Ren Faire Armor Set - holy cow it's a lot of work

[donohueleather]

So I decided after going to the Renaissance fair a few weeks ago and seeing hat was on display by the vendors, I wanted to put an armor set together for the next go around.

 

Talk about stepping squarely outside my experience zone.  I had no idea how much time this project was going to consume. (I think I'm somewhere around 50-60hrs in at this point)

 

Annnywho, I launched into the project straight away following the fair and I have the feeling I'll continually be adding to / tweaking / re-building bits all the way up to the next fair (or other excuse to wear the armor)

 

As for the build,  I didn't have much of a starting point other than some hand sketches, youtube, some google searches and looking at some of the posts here for inspiration and some manner of direction ( I guess that was a pretty decent starting point retrospectively). The patterns I worked out on the fly with construction paper and cardboard after measuring all my bits. I guess one benefit of all the stuff being "shipped direct" these days is all the extra cardboard laying around..

Originally I envisioned this as a  "simple" (ish) pattern which articulated segments. (I had no idea at the start how much of a pain this would be).

The build is a mix of 12-14oz skirting and 8-10oz veg. The strapping is all 8oz veg.

The tooling patterns were not really planned initially, I just sort of looked at the pieces in progress and decide they needed "something more". After I tooled the edges I again thought "eh, more!" so I went for the gold metallic paint and touched up some of the tooling to give it some "pop".

Not pictured here (due to size limits) are the Sporran inspired belt pouch I made to match the gear and the tassets. (I'll upload additional photos or links for those.)

I plan on adding some "period correct" garments and footwear to the outfit to finish it out, probably including a leather flask at some point.

 

I have to say, I can fully appreciate the massive price tags on full sets of leather armor at the fair. Knowing what I know now, I think their display prices are woefully underpaying their artisans...

Either way, I had a lot of fun building this set, and I very much look forward to the next fair.

 

**(Full Disclaimer - My shop space is also being used as small person play space - it's freaking wreck down here.. )

 

Edited August 31, 2021 by donohueleather
addition

[donohueleather]

The "Sporran" belt pouch.

[donohueleather]

[PastorBob]

Wow! very impressive. You're right...the gold addition really does make it pop.  Kudos!

[spacedog]

Excellent! The breastplate looks great.

[battlemunky]

Good on you for persevering! It all looks great!

[donohueleather]

Thanks!

[jonlrussell]

Excellent work. I have in my mind that some day I want to try my hand at armor... some day lol

[Jimbob]

Wow. Sooooo much work!! Nicely done!!!

[donohueleather]

Thanks for the feedback! This project just seems to grow and continue to growing. Working on matching drawstring bags, dagger frogs and plan on doing some kind of hooded leather cape (haven't decided on exact design). The plan currently is to have a full set including possibly a wool cloak and leather boots ready by the next Renaissance Faire. But like everything in this craft, the more you do, the more you realize you can do, the more you want to do, and around you go.