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I made these for a friend's birthday to give as a gift (and didnt realize how much work it would be which is why its March and his birthday was in November). The first bracer (on the right) took me a solid 3 weeks to finish as I didnt really know what I was doing and I hammered out (no pun intended) the second one in a little over a day. All the metal cuts (including the logo) are the first things Ive ever cut on an 4.5" angle grinder. The store's logo is a blue flame and that was the first try of the first thing Ive ever cut involving metal. I think it came out nicely lol Minus the one drill hole I wasnt able to cover with the logo anyways And to answer the question first, I was out of 9 oz leather except for a pair of black bracers that I never finished, and the guy's favorite color is blue. So I took some excess 5 oz I had lying around and dyed it blue then rivetted that over the black 9 oz. The black plates are 22 ga steel as is the logo

Can you wax one side of the leather ( say the inside, by brushing it on, will it affect the other side's color? Can you brush it to get stability and NOT affect the other side? The leather I have is amazingly supple and Id like to get the slaces top have a bit of strength to them (so they wont way, ripple in the wind)

Sorry Ive been sick, but the right side is the color Id like to work with, the left is that in baked with the blue coloring in the scale (the rest would be black) the middle is a piece of wax boiled leather (I wanted to experiment - will that ever come out lighter than that?) and the large roll in the back is the leather im looking to lighten though now that I look at it its not that much darker I think I was still sick when I was thinking of lightening it; or I was thinking of the wax hardened stuff

I know a few ways to darken it but none to lighten it. Are there any? The leather my relatives got for me is too dark for my original idea and was wondering if there was a way to lighten that leather so that I could still go with my original plan.

Whats the right shape? Ive been trying conical with a flat bottom but Im guessing its supposed to be curved instead?

Im just in the mock up stages but how do you make the inside pieces for the helm?

Not for SCA, just costume use, U have a fair spread of molds to put water molded armor onto, but what would the suggested thickness be? Im looking for it to look sturdy, not as though someone had made it out of paper. The armor itself is thought to have been mde with iron/copper. For what it looks like I found this: http://www.armourarchive.org/essays/Shanwenkia.pdf Any help would be great

Was one of my earlier ideas based on a design that left out the outriggers for a design that was attached to the backing by all three points was the best luyck Ive had with the design so far, Im stepping out to get a T-Square so I can do straight lines properly My own attempts at the paper phase The hardest part in the leather phase seems to be getting the outriggers just the correct shape otherwise (as in the above picture) they just wont fit. This armor was originally iron and copper by the way (as far as Ive read) so it SHOULD be more flexible in water hardened leather than it originally was. A point to my ability: I am an extreme novice. I have four bracers under my belt and thats it XD I set my sights at making a pair of bracers (one flopped, three survive) and with a little instruction from someone here (http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showuser=15001) Im callin him out as he's been such a help, I made the following: (not my tooling) With laces Left to right, my first attempt (that failed, Im planninmg on remaking it in Shanwen kia as with the scales you wone see the errors of the original attempt at tooling), my second attempt (friend's tooling), my third (friction wand for a Harry Potter Death Eater wand on the top, Stap attaching system on bottom), and my latest, My first attempt at tooling (the bumpy deatail was intended as it looks like pebbled snake skin) The tooling bracer has the bottom as below (boy was that a pain to stitch) The Wand holder bracer looks like this (cause I messed up and had to go with plan : Now I include all that not to show off, just to show how far I am in my progression. To show what I know how to do I guess. And yes, it may be insane to tackle such an advanced project this early in my learning, but thats how my creation process works. Throw myself at the project, and if I fail, learn how not to fail, then throw myself again, till I overcome it. I'm currently trying to make greaves next (while I work on the problem of the scales)

Ill give it a try and bew back with pictures/results

Im looking to make this style armor in leather and bake or wax hardening the leather to make it hard. http://www.armourarchive.org/essays/Shanwenkia.pdf For those who dont know what it is or looks like. Im especially enthused being that noone really knows what it looks like so its not like I can really screw it up. That said, Does ANYONE know the dimensions of this type of scale where I can get it to fit the way its supposed to? Thats the trick that Im finding hard to do so far. Im using around 6 oz leather (maybe lighter) the guy at Tandy said it was good for "screwing around" with as its so light (but he never gave me a weight). But it is extremely hard (impossible from what Ive seen) to get the leather to weave the way it is supposed to if the dimensions are off. Any help would be amazing

Do you just acrylic resolene the outside? Or do you do the inside as well? Ive read places where people suggest the inside to avoid sweat getting into the leather. My project for reference

How do you read said patterns XD

There dont seem to be any guides that I can find to make them http://www.geocities.ws/craiggoetz/leather/bracer_tutorial.htm was an amazing tutorial once I understood it lol

Im looking to continue my leatherworking, having made bracers with trying to make a pair of greaves (shin armor). Does anyone know of a guide I can use?

Just on the surface, its very small, I thought it was a scratch at first It was dyed and molded wet. Its just dyed, I oiled it today with olive oil, havent sealed it yet.

http://i.imgur.com/iIbw5iN.jpg Though I do have a problem http://i.imgur.com/QUSV0yJ.jpg Small cracks formed on the bend on one of the bracers O.o How do I fix it? I put some olive oil on it today

I wet the leather before bending it, everything I did with the other bracer, but this one is starting to crack. I put a light coating of olive oil all over it hoping it will stall any more from appearing. ARRRG -.- how do I fix it O.o

Friend of mine stamped it by hand and free handed the rest http://i.imgur.com/tB3fVc0.jpg Finished bracer (wand holder) http://i.imgur.com/A8acwxX.jpg Finished Bracer (the other one) and yeah its a Death Eater symbol

Ive gotten a lot of advice so far And other than buffing to a nice shine the bracers am all but done. Ill post pictures of the thing when Im completely done to get the full effect. Thanks to all who contributed XD As for the others Im going with, Im the only one in my group cosplaying HP. Theres actually only one other person I know cosplaying at all and she's doing Wreck it Wralph - vannellope

Yep, Camano is great XD

Yeah sorry, should have said what I was making -.- Bracers Thats it drying from the dye

It says spray, thought that meant with a spray bottle, but now Im seeing people were talking about airbrushes. How do you do it by hand?

ah, I get it, the long strap goes on one side, then theres a smaller one on the other side that attaches to the buckle

I have 6 1/2" Center bar buckles and I want to use them instead of eyelets and laces on my bracers. The professional at Tandy that I talked to said to make a strap (excuse the crude drawing, Im bad in paint) http://i.imgur.com/270qviX.jpg The bottom being the part you attach and sew to one side of the bracer, the top being the part that goes through the buckle to secure it. But how do you attach the buckle? I tried googling it but all I come up with are stupid WoW questions

My first ever work in leather (thanks to Camano Ridge for all your help so far): http://imgur.com/a/bTl0q#0 And the bracers Im making with it: http://imgur.com/a/Pu94t#0