Sunday, April 1, 2012

Purple = Blue?

So as I mentioned in my last post I was commissioned for a set of Purple Armor for a friend of mine. After my beautiful blue spotted hands, I went back the next day for the overcoat of purple which should have turned it into a royal purple.

Did you note the Should?



Should is not did. Not at all. It barely muted the blue. So, we ended up with a set of GORGEOUS blue armor. Thankfully the friend who ordered it also really loves blue. He says he is good with the color and since I am out of leather at the moment, I am taking it.

This project was very different than the last armor commission in so many different ways.
1) He didn't want his armor to be like either of Phydouxs which meant the entire sizing had to be original. The last commission was just for a matching set of the larger pauldrons, a MUCH easier task. He also wanted them to meet in the back, which I hadn't tried before and took a LOT of shaping work to make function
2) He didn't want a pre-drawn design, but did have a fairly specific idea he wanted. The last true-art piece I did was the phoenix waist cinch, which was drawn on command and edited as needed, but wasn't really directed much.
3) There is not a single truly good purple dye that I have found yet. They are all just a little to lavendar or almost pinkish if you layer them enough. I need to find a true royal purple or I am going to not allow commissions in the color.
4)The project kept switching details...which made it hard to keep up with. Many of the changes were mine, I didn't like how something happened to be working, or didn't like how something was turning out.
5) I am a little bit blue/purple color blind. This project was HARD.

But...I think it turned out well. It was a great challenge, and kept me working on leather for several months. YAY! Let's see what comes up next. Any suggestions? Kasha Armor? Spinal Armor? What would you like to see me create?