Michael Guest

In addition to the price hike, I also have issue with the switch away from square-foot pricing to flat rate for all pieces. I don't buy a lot of leather at a time, because I simply can't afford to, so I am always trying to balance price, quality, and quantity (fortunately, for a lot of what I do, I like having imperfections in my leather). The only reason I go back is due to convenience of location. But I avoid them as much as possible now, which is a shame because I have them to thank for getting me so far along when I first started out.

I downloaded your patterns, and while I haven't yet made anything from them, I am very much grateful to you for saving me the hours of headaches trying to pattern from scratch.

All three are gorgeous pieces.

Very nice. And not a style that I have seen amongst my local medieval enthusiasts. And thank you to the other commenters on the book suggestion.

Thank you muchly for the pattern.

That is a whole lot of questions. Unfortunately, I don't have any answers. I'm responding, because now that I've seen the questions, I want to know the answers as well.

Here are a couple of close-ups of a "scaled" cuirass (chest/torso armour) I'm making for a LARP I play. I'm more eager to show these off than I am waiting for a decent charge on my camera to get some better shots, instead of cellphone pics I uploaded for Instagram. What you're looking at is the upper back with the larger scales on the left/right side of the pic being the spine/middle of the piece. The tooling was done about two years ago on 10oz (I think) leather. The dye was only a couple of days ago. Still needs the top coat... and all the findings, metal plates, spikes, etc. It's slow going 'cause this is for me, so I'm losing money on it.

I second GAP. I'm always looking to add to my knife collection (when money allows - too many expensive hobbies).

Hey Y'all, I am Michael, owner of a (very) small leather & costume company, Commedia dell'Artsy. We (my wife & I - as I said, small) are located in Brampton, just outside of Toronto, Ontario. I have been leatherworking since about 2001, and trying to make money at it since about 2003. After all, as many people have pointed out, it is an expensive hobby. Alas, I am not willing to make the jump to doing it full time, so I have to work it around the schedule of my day job with Outerwall (the guys behind Coinstar & Redbox). I got started through my participation of live action role-playing (LARP) games, and as a result most of my focus has been towards medieval/fantasy armour & accessories. I also make fetish/BDSM gear, such as floggers, collars, and cuffs. There is, after all, a remarkable crossover between the two communities. I found this site in my searches for armour patterns, because adapting existing patterns is so much easier than making them from scratch (usually). I am looking forward to spending far too much time lurking around and soaking up what I can. Right now, the closest I have to a website is my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CommediaDellArtsy Cheers, Mike Guest