Re: Sif (The Dark World) - WIP
Its all looking great. Thanks for taking the time to document this build.
Have you sourced the leather yet? Just wondering if your going to purchase local or online.? I've been trying to find the right leather for the handle wrap for my Sif sword project and haven't found the right color yet.
Thank you! I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, so the compliments and encouragement help me to stop tweaking and move on to the next. I'm still not entirely thrilled with everything, but it really is exciting to see it all starting to come together!
We have two Tandy locations in town, but, because I wasn't sure if I would have access to my old Kenmore workhorse during construction of the under vest and skirt, I wanted to keep things lighter and easier to manage. I ended up sourcing the leather online, from an eBay seller by the ID of "theleatherguyofmn." It's not very heavy -- 1.5 - 2 oz. lambskin -- and the color is pretty good (if not quite as dark as some of the BTS shots I've seen). I'll likely end up either interfacing, underlining, or interfacing and underlining the overall construction of the vest and skirt for strength. The leather alone, however, would probably work fairly well for wrapping the grip of the sword, while keeping down the bulk. I purchased the "red" lambskin hides, matching them up as well as I could with my monitor and asking questions as I went. If you send him the listing ID, he can help coordinate if you need matching/similar colors across a few different hides.
(And I
so want to order a cast of that sword from you... let me know when/if you're going to offer!)
On the progress front, there's not a great deal to report. I took most of yesterday off, and haven't done much today. I struggled with "order of operations," as it were, regarding the belt on the breastplate. It seemed to make more sense to put the leather on the insets before I placed the belt. Unfortunately, once the worbla is painted with the filler primer and other shinies, it won't adhere to itself the same way it will while in its "natural state." I finally decided to suck it up and go ahead and put the belt and discs on; the leather inset will simply have to go in two pieces. This will also require some crafty taping during the base coat phase. Meh.
I also got the pauldrons started. A friend of a friend (who excels at leatherwork) is building the bases for me, to which I will mount the worbla pieces. The shape isn't quite right, but it's getting there. I need to find a good sphere to round the shoulders properly:
I'll also end up refining the second plate there a bit, but it's at a decent starting point. Once I get these shaped, I'll probably start with the detailing while I finish the template for the shield. The shield will complete the armor for DragonCon. While I'd love to be more screen accurate and do the boots as well, I decided that comfort was going to win out: I'll be wearing my Sandlar boots for the con. I might do the legs for my local cons (which are not 4 day, 24-hour cons), but I just refuse to kill my feet when walking will be the most reliable form of transportation for the four days. (And reality check -- Hollywood? Try doing a good side kick in wedge heels like she was wearing. It ends up in a "safety moment." If you want height, just pull a Peter Jackson and use camera angles, k?)
And now off in search of a properly-sized sphere for shaping the pauldrons...