Mububban's Faramir Armour

[Mububban]

Much thanks go to Christophe of Grey for his tips on embossing. Plus my friend Derek who lent me his tools, and to Nicole Kipar (whoever and wherever you are!) for making the tree pattern available online.

Firstly, this is what I'm trying to achieve:

[Mububban]

Below is the start of my Faramir armour. ~5mm veg tanned leather, undyed yet but it'll be the dark brown of Faramir's armour. I'll be shopping for silver leather paint/dye for the tree today.

I used a scroll saw to (painstakingly!) cut out the tree pattern in MDF (like super compressed cardboard). We tried plywood but it flaked itself to death. We tried perspex, but the blade melted the perspex as it cut, leaving flaky crusty edges. The MDF was strong enough to hold together with the blade vibrations, especially when cutting the twisty limb tips. But it was also strong enough to withstand me hammering it into the wet leather.
A few branches did break off, hence the few darker or lighter patches. But overall, I'm rapt with the result.

The stars were also cut from MDF, which was a slow careful progress seeing as how close my fingers were to the blade. But no blood, and I reckon they don't look too bad either :-)

I cut 5 stars thinking the thin star tips might break like the tree branches did, but only one bit of one star came off.

[Mububban]

I'm only a skinny bugger so the tree chestplate won't be very wide, hence my making the stars a tiny bit closer in than on Faramir's one. I'll be wearing it over a padded gambeson and/or or chainmail so that'll bulk me out a bit, but skinny is still skinny :-)

I use paper and then cardboard (manilla folders work a treat) so make up patterns. Cheap, quick, and once you've got it fitting right, you can cut your leather with confidence.

I'm waiting on my grilfriend to sew me a canvass dummy undershirt, which will eventually be made out of a suedey type leather. More photos to come as things progress. But so far, I'm rapt with how the tree has come out.

[Yasmar]

Looks fantastic, Mububban! Great job there! Brilliant idea using a tree "stamp" to imprint it; if I had tried this, I would have stupidly tried to press down the entire area using one of those little leather tools, and it would have ended up all lumpy and ugly... :eek:

[Mububban]

That was the original idea and why it took so long to come u with the best idea. I did lots of test embossing and attempts at stippling/depressing the inside of the tree, but it was lumpy and ugly, so I had to find a better way. Luckily my friend Derek is very crafty and has lots of cool power tools :-)

[Turgon883]

dude that's pretty impressive...can't wait to see pics of you in the full outfit...when you are done...

[The Man from Niefldarth]

for cutting the MDF, wouldn't it been easier if you'd used a dremel?

[Mububban]

Don't know, I've got one but didn't try, but the dremel made a helluva mess with the perspex. The scroll saw cuts from the top to the bottom of the item you're cutting, whereas the dremel is limited to the size of the bit. Feel free to try and tell us all how it goes, I don't plan on going through that painful process again any time soon :-)

[Bard]

Man, that is awesome! that is as good(or better) as the movie prop.

[defyitall]

for cutting the MDF, wouldn't it been easier if you'd used a dremel?

maybe a roto-zip or similar spiral cutter? i've heard they don't tear or flake the material much at all and are fairly easy to guide through complex shapes.

[standingbears]

I think your project looks GREAT!
Is using the MDF more for protection or to make the embossing stand out?
I use layers of thinner Veg tan leather, Leather "dust" or shavings etc.

[CanadianRCist]

that armor looks kick ass!! i like it better than the movie props

[CB Swords]

Looks great.

[CanadianRCist]

yep it does

[Mububban]

Okay, after a long time of being lazy, I've made a bit more progress.

The leather wouldn't take the light brown dye evenly, so I had to resort to a dark brown/black dye to cover the stripes from the differential dyeing. When the dye dried, I painted it with some silver leather paint which is flexible and won't flake off when the leather flexes. It looks white in the photo but has a nice silver sheen to it.
I used a 4mm paintbrush, and had to use a bamboo skewer to push the paint into the corners of the stars and tree branch tips.

Once that dried, I sealed it all with satin seal. So the chest piece is done. Now I just have to wait for my girlfriend to help me with the undershirt. Stitching it onto the front of the undershirt will be interesting because it's got to be done on the slope of my shoulders and chest. Fingers crossed!

[alwyn]

Unreal

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

thats really nice armor right there..

[Mububban]

Okay, pictures forthcoming, but it's finally finished!!!!!

Talk about dramas. The suede I bought for the udnershirt turned out to be ever so slightly too thin to do a front and back piece as one piece each. So I had to cut the front and back pieces into halves vertically, then "jigsaw puzzle" it onto the suede, just sneaking it in. Then I glued 4 inch wide reinforcing strips of thicker suede underneath, as well as stitching the pieces together. I'm a big fan of over-engineering.
As a result, the underside is ugly as sin, but that's okay as no one will see it :-)

So when the shirt was made, I popped it on, resized the neck and arm holes somewhat, then marked the holes to attach the chest plate.
I'd oringnally punched stitch holes all the way around the edge, but stitching it onto a curved surface would have been a nightmare, so I ended up using dark brown 10mm pop rivets every 2 inches or so.

I originally thought of using 3 buckles and straps on each side to do it up, but was worried about the suede tearing, and the added bulk on the straps, seeing as I'll hopefully be wearing this with my back quiver, and a kidney belt, and with a quiver of arrows slung off my hip as well. So I ended up using looped leather lacing, which is period, and fairly flat too.
For strength and looks (and to use up some scraps), I added some dyed and stamped pieces of veg tanned leather to run the lacing through.

You'll have to excuse the blue fabric marker pen :-) I'll remove it with a wet cloth later but am still refining the arm holes, and will probably do so further after wearing it in combat.

Seeing as it's for combat archery (http://www.thefantasyforum.com/showthread.php?t=1836) and not just costuming, I also stitched on some buckles to the shoulders, so if I'm playing as infantry, I can attach the lamed leather pauldrons I also made. And if I'm being an archer, I can take them off to leave my arms unencumbered.

[Mububban]

Here 'tis. Pardon the cruddy photos, they were taken in a rush last night. And forgive my boobs and girlish hips, I'm using my girlfriend's sewing dummy to show it off :-)

You can see the looped lacing on the sides as well. Makes for a snug fit, and is quite period too.

[Mububban]

And here are the pauldrons. The flat angle and not having an arm to wrap around and make them curvier doesn't make them look that flash, but they've come out quite well, again, for a first time effort.

There's a sinle thin strap on the second bottom lame, that keeps it securely wrapped around my upper arms as they're moving around. And the single attachment point on the shoulder makes for a wide range of movement too, so hopefully I can still reach my back quiver!

I'll hopefully get some better photos in 2 weeks at one of our archery days.

[CB Swords]

looks great.I don't think I woulda used a split for the undercoat but the top bits are definitely top notch.

[Mububban]

Thanks. Like I said, splitting the udnercoat into 4 sections rather than 2 was a matter of necessity due to the limited size of the suede, not preference! It would have been wide enough without a gambeson or chainmail underneath, but with one or both, it wouldn't have been wide enough.

[The Man from Niefldarth]

I agree, BUT, even though in real life he might have wear chainmail under his armour, in the movies, try as you might, you won't see any chainmail on him(well, you see some, but only when he is in his gondorian plate armour)
... so why bother making chainmail, if you can save weight, time, and money?

look at those screencaps of him, an you'll see he only has (what I believe to be) gambeson sleeves showing out of his undercoat, but no visible maille other than with his full plate armor.
www.arwen-undomiel.com/Faramir_gallery.html

[Mububban]

Yep, all this I know :-) Trust me, I've studied his costume a fair bit!

I was refering to myself. Being in a re-enacment group, I've got my own gambeson, and chainmail. I was saying that, for me wearing my Faramir armour, it's loose and baggy if I don't wear it with either my gambeson and/or chainmail underneath it, but it's perfectly sized if I wear one or the other under it to fill out my skinny frame.

[Turambar]

That is looking so cool, Mubs! Really nice job on the White tree emblem there!

But ehm... are you planning on wearing (as in ageing) the pieces? I'm not your average leatherwork expert, but it should be possible right? And It looks so much better (imo); as if it has really been use, y'know?

At any rate, that's some fine craftsmanship you showed there :D

[Mububban]

At the moment it looks new because it is new. It's sealed, but it's just natural leather and suede, so it'll definitely weather with age and use. However I don't feel the need to accelarate the process as I'm sure it'll happen naturally as time goes by. I like the worn in look of an item that's been used regularly, but I hate things like those jeans you buy for $100 that have been artificially worn out.

[Turambar]

well, I agree that if you plan to use it a lot, it'll wear in the most realistic way. That's for sure, yes... but even so, I wouldn't hesitate to get my hands dirty to help the ageing processa bit by for instance soaking the leather overnight and beating it around a bit... Not that I could be called a leather expert by any standards. Still, I would investigate ways to shiny edges of a bit in advance of using it. Somehow, that'd look a bit more realistic to me...

Either way, they're your pieces, and they look great either way. Now just for the shot of you wearing it :p

[Mububban]

I'm envisioning wearing on the right shoulder and around the waist from wearing a back quiver. Plus eventual dents and bumps and scrapes from sword fighting and arrow hits. Hopefully the black rubber arrow heads for combat archery don't leave ugly streaks that can't be removed! But eh, it's armour, it's designed to get hit....

Yeah, photos of me in it would be good, but ain't gonna happen for a while by the looks of things. I'll definitely post them here when it happens though.

[Turambar]

I'm not sure whether you used any oil-based coating on the chest piece. But if not, you can always remove rubber marks with a petroleum-based dissolvent such as white spirit.

And before it's all my fault... try it on an abandoned piece of leater ;)

[Kakashi_the_Lamb]

awesome mububban! :)

[Harbringer]

looks really nice man!

[Mububban]

Well I finally got to wear it on the field of combat archery, and it worked really well. I got nailed in the chest and didn't feel a thing. The leather Rohan-inspired pauldrons don't restrict my movement at all even when reaching for my back quiver. So I'm really happy with how it's come out :-)

Here's a pic of me in all my gear, minus the helmet and throat guard. Back quiver, hip quiver, arm shield, padded gambeson, Faramir armour, and you can even see my baseball catcher's leg guards peeking out from under my pants :-)
My face has been hidden to protect innocent citizens lol

[kleko]

:littlethi Me... want funcky armor.. Man that armors great man!!:littlethi

[rough666]

Wicked job, Mububban! I'm jealous.