but also caused some additional cracking/creasing as you saw in the picture. I'm debating continuing to do that on future covers given the bit of damage it caused, but it did seem to help.

Baron Fuzzlewhack fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Sep 5, 2013

TopherCStone
Feb 27, 2013

I am very important and deserve your attention

Mr. Mailman posted:

While it may have pierced it, it won't last. The motor just can't handle that much resistance, and you'll burn it out fairly quickly, and/or strip the mechanical bits inside.

That's what I thought, which is why I only played with it a bit instead of actually stitching. I have a side of garment leather, so I will use that until such an occasion as I can get more

TheNothingNew
Nov 10, 2008

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

This is actually something I was wondering about. Should I just be wetting the fold or the entire piece? How wet should I get it, soaked or just enough as if I were going to tool it?

If I'm going to condition it, would neatsfoot oil work? I've experimented with it before and it seems to darken the leather significantly, although I may have used too much.

e: I should also mention that I cut a V-groove down the middle of the flesh side of the undyed piece in order to help it fold better (more as an experiment than anything). It seems to have helped the fold, but also caused some additional cracking/creasing as you saw in the picture. I'm debating continuing to do that on future covers given the bit of damage it caused, but it did seem to help.

Wet the entire piece, otherwise you'll end up with a tide-mark where the wetness ends. I would think it needs to be soaked through to bend properly, but you might play around with a partial wetting, not sure there.

Neatsfoot oil will dissolve your stitches over time. It also doesn't provide a topcoat like the Atom-wax does, and it won't shine. The darkening that neatsfoot oil does is intentional; it's part of the reason people use it.

A v-groove (not sure what the name is) is for folds, like a 90-degree angle or something. Here, I don't think it's doing much; the leather will soften on the fold with use. Eventually.

Mr. Mailman
Apr 13, 2005

The thread may not always deliver, but I do!

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

This is actually something I was wondering about. Should I just be wetting the fold or the entire piece? How wet should I get it, soaked or just enough as if I were going to tool it?

If I'm going to condition it, would neatsfoot oil work? I've experimented with it before and it seems to darken the leather significantly, although I may have used too much.

e: I should also mention that I cut a V-groove down the middle of the flesh side of the undyed piece in order to help it fold better (more as an experiment than anything). It seems to have helped the fold, but also caused some additional cracking/creasing as you saw in the picture. I'm debating continuing to do that on future covers given the bit of damage it caused, but it did seem to help.

A teeny bit wetter than it would be for tooling (leather should still be dark). You don't need to wet the whole thing; just where the fold is going to be and maybe a half an inch or so beyond it on both sides.

I've never used neatsfoot, so I can't be any help with advice there, but honestly, any liquid you add to the leather is going to darken it a bit, even after it dries.

V-grooves really aren't going to help much, and if the leather ever gets dry enough, it'll crack right down the groove. Soft, conditioned leather will stay flexible for ages. My father has a leather cavalry belt from the Civil War, and it's only just now starting to crack. A little lanolin or saddle soap would fix it right up though (he's gonna get it done by a professional historical artifact preserver though).

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE
This is all great information, thanks guys! :) I'll do some testing on scrap pieces with what I have and see what works best.

One final bit: I have acrylic resolene which I had planned to use on any dyed pieces to give them a water-resistant finish. Would the atom wax by itself essentially do the same thing as say, carnauba creme (conditioner) and acrylic resolene (topcoat/finish)? Can I even do them one after the other?

Mr. Mailman
Apr 13, 2005

The thread may not always deliver, but I do!

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

This is all great information, thanks guys! :) I'll do some testing on scrap pieces with what I have and see what works best.

One final bit: I have acrylic resolene which I had planned to use on any dyed pieces to give them a water-resistant finish. Would the atom wax by itself essentially do the same thing as say, carnauba creme (conditioner) and acrylic resolene (topcoat/finish)? Can I even do them one after the other?

The atom wax is essentially both a conditioner and sealer that you can buff to a high shine. Water will bead up on it....to an extent.If you're in a decent rain or get hit with a water balloon or something, the leather is still going to get damp...but it's protected.

TheNothingNew
Nov 10, 2008

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

This is all great information, thanks guys! :) I'll do some testing on scrap pieces with what I have and see what works best.

One final bit: I have acrylic resolene which I had planned to use on any dyed pieces to give them a water-resistant finish. Would the atom wax by itself essentially do the same thing as say, carnauba creme (conditioner) and acrylic resolene (topcoat/finish)? Can I even do them one after the other?

Basically what Mr. Mailman said, but here's a video of a guy comparing several leather finishes. I should warn you that his videos tend to be very long, this one you can skip to about 35 minutes once you get how he's working the comparison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyTg_hfpNUM

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE

TheNothingNew posted:

Basically what Mr. Mailman said, but here's a video of a guy comparing several leather finishes. I should warn you that his videos tend to be very long, this one you can skip to about 35 minutes once you get how he's working the comparison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyTg_hfpNUM

Funny enough I've watched that guy's videos to death as they're really helpful, but thanks for linking it! That video in particular is why I was asking about the carnauba creme and resolene vs. atom wax.

Thanks for all the help folks, you're a great resource to tap.

Linear Ouroboros
Mar 30, 2007
Sweet loving Ginger!

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:


If I'm going to condition it, would neatsfoot oil work? I've experimented with it before and it seems to darken the leather significantly, although I may have used too much.


Be cautious. Oils like neatsfoot tend to bleed out of the leather over time. On notebooks that means your paper will quickly look like a wrapper on a greasy burger.

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE
Yeah, and truthfully I don't much like the smell of the leather after the oil has been rubbed in. Either I over-oiled my test piece, or neatsfoot really kills the typical "leather" smell. I'll go with one of the other suggestions.

Given how often stitching is done in leatherwork, and that neatsfoot will eat through stitches, when is it ever really appropriate to use?

pageerror404
Feb 14, 2012

I finally killed them.
I have a fairly simple question. What is an effective way to clean something made of both leather and cloth. My fiancé found a leather purse at goodwill that's generally thrift store gross. She's worried that anything she would use to clean the fabric parts would damage the leather. Any suggestions?

TheNothingNew
Nov 10, 2008

Baron Fuzzlewhack posted:

Yeah, and truthfully I don't much like the smell of the leather after the oil has been rubbed in. Either I over-oiled my test piece, or neatsfoot really kills the typical "leather" smell. I'll go with one of the other suggestions.

Given how often stitching is done in leatherwork, and that neatsfoot will eat through stitches, when is it ever really appropriate to use?

When your piece uses leather lacing, instead.

Keep in mind that the "eating stitches" line is me repeating what the Tandy store owner told me, and may be wrong. I have no outside confirmation of same.

Mr. Mailman
Apr 13, 2005

The thread may not always deliver, but I do!

pageerror404 posted:

I have a fairly simple question. What is an effective way to clean something made of both leather and cloth. My fiancé found a leather purse at goodwill that's generally thrift store gross. She's worried that anything she would use to clean the fabric parts would damage the leather. Any suggestions?

Dry cleaning.

Pagan
Jun 4, 2003

I've been watching Spartacus on Starz recently, and one thing that's impressed me is the Roman armor.



I feel confident I could make everything except the cuirass. It looks metal, but there was one scene where you saw a guy take it off, and it was flexible. So I'm thinking it's made of leather, too. My question is, how would you do any kind of carving or tooling to replicate the muscles? It looks like most of it has soft edges, not the hard edges you get from normal tooling. Plus, a lot of the impressions are pretty big, several inches across. Any ideas or suggestions? It's not just paint (although I'm sure there's shading in the recesses.)

Cambrinus
Jan 3, 2007

The Duke of Beer
This guy (also here for contact info) I found once looking for inspiration does it through actual moulding (either on a mannequin or on a precast, plastic breastplate that's common in EU Larps). Soak leather, stretch it, work the shape into the leather, dry (maybe even work wax into it for strength, I'm not sure). In all honesty, I think the Spartacus cuirasses are made out of some cast flexible latexy stuff (they just flop down once they're taken off, but given the thickness of the material, if they were made from leather, they should remain upright). I've always stuck to more 'lorica' type armours, that slowly take the shape of your body when you sweat, but have never given the moulding method a real try. I could post some pictures of the armours I have made later, if you're interested.

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Pagan
Jun 4, 2003

Cambrinus posted:

This guy (also here for contact info) I found once looking for inspiration does it through actual moulding (either on a mannequin or on a precast, plastic breastplate that's common in EU Larps). Soak leather, stretch it, work the shape into the leather, dry (maybe even work wax into it for strength, I'm not sure). In all honesty, I think the Spartacus cuirasses are made out of some cast flexible latexy stuff (they just flop down once they're taken off, but given the thickness of the material, if they were made from leather, they should remain upright). I've always stuck to more 'lorica' type armours, that slowly take the shape of your body when you sweat, but have never given the moulding method a real try. I could post some pictures of the armours I have made later, if you're interested.

I would like to see what you've made. And yeah, a lorica segmentata would be easier; it's just strips, right?

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