tenabrae

So it's a little over a month later now and i've had more experience using raven oil through the airbrush. I'm finding it sprays well around 20psi (siphon fed) without thinning. Cleaning the aurbrush isn't a problem at all, the raven oil does like to cling so the needle needs a good clean after every use.

In case anyone else is curious... I didn't need to thin the raven oil at all to spray it through my Paasche VL using the number 1 (the finest) needle. I sprayed at around 30psi and I'll be experimenting with going lower. I cleaned the brush with odourless solvent (which i understand is basically turps without the smell)... it needed a little more manual cleaning than spraying an acylic but it did clean out fine.

I was actually about to ask the same question. I don't really see where their objections come into it... If my customer has a need, i'm going to try to meet it, it's not for me to judge them. Does anyone else have other suggestions or experience trying to detail leather alternatives ?

There wasn't really any such thing as 'female armour'. Theoretically it'll just squish your squishy bits like a corset would. In a design like that where it's just got basic shoulder straps you could just make the top panel a little more generous if you are particularly chesty. Also if it's for costume I wouldn't bother hardening it (which is what the baking is for, though IMO it's not the best way to harden) ... I'm not sure how 9oz translates to what we use (over here leather is listed by thickness in mm) but something like 3.4mm leather holds shape just fine and can be easily water shaped if necessary... For that piece you wouldn't need to do much shaping, the only thing you'd need to wet it for is any carving you might do. You can see in that image most of the details is stamped or carved, there's not a lot of '3d' to it, mostly lines and panels. You don't need wax to harden leather at all. You can simply expose it to hot water, it's a bit of an art. http://www.arador.com/construction/waterleather.html

I support this statement. Hand-crafted comes with oddities, it's why hand-crafted furniture is nicer than machine made furniture, it's the 'mistakes' that give it character. There's obviously a limit (such as if its structurally unsound or you've clearly just spilled a bottle of dye on it :D ) but little errors are just character.

I agree that is a little unnatractive. The pattern I used does a couple of things in ways that didn't really work for me in construction and that's one of the things I'll tweak next time i build a helm like this. I also want to try making one where the inner cap is "dished" from a single piece which will make it much harder to tool, but be stronger and i think nicer looking. All that said i'm very happy with this poece

This is my first full helm build. It's based off an adjusted pattern from the Armour Archive (I used the basic framework and added my own cheek pieces and had to redesign the 6 helm plates as they didnt really fit well). This is definitely costume-grade and there are a few things i'll do differently next time I make a helm. The thing I was most happy with besides it looking great, is that it fits me perfectly so I must have got my leather thickness adjustment pretty correct :D This was also my first go at airbrushing, all the scaled areas are acrylic ink & antiquing... The antiquing stripped off a lot of the ink leaving only the white but I really liked the effect so I did it on all 6 plates and I reckon i'll use it again (and varnish first before antiquing if I want to avoid it). The horns are resin, sculpted and cast in my workshop.

I've done some metal-weapon fighting grade armour out of 5.5mm sole leather and it's crazy solid. Usually I use 3.4mm for my costume grade armour which is great unhardened and also hardens up nicely with hot water techniques.

Cheers, my airbrush/compressor will definitely cope with it, really it's more making sure i have something to clean it with while i'm messing about trying to find the right needle size/psi combo. Raven Oil's just a really smelly oil based dye, I've seen a bunch of people here mention they use it to airbrush holsters (it's also what I use for hand colouring leather)

I've seen a few people mention it in topics but without any concrete info. For anyone who's airbrushed with Raven Oil... Did you need to thin it ? What did you thin it with ? And most importantly because I don't mind experimenting with everything else if I know... What did you clean your airbrush with ? Mike.