What do you do?

What do you do when your main project requires the model to come visit you for dinner and you can't get your brother to come down cause he really doesn't love  you? :)

In my case, I have cut out the armor for my brother. Breast plate, kidney articulation, Pauldrons are all done. I still need to create the tassets and decide on how much of a skirt they will have, then I need to make the greaves and bracers.  So maybe I only have the top half cut out.  It's close right?

I  sadly really need to have him here for a two to three hour bender so I can measure, shape, cut, and start molding all the pieces to him before I can put all these pretty leather pieces together.  Which is seriously a bummer. I hate waiting.

Thankfully, the leather cutting is done for now, as my hands hate me.  On the other hand, since I got my craft room cleaned and organized I can find everything I want for any project and may just haul through the triangle quiver and get it up and for sale soon.  We'll see.

The paper version of the armor used to determine the pattern.

Any votes for a project you would like to see me do? 

New Year New Entry?

Happy New  Year friends and loved ones! This year there will be a weekly post to update you on the projects that are happening and on how the shop and commissions are going.  And....I will be posting on the blog once a month a give away at the end of the month for people who comment on posts.  My goal is to get some interaction so I can find out what you lovelies want to hear more of! :)

So, comment here with any goals you are making for the new year, or any leather projects you are dying for and you may win the first prize ;)

Full Armor Set

So, I have been commissioned to make a full armor set for my older brother. This is exciting, but scary, and I keep putting it off.  I am going to get to work soon! I promise! 

Right now I am working instead on a de-cluttering project. I need to be able to find all my craft supplies and be able to use them, so that's the current project and when October ends I will get started on the Armor. 

I already have the armor style I am aiming for, and my brother's measurements. What I need to get started is to create a paper version of the armor to use as trace pieces on the leather.  My goal will be to get the paper armor done and tested by November 15th, and see where we can go from there.

Wish me luck?

Bad Blogger - BAD!

I have been a very bad blogger lately, but I have some great excuses.  Of course, it still means nada, but I can explain!

I think all of you know, but some might be new to this, I live in Colorado.  Specifically in Colorado Springs.  Which was ON FIRE!!! Seriously.  And in between the fire, the horrific hail storm two weeks prior, my radio being stolen from my car, the car being declared totalled by the insurance company and I get zilch (but I get to keep driving the car?) the roof being declared wrecked and in need of replacement, developing Shingles on my FACE!, and working several different aspects of the fire ...I have been busy. Busy is a good word :)

I do have completed Kasha Armor.  I have a new project I can't wait to start. And I have two side projects (Yes, a set of Raven Bracers is on the list) that I would like to finish for friends. 

But...I am lazy and tired.  I will get myself back into blogging and will work on taking pictures of the whole process.  If I knew how to speed up video, I would video it once to show how easy it is.  But since I don't it would be really boring to watch :)

So...This is me checking in with you, dear reader, and I am sorry for the delays and immeasurable slacking I have done.

Wish me luck in things calming down for long enough I might actually get to work on the projects, and take pictures!

Friday Tease

Kasha's Biker Armor is finished. Wanna see pictures, hear details? Learn how I made it happen?

Wait until tomorrow :) 

Another Day, Another Pauldron?

The most recent project is a set of pauldrons for my 5 year old.  Made out of scraps from other projects we are looking at a simple 2 lame set up for her biker jacket (That way she can look like daddy). 

I started by grabbing the pattern from the smallest of the lames on each of the sets I have already done.  Taking it, I made a few changes, and am still trying to decide if I will keep the "extra" section like the blue armor has, if I do it will help her attach wings to the armor at Fair this summer. 

Her armor will not have any tooled pattern, it is just too small for me to want to work that kind of detail, and she will only wear it a few years, so I am going to do her pattern - she selected a unicorn - in paints.  I have many colors, though I may add some purple to my collection for this project.

Here is where we are now - the lames are all cut, and I have tooled the edges for support when I dye them.  The current plan is to go green on the inside and do black edging like I have kept to this far.  I am hoping to write on the black section with either white paint or silver sharpie in Tolkien's Elvish one of the quotes I really like about Unicorns.

"Now I will believe there are Unicorns" from William Shakespeare, The Tempest

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?