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Chainmail

11/11/2023

 
I'm currently super busy with books and calendars, so progress on Matias' costume is going rather slow. I wanted his resin gloves and vambraces to be 'steel' instead of bronze, so sprayed them silver, then 'aged' them with some dark brown paint. Then they matched the stainless steel chainmail I was going to use....
Picture
The next step was to cut chainmail 'sleeves' for his tunic. In the past my knights only needed chainmail from just above the elbow, and down to the wrist, so it was cut as a rectangle.  But Matias needed entire sleeves right up to the shoulders, so his chainmail needed to be cut in a proper sleeve shape. With chainmail being so 'slinky' it proved very challenging, but I eventually got them cut, one tiny ring at a time.  Then the tops of the chainmail sleeves were sewn onto his tunic, and the laborious task began of linking the two sides together with tiny jump rings.
Picture
There was no way I could finagle the tiny jump rings into the same pattern as the rings in the chainmail, so I just linked the two sides of the sleeve together. Even so, it still took a few days.

To reduce bulk, I was only planning on suggesting that he was wearing an entire suit of chainmail under his surcoat, and only having it sewn on where it would show - on the sleeves, and along the bottom showing under his surcoat.  But I didn't have enough of the stainless steel chainmail to make an entire 'skirt' without piecing lots of parts together, plus it would be ridiculously heavy, so I opted to use aluminum chainmail for the bottom instead. It's a lot lighter, and easier to work with, plus if I used it with the wrong side out, it would look reasonably similar.

The aluminum chainmail was from fancy clutch purses I'd collected from Value Village over the years. I've found it in several different colours and sizes.  But the 'silver' aluminum was too 'silver' compared to the stainless steel chainmail, so I decided to stain it some with diluted brown paint.
Picture
Then the colour matched much better...
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I wet his surcoat and crunched up the lower part so it would dry crinkled, looking more like it was draping in proper scale. While I was at it, I also roughed up and stained the bottom edges with 'dirt-coloured' paint. After all I needed him to look like he'd been wearing his surcoat for a while out in the field, and not like he'd just gotten it brand new from the castle tailor.
Picture
With his chainmail and surcoat finished, the next thing he needs is his armour. I drew up some paper patterns....
Picture
And the next step is to sculpt them out of Aves Apoxie.
Danyda
11/11/2023 12:07:10 pm

Absolutely amazing. I love how you upcycle finds from Value Village. I hope you will consider doing a book on dressing BJDs in the future.

Martha
11/11/2023 01:16:10 pm

Thanks! I do my best.

I don't see a book on costuming coming in the future. I only make books that I'd personally like to see in print. A book on doll costuming ideas, tips, and construction techniques would be way too much work, way too expensive, and with likely just a handful of interest. And my books are already not money-makers.

Plus, there's already all kinds of costuming tips in the Tutorials section of this website, especially in the Creative Journey section. And those are free.

Dorothy
11/11/2023 04:48:50 pm

He looks quite handsome! I love that the sleeves accentuate his muscles.

Donna
11/12/2023 12:27:07 am

He's quite handsome and will be quite a formidable looking knight.

His costume is is going to be amazing when it is all done. Actually it is already pretty amazing! What always impresses me is how you see the potential in all sorts of Value Village finds.


Comments are closed.

    Author

    Martha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes.
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