Mububban's Gondorian Bracers

[Mububban]

I'm basing mine on the Kropserkel bracers, as they've got the best pictures online. This is what I'm aiming for:

[Mububban]

I'm a long way from that stage. So far I've cut the bottom under layer from a 2.8mm chrome dyed dark brown leather, and the top embossed layer is the same ~5mm veg tanned leather as my Faramir chest plate.

[Mububban]

As you can see, they're a long way from finished. I'm going to dye the feather top layer a slightly lighter shade of brown than the underlayer. I'm not sure how to do the small Tree of Gondor in the empty space below the feather, but I'm sorely tempted to emboss the Raven in there instead, which is the symbol of my re-enacting group, The Grey Company. The attached pic below is our Warrior (A grade) award that I'd emboss, with some minor tweaks to smooth out the design.

I'm not planning on dying or painting the stars or anything else silver on the top layer. But I do like the idea of some silvery vines on the dark brown underbracer. I'l like to gouge those out with a freehand stitching groover, but the leather shop is all sold out at the moment.

All work has been done by me, and I ain't no leather worker :-) The stars were cut freehand so they're a bit wonky, and the feathers were drawn and cut freehand as well, so they're not perfect. This is the first embossing project I've ever ever tried, and in hindsight I didn't tap quite hard enough. A tiny bit harder would have made things just a touch more defined. But these will be worn as combat archery armour, so function is as important as looks. But for a first time effort done by a leatherworking newbie, it's not going too bad so far.

I'll be shopping for some thin leather to make the padded quilted lace up underbracer. That will have to be hand quilted and will be easy but time consuming.

More photos as they progress.

[Turgon883]

You know you can find drawn and easy to copy tree of gondors online...I believe it is at a costuming site...you can print out the drawings...I used them for a piece of pottery i made...turned out very nice...I use'd publisher to shrink down the tree images to the right size and then traced it right on....I could never hand draw something like that...

This should take you there:
http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Human/Gondor.htm

Hope this helps...Good Luck!

[Mububban]

Cheers Turgon, that's where I got the tree for the Faramir armour in my other thread. I'm still keen on the Raven idea. I'm still toying with what to put on that little area.

[Turgon883]

Cheers Turgon, that's where I got the tree for the Faramir armour in my other thread. I'm still keen on the Raven idea. I'm still toying with what to put on that little area.

Yah...It is rather handy to use...lol...Good luck...You'll have to post pictures of the final results...

[Mububban]

I ummed and aahed for ages and couldn't find a way to make a mini tree of Gondor look good, my embossing tool isn't small enough, and I think the small tree looks like anerve ending or synapse. So I went with the raven, which is the symbol of my sword fighting group.

I dyed the leather light brown, then sealed it with satin seal. These photos make it look streaky and patchy, but that's just the bad light I shot in. I'm pretty happy with the embossing seeing as I taught myself how to do it on this project.

I buggered up the stitch holes on the dark brown under layer. I marked and punched the holes when flat, failing to take into account the few millimetres of stretch when the vambrace is curled around my arm. Dumbass! But at least the top layer is done finally.

[alwyn]

Budgie of death...grrr
Nice work Mububban:)
You need a name i dont have to think so hard how to spell too.;)

[Mububban]

Hehe, funny you called our Raven the Budgie of Death, because that's exactly what we call it too :-) It came from some ye olde medieval banner or engraving, and yeah sure, it's meant to be a Raven, but it looks like a friendly budgie!

I finally stitched the top layer onto the under layer and added buckles. Not being a professional leather worker, they'r enot even close to the level of craftsmanship of the Kropserkel guys, but they'll do for costuming purposes.

Now I just need to find some good thin leather for the padded underbracer int he right colour. That is proving difficult to find...

[Mububban]

Well, here they are. As I said, not a shade on the Kropserkel ones, but not bad for a first of a kind effort I suppose.
As you can see I just used 2 basic buckles and straps for each bracer. And you can see some stitch holes from my first ill fated attempt at punching the holes for a curved surface, while it was flat! Ah well, live and learn....

Forgive the crazy background, our bedspread was the only place I could shoot at night!

If I can find the right leather, underbracers are the last step. They should go together fairly easily, finding the right leather is the hardest part at the moment.