Post by LonelyForsaken on Jul 29, 2015 18:51:21 GMT -5
A few members have recently shared their artistic works so I thought I should share too. The problem is that my works haven't been in the area of paint or drawing in many years. Ama's post reminded me of one I did many years ago that was almost as good as hers. I used to draw a lot and one that I drew of a favorite pigeon I had came out looking almost like a photograph. A few recent attempts have proven that I have lost that particular ability but my artistic media has moved on to a few other areas. Clothing is one, or more specifically costumes, and I have several of them now. I've also been making jewelry for some time now. I got into polishing rocks and making rock gardens for a while. Here are a few pictures;
Click the images for a larger version.
My most recent attempt at embroidery. I had intended to fill these dragons in with green scales but I used a layer of dark green pigskin and going through the leather and the skin with a needle proved to be really hard on the hands and fingers. These are my swordsmen's gloves for a renaissance costume I'll post farther down.
This is a collection of some of the stones I found over the years. Some are still rough (not polished) and a few were bought like you see them (the malachite beads, the quartz crystal, and the bloodstone pendent) but most of them I found and polished myself. The piece of opal in the bottom cup came out really nice. I bought it as a rough piece on ebay and hand polished it with a dremel tool. Most of them where done in a tumbler. I've done several batches of rainbow obsidian since I moved to northern California.
Here is my favorite renaissance costume. Most of it was hand made from scratch and you can see the above gloves in this pic. The boots are from Durango out of Texas. I cut the tops off and added the fold of leather to make pirate or what are known as riding boots out of them. The pants started out as a bolt of green silk. They have the same trim as the gloves and hat on the seams and I added brass rings down the sides to tie them in the Celtic style with more green silk you can see in the middle pic. The hat was made from scratch but I'll do that one in more detail later. The doublet was a bitch. All you see here is the front of the vest but I made the arms for it too. It's a lot of leather and hard work. I have a sewing machine but I broke four needles making this and ended up doing a lot of it by hand. The arms make it really hot to wear and turned out to be a real waste of time since most renaissance fairs are held during the summer months. It's made of forest green suede and black leather. The buttons are kinda' special, made of brass with green faceted glass in the center. There is another piece that attaches using the buttons that is not shown here. The sporran/merchant bag is all handmade, more on it later. The sashes, head band, belt, baldric, and fly are all bought but I have customized them all, except the belt, in some way. The baldric has dragons (silver and pewter), favors, a pewter flask, and a dagger attached in the back plus I sewed in a bit of green leather cut in the shape of our fencing guilds Coat of Arms. You can see a glass potion flask in a leather thong too. I bought it pretty much as is but I added a string of healing beads and a faceted crystal to try to make it look like a healing potion kinda' thing. The sword and dagger are made by Cold Steel, British naval dagger on the left and French small sword on the right. The Celtic double edged dagger on the back is mostly hidden under the fly. If you look closely can see a bit of it just above the dragon mug. There is a miniature Celtic claymore in the right boot. I have a big dragon necklace too but I don't see it in these pictures. Even it has a hidden knife. Pull on the tail and out comes a double edges one inch blade. There are a few of them hidden in this costume. Did you notice the dragon theme? BTW all the steel is real. Even though I safety tie most of them before entering the fairgrounds (they never find or suspect the little blades that are impossible to safety tie) it often causes some arguments and commotion. There are seven blades all together on this costume. At some fairs real steel isn't allowed at all so I wear my fencing sword and dagger instead. I had to make a sheath and scabbard for them out of PVC I covered with green leather and brass end caps after heating the PVC to shape it a little. The rubber tip on fencing swords means you can't stick them into a normal scabbard or sheath. I'm not sure if I have pictures of those.
Here I am in one of my more commonly worn fencing costumes getting a lesson from the maestro. This was on the front page of the local paper. Notice I'm not wearing any real steel. The boots are leather moccasins, the pants are the same style as the silk ones but made of sack cloth (or the closest thing I could find like it), and the shirt is a poufy shirt bought on ebay.
The sporran/merchant bag is all leather and hard on the hands to make. I've made four of them in various colors but this is the one I wear. I had planned to sell the others but there is about $100.00 in materials alone invested in them and no one seems to want them that badly. I almost sold the one in tan and tiger eye stones for $100.00 to a guild member but his wife said no. I gave one as a gift to our guild captain.
Made of silver, malachite, jet (I think. It is coal compressed so hard it looks like glass and is fabled to burn a witch when touched) and lapis lazuli. All healing stones and hand made by me.
A small bag I made. The bell is silver with a bit of opal. I call her Sarah and she has a sweet tiny voice.
This hat started out as a wool blank. Basically a thick round flat with a bump in the middle. You have to soak it and shape it by hand and then block it while it dries several times before it holds its shape. Those are all peacock and pheasant feather. I'm not sure the peacock feather are period legal because they have sparked several arguments over the years but I like them so they stay. I used the same trim you see on the silk pants and gloves. I use the two pewter dragons to keep the sides pinned up after it got wet in a light rain. It was actually easier to make than it looks but it took a long time and a lot of sewing.
The large amber necklace was the first piece of jewelry I ever made. All the pieces you see I shaped and polished with a dremel tool except for the two pieces of rough shown to show what I start with. The piece on the bottom I gave to mom for a birthday gift. Most of the jewelry I have made I gave as gifts and don't have pictures of them.
Here are a few pieces of opal. I thought I had pictures of some of the jewelry too but I can't find any. I made mostly necklaces as opal is too soft for rings unless well protected by the setting. I have a lot more pieces than this and a lot of rough too. Some black, some blue, these are jelly opals. Some of them are on my black hat that I posted here. I just can't seem to decide what to do with these. I've got so many now that I'm thinking of maybe making a silver and opal dragon but I don't have access to a silver forge anymore and that would definitely have to be a custom setting.
Click the images for a larger version.
My most recent attempt at embroidery. I had intended to fill these dragons in with green scales but I used a layer of dark green pigskin and going through the leather and the skin with a needle proved to be really hard on the hands and fingers. These are my swordsmen's gloves for a renaissance costume I'll post farther down.
This is a collection of some of the stones I found over the years. Some are still rough (not polished) and a few were bought like you see them (the malachite beads, the quartz crystal, and the bloodstone pendent) but most of them I found and polished myself. The piece of opal in the bottom cup came out really nice. I bought it as a rough piece on ebay and hand polished it with a dremel tool. Most of them where done in a tumbler. I've done several batches of rainbow obsidian since I moved to northern California.
Here is my favorite renaissance costume. Most of it was hand made from scratch and you can see the above gloves in this pic. The boots are from Durango out of Texas. I cut the tops off and added the fold of leather to make pirate or what are known as riding boots out of them. The pants started out as a bolt of green silk. They have the same trim as the gloves and hat on the seams and I added brass rings down the sides to tie them in the Celtic style with more green silk you can see in the middle pic. The hat was made from scratch but I'll do that one in more detail later. The doublet was a bitch. All you see here is the front of the vest but I made the arms for it too. It's a lot of leather and hard work. I have a sewing machine but I broke four needles making this and ended up doing a lot of it by hand. The arms make it really hot to wear and turned out to be a real waste of time since most renaissance fairs are held during the summer months. It's made of forest green suede and black leather. The buttons are kinda' special, made of brass with green faceted glass in the center. There is another piece that attaches using the buttons that is not shown here. The sporran/merchant bag is all handmade, more on it later. The sashes, head band, belt, baldric, and fly are all bought but I have customized them all, except the belt, in some way. The baldric has dragons (silver and pewter), favors, a pewter flask, and a dagger attached in the back plus I sewed in a bit of green leather cut in the shape of our fencing guilds Coat of Arms. You can see a glass potion flask in a leather thong too. I bought it pretty much as is but I added a string of healing beads and a faceted crystal to try to make it look like a healing potion kinda' thing. The sword and dagger are made by Cold Steel, British naval dagger on the left and French small sword on the right. The Celtic double edged dagger on the back is mostly hidden under the fly. If you look closely can see a bit of it just above the dragon mug. There is a miniature Celtic claymore in the right boot. I have a big dragon necklace too but I don't see it in these pictures. Even it has a hidden knife. Pull on the tail and out comes a double edges one inch blade. There are a few of them hidden in this costume. Did you notice the dragon theme? BTW all the steel is real. Even though I safety tie most of them before entering the fairgrounds (they never find or suspect the little blades that are impossible to safety tie) it often causes some arguments and commotion. There are seven blades all together on this costume. At some fairs real steel isn't allowed at all so I wear my fencing sword and dagger instead. I had to make a sheath and scabbard for them out of PVC I covered with green leather and brass end caps after heating the PVC to shape it a little. The rubber tip on fencing swords means you can't stick them into a normal scabbard or sheath. I'm not sure if I have pictures of those.
Here I am in one of my more commonly worn fencing costumes getting a lesson from the maestro. This was on the front page of the local paper. Notice I'm not wearing any real steel. The boots are leather moccasins, the pants are the same style as the silk ones but made of sack cloth (or the closest thing I could find like it), and the shirt is a poufy shirt bought on ebay.
The sporran/merchant bag is all leather and hard on the hands to make. I've made four of them in various colors but this is the one I wear. I had planned to sell the others but there is about $100.00 in materials alone invested in them and no one seems to want them that badly. I almost sold the one in tan and tiger eye stones for $100.00 to a guild member but his wife said no. I gave one as a gift to our guild captain.
Made of silver, malachite, jet (I think. It is coal compressed so hard it looks like glass and is fabled to burn a witch when touched) and lapis lazuli. All healing stones and hand made by me.
A small bag I made. The bell is silver with a bit of opal. I call her Sarah and she has a sweet tiny voice.
This hat started out as a wool blank. Basically a thick round flat with a bump in the middle. You have to soak it and shape it by hand and then block it while it dries several times before it holds its shape. Those are all peacock and pheasant feather. I'm not sure the peacock feather are period legal because they have sparked several arguments over the years but I like them so they stay. I used the same trim you see on the silk pants and gloves. I use the two pewter dragons to keep the sides pinned up after it got wet in a light rain. It was actually easier to make than it looks but it took a long time and a lot of sewing.
The large amber necklace was the first piece of jewelry I ever made. All the pieces you see I shaped and polished with a dremel tool except for the two pieces of rough shown to show what I start with. The piece on the bottom I gave to mom for a birthday gift. Most of the jewelry I have made I gave as gifts and don't have pictures of them.
Here are a few pieces of opal. I thought I had pictures of some of the jewelry too but I can't find any. I made mostly necklaces as opal is too soft for rings unless well protected by the setting. I have a lot more pieces than this and a lot of rough too. Some black, some blue, these are jelly opals. Some of them are on my black hat that I posted here. I just can't seem to decide what to do with these. I've got so many now that I'm thinking of maybe making a silver and opal dragon but I don't have access to a silver forge anymore and that would definitely have to be a custom setting.