Belegarth

So I started a new project for me, a helmet thats supposed to look some what elven. Its not done yet but this is what I have so far:
http://img6.imageshack.us/i/picture011il.jpg/
My face mask and head piece
http://img638.imageshack.us/f/picture012h.jpg/
Head piece side veiw.
As you might tell this is couch leather so I had to double layer it. I do this by sewing then riveting them together. (sewing to close the edgdes rivets for stronger hold) It may not be legal in the end, but at least I'll have something to show off.
Also this is still held together with duct tape and sewing pins to help me get an idea of what it'll look like. I still have to dye and harden the leather. And after I buy more rivets I'll put in all together later.
If anybody has sudgestions or if I did something wrong please reply and tell me!

i cant really tell thickness from the picture too well but i see you doubled up some, leather?

it looks like car upholstery or something?

looks very flimsy

Not to burst your bubble, but rather save you some work:

You won't be able to harden that. You can only harden vegetable tanned leather, and couch/upholstery leather is definitely not vegtanned. It probably won't dye very well either.

The design looks fairly familiar...



At any rate, yea, traditional hardening won't work with that...

Though, as long as it looks like armor, and the two thicknesses together make the rules, it will work as armor...you just will have some issues with getting it all to work together.

My advice is to get yourself some veg tanned leather and make the design that way. I can assure you that the design works very well, and is very comfortable. it just won't work the way you are trying to do it.

Holy smokes Kade that is similar! I know I've seen this design around somewhere but I don't remember, maybe thats it?

As for the hardening, oh well. I'll try and fiddle with it and see what I come up with, and anyways the only reason its holding that shape now is because I have a frame from and old leather belt shaped like (I). I'll probably get better leather later and fix it but for now I'll keep it as it is. And thank you for informing me of my mistake!

Here is mine without my visor attached. I guess everyone is thinking similarly.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I also stole mine from:

I like the design too -- I'd seen it at a few events and tried to piece it together. That was before I knew how to do ANYTHING with leather though.

But yeah, thicker leather, definitely.

And it looks more orcish than elven to me, fwiw. Maybe colors and designs can change that though.

Magpie of Rhun wrote:I like the design too -- I'd seen it at a few events and tried to piece it together. That was before I knew how to do ANYTHING with leather though.

But yeah, thicker leather, definitely.

And it looks more orcish than elven to me, fwiw. Maybe colors and designs can change that though.

Add wings or ears and it becomes elven, add tusks, or a mean looking faceplate and it becomes orcish.

Okay so I have to agree it looks a little orcish with the spikes running down my head like a mohawk, so after I layered most of them together I went and saw what it would look like if I held down the tips of each piece. It looks flatter and less spikey and alot more like the layered pieces look I was going for. (the pieces of combined leather, of course, not the layered leather itself)

~ Kade ~ wrote:

Magpie of Rhun wrote:I like the design too -- I'd seen it at a few events and tried to piece it together. That was before I knew how to do ANYTHING with leather though.

But yeah, thicker leather, definitely.

And it looks more orcish than elven to me, fwiw. Maybe colors and designs can change that though.

Add wings or ears and it becomes elven, add tusks, or a mean looking faceplate and it becomes orcish.

I'm keeping a spot open for my ears, and somehow my face plate looks like wings sometimes but that just might be that I'm looking out of the corner of my eye into a mirror to see it.
To do: Finish sewing layers of leather together, dye, drill and rivet, decide what to do about the back piece.

I don't know how smart it would be to drill/rivet couch leather..