Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

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Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

Postby Caleidah » Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:45 pm

Edit: This will be my project page. As I pump stuff out, expect to see some shots. If you want to see more of my work, progress pics, or want to place an order, you can do so at Noble Son Armory.



Just recently, my uncle sent me my grandfather's old leatherworking tools. With that and the fact that I'm employed, I'll be ordering a side of leather from Tandy along with some other basics so that I can get going.

So:

I have a swivel knife, bevelers, a few pear shaders and a few other tools. All that I need (I think) is a rivet setter and a punch set. Any other tools you'd recommend?

For the leather straps, is there any particular product that I should order from Tandy? I was just going to buy a belt blank at the 3/4" width of the buckles and use that, but if there's something better, I'd rather use that.

I've heard that the Eco-Flo dye is inferior to Fiebing's. Is that still the truth?

Any other general advice for a newbie to armoring?
Last edited by Caleidah on Tue May 13, 2014 10:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Burke » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:35 pm

Things that I use for every project:

1. Nice utility knife for cutting
2. Yardstick & pencil for design work
3. printer to print images for tracing into cased leather
4. spray bottle for casing
5. edge beveler
6. plastic edger mounted on a drill to smooth the sides
7. stitching groover
8. hole punch set
9. polly mallet
10. large, small, & corner beveler
11. piece of slate
12. copper rivets and rivet setter - these are your staples. forget the rapid rivets unless you absolutely have to have silver. same for chicago screws.

For straps, don't buy the precut ones. Pick up a strap cutter and cut your own from a 10 oz. side or shoulder. Precuts sell for 10-20 a piece, depending on length. A shoulder costs maybe 30 and will get you way more than 2 straps. The strap cutter is only $10ish.

As for dye, I use black Eco-flo as my staple. If you wet set it (case it before you apply dye), it goes on great. Also, because it is water based, you can harden after you dye, which is SO much easier. That said, the fiebings alcohol based is easier to get an even coat for anything except black. If you have access to an airbrush, it is the best applicator. Otherwise, the wool daubers they sell work better than a brush. You may be able to harden after using alcohol based dye, but definitely not oil.

If you have any questions, the guys at Tandy are more than helpful. I picked everything up from talking to them and reading these boards.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Forkbeard » Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:59 am

I don't use half those tools.
you definetly need a utility knife and lots of new blades. God i go through razors.
you need a METAL ruler(12") and a METAL yardstick.
you also nee a large peice of plastic(1/4" ABS) to use as a cutting board. This needs to be like 2'x4'.
I have never had ANY problems dying leather before hardening. All i use is fiebings. I have no confidence in ecoflow dye in rainy conditions.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby kree » Tue Mar 22, 2011 7:35 am

I have used Eco-Flow, it is weak.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Derian » Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:42 am

Seconding a strap cutter. It's not strictly necessary, but having done it both ways - oh god is it worth the $10 or whatever. Also, definitely don't buy belt blanks for straps. They're absolutely a waste of money. If you don't want to pony up the $30 for a shoulder or whatever, for short straps I often pick up a big bag of scrap latigo from Hobby Lobby for like $4 or whatever. Latigo is pretty good for straps.

To make your pieces look more professional, an edge beveler, a stitch groover and gum tragacanth are all cheap and really nice to have. Check out my sabatons post from a bit back to see all three of these in action.

And yeah, copper rivets. There is no other rivet. You need the rivets and the setter.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Bortas » Wed Apr 06, 2011 2:02 pm

If you are into tooling, you'll need a backgrounder as well.

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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Caleidah » Mon Feb 25, 2013 2:24 am

Finally got around to cutting my pattern out. School/work/life/etc. The pattern that I decided to go with is based on an early 15c Milanese set. Link included below. I feel like it came out alright, the elbow is just going to be a fun learning experience with dishing. Depending how well that goes, I may or may not have to put darts in it to get the curvature correct. Like I said, learning experience.

The source: http://nadler.us/arms_early_15thC.html

The printout on the right, next to the first draft.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Snake Eyes » Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:32 am

Nice work man!
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Caleidah » Thu Apr 11, 2013 1:42 am

The product of today's work.

Image

The tooling for the book is rough, but for a first project for someone with shaky hands, it's not awful.

For this weekend, hoping to begin work on something to look roughly like this:
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Caleidah » Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:25 pm

Big update! Got the left arm and both pauldrons done. Full picture and some detail photos below.

Image

Detail view of the roundels:

Image

Detail view of the elbow cop:

Image

Detail view of the vambrace:

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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Derian » Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:44 pm

yessssss
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Caleidah » Tue Aug 27, 2013 9:58 pm

Moved into a new place, getting the last of my tools/leather this week from the old place, and will be tearing in on new projects. Have a few commissions to work on, and some stuff for myself. In the mean time, a shot of my most recent pattern. I will be re-patterning the visor to bring the point higher, because I plan to blunt it (somehow) and make it look like a bull snout, complete with the obligatory ~2.5" macrame ring through it. Did it all with a mental image of a ~15c Armet going. Ended up looking kinda Space Marine-y.

With no further ado:
Brainbucket v1 and v2.
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v2 with visor attached.
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v2 on my head
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Derian » Wed Aug 28, 2013 6:18 am

Definitely does look SPASE MUHRINE. In a good way.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Caleidah » Wed Aug 28, 2013 10:05 am

Derian wrote:Definitely does look SPASE MUHRINE. In a good way.

When I cut it apart to remake the pattern, I am totes going to keep it around just in case someone wants a Corvus pattern helm.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Cade » Thu Aug 29, 2013 10:53 pm

Nice work man.

Only suggestion i have is let your leather dry a bit more before tooling, and make your laimes bigger for the joints. Other than that, its pretty fantastic!
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Caleidah » Thu Aug 29, 2013 11:00 pm

Cade wrote:Nice work man.

Only suggestion i have is let your leather dry a bit more before tooling, and make your laimes bigger for the joints. Other than that, its pretty fantastic!

I'll keep that in mind. I was basing it off of a pattern that a guy made for himself at 5'9", which I modified to fit my 6'5" self. I'll definitely tweak it for my next set.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Caleidah » Wed Sep 04, 2013 10:23 pm

BLATANT PLUG HERE:

I have started up a storefront page on Facebook. Y'all should check it out. I will continue to post updates of projects here for the sake of showing off, but if you want to keep tabs on my work or even get some of it to put on yourself, you should check out the Noble Son Armory.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Caleidah » Tue May 13, 2014 3:26 pm

New hotness.

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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Derian » Tue May 13, 2014 5:51 pm

Do tell on the white.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop

Postby Caleidah » Tue May 13, 2014 7:52 pm

Tandy CovaColor White. A metric ton of it.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

Postby Derian » Wed May 14, 2014 5:47 am

Ouch.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

Postby Kyrian » Wed May 14, 2014 9:10 am

Along the same lines, did you use the CovaColor yellow to do the edging and did you apply it over the white or directly to undyed veg-tan leather?
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

Postby Caleidah » Wed May 14, 2014 1:32 pm

Kyrian wrote:Along the same lines, did you use the CovaColor yellow to do the edging and did you apply it over the white or directly to undyed veg-tan leather?

All of the gold is the CovaColor Gold as well, and I applied it to nude leather wherever possible (namely when a piece was mostly gold, like the skirt of the helm or the doubled pieces on the bracers/grieves) but it also painted over white. It is probably the best gold paint that I have worked with for coverage and color, outside of Liquid Leaf. It sets quickly and I had a few small issues with bubbles forming and setting before I could wipe them away.

It was certainly worth it for the quality of the paint, though. Has a really smooth, glossy finish.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

Postby Derian » Wed May 14, 2014 1:52 pm

What'd you drop on that much CovaColor? That had to cost more than the leather itself.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

Postby Caleidah » Wed May 14, 2014 2:32 pm

Derian wrote:What'd you drop on that much CovaColor? That had to cost more than the leather itself.

With Elite membership, I think the total for paint was...$70? It was a lot, but I feel like it was worth it. And it was within the budget.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

Postby Derian » Wed May 14, 2014 5:05 pm

Wow, not bad. That armor is super slick though. I'm interested to see how it looks after getting some wear.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

Postby Caleidah » Wed May 14, 2014 8:06 pm

Derian wrote:Wow, not bad. That armor is super slick though. I'm interested to see how it looks after getting some wear.

~3/pot, and I bought I think 25 pots total. The invoice is around here somewhere. I ended up having a pot and a half of the gold left over, and was totally out of white.

EDIT: And thank you. It takes marks from EVERYTHING, so hopefully just a wet cloth is enough to take everything off of it at the end of the day.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

Postby Sir Thurat » Wed May 14, 2014 10:16 pm

Nice work, Cale. Is that Sir Boric? I'm surprised to see him in something other than purple. It looks good.
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Re: Caleidah's Workshop [Updated 5-13-2014]

Postby Caleidah » Fri May 16, 2014 4:37 am

Thurat wrote:Nice work, Cale. Is that Sir Boric? I'm surprised to see him in something other than purple. It looks good.

It is indeed Borric.

More pics of more projects, coming...as soon as I get the last stitches in.
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