Sieg's Leather Stuff (possibly NSFW)

[Sieglatan]

Not too much leatherwork done- working hard to get all the orders out for the holiday season.

Boot extensions! Right one-



and Left one-



The multi-armed demon chick was inspired by a movie that I'm ashamed to say I was old enough to see in theaters~ More to come.

[Sieglatan]

Random stuff I've been working on...



Finished boot extenders attached to a pair of modded riding boots I picked up at an antique store, of all places.



I'm working on a new armor kit to reflect my new color scheme, and to play with next year's law vs. chaos theme. After drawing up a handful of concepts, I chose this one.



Tooling on the frontal face piece.



Tooled, formed, dyed, stained, mink oiled, and saddle waxed.



Brow crest scale sketches and initial drafting done with a deersfoot tool. This is the first project I've done with tooling, and I have to say its a bit easier than burning, especially in terms of transferring concept into reality.



And with all the work done- I did a bit more staining to it afterwards- and of course, as soon as this was done, I came up with a better thing to put on the front- ah well. This design still fits with the theme I'm going for.



Side view, with armored cap and lamellar backing. Next up will be the ears, the brim, the horse-hair crest, and the face part.



Front view-

[Cade]

Very nice. I love the faceplate.

For not having done much tooling, you certainly seem to have picked it up rather quickly lol.

[Solusar]

God * you are good. When are you and FB going into business together to rule the world?

[Blackwolfe]

this one:

I'd hang on My wall as art.

[Blackwolfe]

God * you are good. When are you and FB going into business together to rule the world?

Add Fitz and Burke to that and you've got the world's best foam fighting craft shop.

[Sieglatan]

God * you are good. When are you and FB going into business together to rule the world?

Add Fitz and Burke to that and you've got the world's best foam fighting craft shop.

lol, Thanks everyone!

In all honesty, I don't think I've ever shared a field with Fitz or Burke, and though I've seen Forkbeard at Chaos and fought against him, I don't think I've exchanged more than a dozen words with the man in person. He always seemed too busy with admin stuff, or coming off of being too busy with admin stuff for some random jackoff to barge into his camp and start talking shop.





I think I've already **** up with the helmet, as these curved ear/cheek plates fit behind the lamellar backing, and thus, I cannot rivet an ear to it, and make it fit like in the concept drawing. *.

Oh, and because someone asked already- the reason the eyes on the skull is cut out is so that my hearing isn't diminished as much by having leather over my ears.

[Sieglatan]

I just finished some gladiator armor for a buddy of mine, but I'll let him decide if he wants pics of it up online or not.

I'm planning on selling some of my old armor at BotR IV this year, but my center cuirass has my personal symbol on the front- so I made this to attach over it, making it more open, marketable, and of higher quality.

Red and black wolf design = super common color and design motif

[Derian]

I dig the design. What kind of scale are we looking at?

I've also noticed some... stuttering in your mass stamping. I had the same thing happen to me for the longest time. What kind of mallet do you use? Is it rubber?

[Sieglatan]

ah damnation, I thought I had a mass produced straight razor in there for scale. bah. Its not terribly large- about 8.5" by 5.5"- I had a spare piece of belly leather that I just couldn't bring myself to throw away.

EDIT- weird scale reference here, but the piece is resting on top of your average-sized mouse pad.

I use a dollar store rubber mallet- I think the stuttering might be a result of the backgrounder- I only have one size in that design, and its in a teardrop shape, and somewhat small. When one of my designs are better planned, I can usually make the small size work by having the backgrounding follow the flow of the central design, almost to the point of having a grain, but here, its a bit stuttered.

[Derian]

I use a dollar store rubber mallet- I think the stuttering might be a result of the backgrounder-

It's not. I went through the same thing for 3 years before picking up a rawhide mallet. Within 30 seconds I could tell that my beveling was 1000% more smooth. It doesn't seem like it, but the bounce that the rubber mallet provides makes a significant negative impact on your work. Do yourself a favor and pick up a rawhide (or poly) head mallet. Also make sure you're tooling on a very solid surface to prevent muddiness. I used to do it on my particleboard workbench, but that provides far too much give. I was lucky enough to find a ~12"x18"x0.75" piece of marble in my yard (don't ask) that works beautifully. Tandy sells granite or marble slabs at a hefty price. You can likely pick something up for much, much cheaper at a big box home improvement store or a construction site or something. You just need it to be super hard (that's what she said).

[Sieglatan]

no kidding!

You know, in the back of my head, I kind of wondered why someone would pay extra for a rawhide mallet and a slab of marble to do tooling on when cheap rubber mallets and folding wooden tables (what I tool on) are so readily available.

Thank you for the great bit of advice- I'll start saving up for those things forthwith!

[Derian]

Oh, I know exactly what you mean. I held out for the longest time too and ended up picking up a rawhide mallet on a whim. I was blown away how much smoother things were.

[Fitz Caliston]

Oh, I know exactly what you mean. I held out for the longest time too and ended up picking up a rawhide mallet on a whim. I was blown away how much smoother things were.

QFT! if you have any shops that do custom granite counter tops go in and see if they have any cut outs from when they cut in the sinks. I got a granite slab that was polished smooth on one side for $15 that is about 14"x25".

And the Rawhide mallet is uber nice compared to the rubber ones. Kudos to you man, stuff is looking good. I HATE tooling with a passion.

[Pierce]

The right tools make a world of difference. A Polly or Rawhide mallet will do wonders. I personally use a one pound polly.

[Sieglatan]

yeah, my crappy rubber mallet is staring to chip and fall apart. Ah well, you get what you pay for- it works for dating and it works here. I have the funds and the gumption to go pick up a rawhide mallet and a few larger backgrounders, but the closest wholesale leather place is a bit of a drive away. peh.

Anyways, I realized that I've disasterously failed on my idea to make scout armor, but what's resulting instead isn't too bad, and the whole thing should be ready by BotR next week. Vembraces!~







There's a fairly detailed design on the bracer part, but its hard to see in the crappy bathroom light, and the entire design is still dark from me waxing it. I also didn't background any of the pieces because I might add various bits onto it to make it more monster-riffic later on.

[Juggernaut]

What kind of wrist wear will you take from those? Are the cuffs pushing your wrist or is the elbow holding them back? You losing any wrist range of movement? They look fantastic.

[Sieglatan]

Thanks! I was able to field test them yesterday, and while the cuffs don't necessarily prohibit movement, I still had marks on my wrists after a few hours of fighting (though the deer skin trim helped). I formed the leather so closely to my arm that I don't even need to lace the thing up to keep it in place, so I might trim a little off the tip to give my wrists a little better movement.

Here's the face piece for the helm that is supposed to be the snarling face of a hobgoblin, like in the concept sketch~



Without "skin"



With "skin".

I like how the face turned out, but it looks really bad in a clashing sort of way on the helm itself. Compared with the dark colored, detailed, curved helm, its a square, blank, and lightly colored...thing. Luckily, its attached with three Chicago screws, so I can interchange face plates or go without one altogether, but I'm still toying with ideas on how to make the face fit better. I'm planning on adding the obligatory goblinoid nose, but I'm also thinking of washing the face with a watered-down red dye to give it a darker, angrier complexion, burning in some tattoos or scars, adding a beard made of horse hair, and maybe adding some war paint.... I'm not entirely sure, so suggestions are always welcome! When I get a pic of the two together, I'll post it~

[Sieglatan]

After field testing my armor at BotR, and seeing the **** storm coming from the pillow soft armor thing, I'm planning on adding splints onto the surface of my already legal-thickness armor, making it look more eastern and cobbled together. It will also make it heavier and more badass, which is awesome, and I will also have the time to design the tooling behind each splint, as opposed to the rush job I had to do on the cuirass~

Here's the first splint- Its a bit detailed, since its a larger piece- the other ones will be a bit more simple.

[Caleidah]

What do you use for your gold?

[Sieglatan]

I use 'Liquid Leaf' brand gold leaf- its essentially gold leaf suspended in a toluene solution that you can paint on- I like it because it doesn't mask the grain of the leather itself, making it look a bit more gilded.

I get it at my local Michael's Craft store- its moderately pricey, but a .75 oz bottle has lasted me a whole three years, and Michaels gives out 40% off coupons very generously.

The only thing is that it tends to scrape off easily under sustained duress (sword grips, knee and elbow cops, etc.), so I recommend putting a finish over it and then saddle waxing it.

[Cade]

I use 'Liquid Leaf' brand gold leaf- its essentially gold leaf suspended in a toluene solution that you can paint on- I like it because it doesn't mask the grain of the leather itself, making it look a bit more gilded.

I get it at my local Michael's Craft store- its moderately pricey, but a .75 oz bottle has lasted me a whole three years, and Michaels gives out 40% off coupons very generously.

The only thing is that it tends to scrape off easily under sustained duress (sword grips, knee and elbow cops, etc.), so I recommend putting a finish over it and then saddle waxing it.

Dip the finished piece is Acrylic floor wax. Let it sit till the bubbles stop (minute or two), just don't agitate it at all. Pull it out, let it dry. Your paint will never chip or crack provided the leather it's self remains undamaged.

[Caleidah]

Alright. I've been using Liquid Leaf, too, it just looked like yours had a little bit of a higher shine than the stuff I've been working with.

[Sieglatan]

I use 'Liquid Leaf' brand gold leaf- its essentially gold leaf suspended in a toluene solution that you can paint on- I like it because it doesn't mask the grain of the leather itself, making it look a bit more gilded.

I get it at my local Michael's Craft store- its moderately pricey, but a .75 oz bottle has lasted me a whole three years, and Michaels gives out 40% off coupons very generously.

The only thing is that it tends to scrape off easily under sustained duress (sword grips, knee and elbow cops, etc.), so I recommend putting a finish over it and then saddle waxing it.

Dip the finished piece is Acrylic floor wax. Let it sit till the bubbles stop (minute or two), just don't agitate it at all. Pull it out, let it dry. Your paint will never chip or crack provided the leather it's self remains undamaged.

Cool- thanks! I'll be sure to try that sometime.

Alright. I've been using Liquid Leaf, too, it just looked like yours had a little bit of a higher shine than the stuff I've been working with.

Yeah, Liquid Leaf has several flavors of gold- I used Renaissance Gold for a small bit but was unsatisfied with the sort of brass look to it. The one I used for the splints is Classic Gold, which is a bit too bright for my work aesthetics IMO. My favorite was Antique Gold, which was a little more dark and subdued, and worked better with most of my patterns. *shrug* Cie la Vie

[Sieglatan]

A few more- These are going on a spot where my arms rest, so nothing too fancy here.

[Sieglatan]

Based off an awesome bit of artwork by Hailey of South Anduril (AKA Goggles, AKA Aviator33)

[Tiberius Claudius]

Nice Sieg.

More motivation for me at practice tonight. Seeing this awesome stuff gets me ready to fight!

[Sieglatan]

Whew! Its been a while- long story-

Anyways- To get back in the saddle, I've just been fooling around with a few easy projects. These are for my new garb belt, with detachable pouch and scabbard- when my Bel-legal Mongolian horse bow comes in, I plan on making a Khanate-style bow holster and a belt quiver that can be swapped out with the other pieces at will~



Forgive the poor quality- cell phone camera and all...











Before touching up- the pouch is 'clasped' with two bars of a rare earth magnet with about 15 pounds of holding power- it makes a nifty little snapping sound when the lid falls shut~



I used a scratching awl to get the wood grain pattern on the torture wheel- I like how it turned out so much, that I've been trying to find excuses to scratch in grain patterns in other projects...





I copied this off of Goggle's art book (with her permission) just to attempt some proof of concept stuff. Apparently its her dog, Kenya.



After dye-ing and fun application with color stain- Not perfect, but I like how it turned out. Speaking of dogs, you guys should seriously check out her artwork- she's been hinting at doing a Bel themed comic, and with her skills, it can be nothing less than awesome! (http://aviator33.deviantart.com/)

[Derian]

Your tooling is a lot better.

If I can make one more (easy) suggestion: when you're using a backgrounder, rotate the tool randomly in your hand as you strike the tool. You can see a very obvious pattern in your backgrounding, which (generally) shouldn't be the case. To get around this, rotate the tool to change the orientation as you stamp. It'll look a lot cleaner.

[Sieglatan]

Thank you sir! Amazing what practice and the right tools can do~!

I have a larger backgrounder that has a really chaotic pattern, superficially similar to camo-print, that makes leather look pitted and battle-worn, and I found that I had to rotate the piece about to avoid a repetitive sequence- as for this backgrounder, the little points are diamond shaped, so no matter how I try to rotate them, they have a sort of directionality.

I also kind of like the way it looks- kind of like a Black Forest clock or something- when I start picking up commissions again, I'll get a backgrounder with circular points, and definitely do that- Thanks!

[Sieglatan]

About half-way through making the belt, I realized that it was way too thick to hold any belt flags, so the back quadrant, I made a rig with two small staps with buckes on top of one another- the top to secure the flag, and the bottom to hold it in place, or to eventually add another one if the mood strikes me...



I used a color stain for the recesses, so IRL the eyes look a lot darker than here...



And completed belt with attached short sword. I'm really happy with the design, etc. and after a trial run through a ren faire, only required some minor tweaking.



Part of a helm built more as a proof of concept idea, and as a dirty excuse to use the scratching awl some more...



Another angle- This was when the plates weren't put together, and so the noodling doesn't flow as well as the final product-consensus states that it looks like a demonic pillbug...