Jack Sparrow sail needle/marlinspike/fid

[Patattack]

Somewhere I have a bunch of information on bone and antler work, but here's a couple of links that might be useful:

General info about working with bone

Making bone needles

Thanks for the links! Definitely a good start for my first bone project.

Anyway...as far as getting flak from the regulars, I talked to a friend of mine who's been going to the Holly, MI renfest since he was a little kid - and currently works there as a knight - and here's what he had to say:

"That's not at all the case. To be sure, there are going to be some dicks who make jokes at your expense. But these are the same kind of dicks who would make fun of you for wearing the costume at a premiere, or that kind of thing. In all truth, renfest is more friendly to you wearing random costumes, because most of us understand that it really is the one place where you can wear that costume and not have to worry about getting strange looks, or being made fun of for being a dork, because, at heart, we're all dorks there.

So, in other words, renfest imitates life, in that there are still a few total *******s there. Overall, though? If your costume is particularly nice, we'll probably just be impressed by it."

 

[dropshipbob]

Well, that certainly is reassuring.:thumbsup

 

[gnrlotto]

You must go to a Ren Faire full of jerks or something. I've been going as a Pirate and with a Jack Sparrow to the Ren Faire in SoCal for a few years and no one cares. They thinks it's great. Even the Queen says, "Hello Jack." whenever she sees him.

No, I go to the Cali fairs, too. Like I said, it's not like they look at you in the face and give you crap. They do want your walking dollar signage after all. At night, the regulars whoop it up, however. As a person who has known several people who live in the trailers there because they are there for the longhaul of the show, sorry, you might not like the fact, but it's true. As I said, it was just a friendly warning. Like I'd tell someone their Captain Kirk outfit probably isn't the smartest move for Celebration. Whether or not you care for that advice is up to you.

 

[defyitall]

Yeah, I'm talking about people that stay in trailers. You wanna focus on negative people, that's fine. I guess I met the good ones who are just happy when other get in on the fun.

 

[gnrlotto]

Yeah, I'm talking about people that stay in trailers. You wanna focus on negative people, that's fine. I guess I met the good ones who are just happy when other get in on the fun.

I don't think you understand me. I'm not talking about "people I've met" who happen to be regular workers, I'm talking as a person who comes from a long line of reenactors (Western, Civil War, etc.) and knows several of the shop owners and entertainers at Fair in a more personal level than "I said 'hi' to the Queen! Yay!"

The other impass is this, "Nuh-uh, people aren't really like that!" argument. This isn't an argument, period. Like any group of people that have been doing a specific branch of costuming for a long time, there develops an attitude of eliteness amongst those that have made this a lifestyle rather than a hobby. No different than somebody wearing say, a Rubies stormtrooper outfit, and not being thought of the most highly amongst those that have spent time making accurate pieces.

Like I'm saying for a third time, this is simply friendly advice. If you don't want to take it, fine, that's your choice. Trying to make advice appear "wrong" based on whatever your personal feelings are is utterly absurd.

 

[PHArchivist]

What was this thread about in the first place...? I seem to have forgotten.

 

[gnrlotto]

What was this thread about in the first place...? I seem to have forgotten.

It was about Patattack needing a reindeer bone for his Sparrow costume and turned, like nearly every thread in which someone just offers an opinion, into an argument on why an opinion is wrong.

 

[sparrowfan]

dude, just wear your jack costume and have fun and enjoy it!
don't worry what others think.

 

[Zombie_61]

Having attended several Renaissance Pleasure Faires here in Southern California over the last 30 years, it's been my experience that most of the people who dress "in period" are like any other group of costumers. There are those who will do the best they can with the limited resources available to them, and those who take it very seriously and will scour the four corners of the Earth to locate cloth with the correct texture to manufacture their tunic from, some of whom may look upon the first group with some measure of disdain or contempt without placing any value on the fact that they at least made an effort to join in the spirit of the event. One year we saw a man who attended dressed as Captain Kirk from the original series, complete with phaser and communicator, "Shatneresque" hairstyle, and pointed sideburns; funny thing was, given the nature of some of the episodes, he didn't look at all out-of-place. I guess my point is simply to echo what sparrowfan wrote above: go, dress however you like, and just have fun.

Regarding Captain Jack's sail needle/marlinspike, according to Johnny Depp on Disc 2 of the Dead Man's Chest DVD set, he found it somewhere while looking for odds-and-ends to tie into his wig, found out it had been carved from the shin bone of a reindeer, and simply thought something that unique would have to be part of Sparrow's "effects". "The stories that he could probably tell of the experience with the reindeer would be...uhh...too fun to pass up."

 

[dropshipbob]

This past weekend I went to an event called a "Rendezvous". It's much like a Ren Fare except these people reenact the lifestyle from the 1700's. Fur trappers, French soldiers, mountain men, indians and assorted frontier people.
I am pretty sure I saw several bone needles for sale. Perhaps you could find a similar event in your area and see if someone has one? There were people selling stuff all over the place. If I had wanted, I could have outfitted myself in completely accurate garb and accessories from that era.

 

[Great_Bizarro]

The pirate costume is close enough in historical period to be accepted at a renfair. I see patrons wearing all kinds of stuff and have worn nothing but a pair of snakeskin tights on one hot afternoon myself. I attend and used to work at the Texas Renaissance Festival and have had no one give me grief over what I wear except for a friend complaining about the tights that is. Check the Entertainment pulldown, that is the tavern, and well looks like pirates to me!
Texas Renaissance Festival

 

[Patattack]

The pirate costume is close enough in historical period to be accepted at a renfair. I see patrons wearing all kinds of stuff and have worn nothing but a pair of snakeskin tights on one hot afternoon myself. I attend and used to work at the Texas Renaissance Festival and have had no one give me grief over what I wear except for a friend complaining about the tights that is. Check the Entertainment pulldown, that is the tavern, and well looks like pirates to me!
Texas Renaissance Festival

The issue would not be so much with the pirate, but with the fact that it's a fictional pirate from a popular modern movie series.

Of course, any pirate elitist will have plenty of respect for Long John Silver, who is just as fictional as Jack Sparrow, so...who knows.

I wish there was one of those pirate-specific festivals near me...

 

[gnrlotto]

This past weekend I went to an event called a "Rendezvous". It's much like a Ren Fare except these people reenact the lifestyle from the 1700's. Fur trappers, French soldiers, mountain men, indians and assorted frontier people.
I am pretty sure I saw several bone needles for sale. Perhaps you could find a similar event in your area and see if someone has one? There were people selling stuff all over the place. If I had wanted, I could have outfitted myself in completely accurate garb and accessories from that era.

Where are you, Bob? We used to have one out here in Cali, but it's gone.

 

[Zombie_61]

The pirate costume is close enough in historical period to be accepted at a renfair.

The issue would not be so much with the pirate, but with the fact that it's a fictional pirate from a popular modern movie series.

Technically, you're both correct. Pirates existed long before the Renaissance and long after, and styles of dress really didn't change much between the Renaissance and what is considered to be "the golden age of piracy". However, according to the back story Captain Jack Sparrow was born after the Renaissance period ended so, while a "generic" pirate costume would be okay, a costume specific to the Captain Jack Sparrow character would be chronologically incorrect. But I stand by my previous statement--wear whatever you like, and have fun.

 

[gnrlotto]

Technically, you're both correct. Pirates existed long before the Renaissance and long after, and styles of dress really didn't change much between the Renaissance and what is considered to be "the golden age of piracy".

Actually, no, the styles of dress changed dramatically.

16th century--correct era--privateer (or pirate, depending on what country you came from), Sir Francis Drake:

Late seventeenth and early eighteenth century pirates (of which the Pirates of the Caribbean pirates are supposed to be even later):

Edward Teach (Blackbeard):

Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart):

 

[Zombie_61]

I stand corrected. I should have said clothing styles didn't change much between the end of the Renaissance (some time in the 1600's) and what is considered to be the golden age of piracy (1700-1730).

 

[gnrlotto]

I stand corrected. I should have said clothing styles didn't change much between the end of the Renaissance (some time in the 1600's) and what is considered to be the golden age of piracy (1700-1730).

Ren Faires are all set in the high period of the reign of Elizabeth, though. To be fair, style didn't change much from what's more commonly known as the Restoration period (your end of the Renaissance) to the golden age of piracy (1690-1720)--hell, style didn't change much from that until the Empire Era (i.e. men all wore breeches, stocking, etc., though wigs and coat styles may have changed slightly.) Style, however, did go through some drastic permutations from the time Elizabeth reigned until the time Charles II did.