Medieval Superman

Il Princerino · Sep 30, 2019

This is probably the 4th or 5th version of Superman I've done in the last few years, I think I have a problem.

Anyway, our local renaissance festival has a heroes and villains themed weekend and my wife wanted to go as Wonder Woman, so to match her I decided to go as Superman, but I wanted to stay in that renaissance/medieval style to go along with the festival. Something simple and basic, but still recognizably Superman.

I'm using this as my template

Might have some minor deviations, but this is overall what I'm going for. One day I'll have to get someone to custom make some boots, but for this year I'll either go with my "regular" renfest boots or use my normal Superman boots.

Il Princerino · Nov 3, 2019

Progress Report
I have the leather for the belt and the ring for the buckle. I just have to dye it and put in the rivets.
Under Tunic is done

Tabard is pretty close to done. I had to dye it to match the pants I'm using. And, wouldn't you know it, while sewing trim, I ran out with about 5 inches left. So I had to make an emergency trip to the store. It's cool I got it done, it's not perfect, but it will do, it's in the back and the cape will hide it.

Cape is getting there, I need to pleat and hem a little more, but that's easy.

For now, I'm making the standard "S" shield, but when I do version 2.0 I'm going to tweak the design for a more medieval feel with something like this

I've got a week to finish this current iteration of this costume. The "S"shield is gonna be a pain, but at least it'll have that homespun look. The bracers will be added later, when I get a chance to order some leather.

Il Princerino · Nov 9, 2019

Well, I finished, after nearly pulling an all nighter. Renfest is tomorrow and I'll post some pics of me in full garb then, but here's an update of what I have done.
Cape. I'm not real happy with it to be honest. The material is subpar, but it was the only thing I could find that was the right color, and the pleats are either too shallow or the material is just too light for them to show up, I dunno. But it is what it is and I'll just make a version 2.0 for next year.

The tabard, on the other hand, I am really happy with, it turned out great. The color is a beautiful shade and the emblem came out at least as good as I thought it would and that's a win as far as I'm concerned. I'm still going to redo it for next year in the style I showed up above, but this one is excellent for this year. I must admit that I was sorely tempted to just cut it out of a t shirt and sew it on, I'm glad I didn't.

Belt also turned out pretty good. Colorwise, it's darker than I would have preferred, but not too much that I feel I have to make another one.

And here it is put together. It's simple, but still has that iconic(I think) Superman feel.

and as a bonus for version 2.0(or maybe even 3.0) is the sword from the Elseworlds story, which, btw was fairly useless for inspiration costumewise as Supes is a peasant and half the time is just wearing pants.

I have experience bladesmithing, but I've never made a sword. Nothing bigger than a good sized Bowie-knife, truth be told, but this is just too cool not to try. It might take a few attempts, but I'm game. The hardest part will be the crossguard. Lots of little details that I will either have to forge and clean up or try my hand at casting, either bronze or maybe a mild steel if I can get my forge hot enough to liquify it.

All in all, I am absurdly proud of this build. It really isn't much and parts of it aren't even all that good, but this is only 4th or 5th one I've done and I can see improvement, things like that S shield were impossible to me when I started this stuff and now I enjoy the challenge. All right, enough tooting my own horn, I'll post more pics tomorrow.