Latest blacksmithing projet - Maker's Marks and Gravers

Date: 2010-07: Graver - Engraving Tool - U Gouge (Breadth)

Another project born of necessity. I took a class on how to make a touch mark. To make the touch mark we first had to make our own engraving tool. I created this U gouge fron an old allen wrench. The wrench was ground down and shaped and then sharpened on a stone wheel. The handle was made from a peg from a coat rack. The brass ring was made from a gas ftting from a hardware store.

Date: 2010-07: Graver - Engraving Tool - V Gouge (Breadth)

Another project born of necessity. I took a class on how to make a touch mark. To make the touch mark we first had to make our own engraving tool. I created this V gouge fron an old metal file. It was ground down and polished and then mounted into a woodent handle.

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Date: 2010-07: Blacksmithing Touch Mark-Dove (Breadth)
The intent of this item was to be a similar style of an item found in the Mastermyr collection. I wanted to make a touch mark to use for marking leather goods, armor and blacksmithing projects. This maker's mark is a small dove which is part of my heraldic device. I am known as Ercc Glaison, of the Three Doves and so I wanted to be able to stamp my projects with either my initials or three doves. While this project had very little forging work, it was created as part of a blacksmithing class I took.

Date: 2010-07: Blacksmithing Touch Mark-Initials (Breadth)

The intent of this item was to be a similar style of an item found in the Mastermyr collection. I wanted to make a touch mark to use for marking leather goods, armor and blacksmithing projects. This maker's mark is a set of initials (EG3D). I am known as Ercc Glaison, of the Three Doves and so I wanted to be able to stamp my projects with either my initials or three doves. While this project had very little forging work, it was created as part of a blacksmithing class I took.

Finally I have period looking shoes

Date: 2010-07: Period Shoes Made From Recycled Modern Shoes (Breadth and Depth)
This is my first attempt at acquiring period shoes. My outfits may look OK, but the shoes seem to kill the whole look. These are period looking shoes which were created using a pair of old shoes purchased from Salvation Army. These shoes seemed perfect for the task. They have all leather uppers stitched to leather and wooden soles. I cut out a section of each of the sides of the shoes to resemble a more period look. I made "laces" from some silk which matched the color of the outfit which they would be worn with.

The shoes were in really good shape when I got them for $3.00 from Salvation Army. I sketched a line on the shoes where I planned to remove some leather. The uppers were made from two layers of leather. After I cut the section out from the sides of the shoes and removed the portion where the laces used to go, I hand stitched the leather back together. I used a button hole stitch around all the raw edges by simply hand stitching with a leather needle. Previously I had never used a leather needle to sew. I've always used a round needle of heavy gauge. One day while browsing at Tandy I came across the leather hand sewing needles. From a distance the look the same, but up close you can see that they have a triangle shaped point which is very sharp along the edges. I had absolutely no problem pushing the needle through rather heavy leather. I never had to even use pliers, which I've always done in the past. Well worth the money for the needles. By the way, the "leather needles" they sell at Wal-mart.... nah. It's not the same thing. They may look similar, but those work better on canvas or pre-punched holes. The small hand sewing leather needle didn't require any pre-punching.

New skirts and shirts done for the girls.

Finally completed my girls new outfits for this year.

The completed outfit consists of a hat, linen shirt, linen reversible bodice and skirt. I used handmade hooks and eyes for the skirt closures and bras rings for all the lacing. the skirts have brass rings which allow me to lace the skirt to the bodice which make the outfit more durable for 8 year old use. Now that Mommy has seen the girls in their cute outfits, she'd like one to match too. Well, that wasn't on the list of projects... yet.

Date: 2010-07: Child's Linen Lace Trimmed Shirt with no Collar (Mimi) (Depth)

This item is designed for use by an eight year old girl. My primary concern is for comfort and appearance and not function or period accuracy. My children love to go to renfaires and love to dress up. I needed to make this item look "period" while being as comfortable as possible. The shirt was constructed of an embroidered linen and cotton lace. It was machine sewn.



Date: 2010-07: Child's Linen Lace Trimmed Shirt with no Collar (Nao) (Depth)

This item is designed for use by an eight year old girl. My primary concern is for comfort and appearance and not function or period accuracy. My children love to go to renfaires and love to dress up. I needed to make this item look "period" while being as comfortable as possible. The shirt was constructed of an embroidered linen and cotton lace. It was machine sewn.



Date: 2010-07: Child's Skirt Blue Skirt (Depth)

This item is designed for use by an eight year old girl. My primary concern is for comfort and appearance and not function or period accuracy. My children love to go to renfaires and love to dress up. I needed to make this item look "period" while being as comfortable as possible. The skirt was constructed of a medium weight linen and machine sewn.

Date: 2010-07: Child's Skirt Green Skirt (Depth)
This item is designed for use by an eight year old girl. My primary concern is for comfort and appearance and not function or period accuracy. My children love to go to renfaires and love to dress up. I needed to make this item look "period" while being as comfortable as possible. The skirt was constructed of a medium weight linen and machine sewn.

Bodices done

Been a big week.  I've gotten quite a few projects comple in the last 10 days or so.
I haven't had time to write them all up, and will get to it later next week I hope.  I'm planning on going to an event this Saturday and to the Ren Faire on Sunday so I have a ton of stuff I wanted done.
Here's the details on the two bodices I finished last night at 3:00 AM!

Date: 2010-07Child's Reversable Bodice (Pink, Yellow and Green)

This item is designed for use by a child. My primary concern is for comfort and appearance and not period accuracy. My children love to go to renfaires and love to dress up. I needed to make this item look "period" while being as comfortable as possible. I made this bodice to be reversible since I have twin girls. Sometimes they like to dress alike and sometimes they don't. The bodice is pink on one side and yellow on the other. It was constructed with small rings on the sides so that I could tie it to the skirt. The bodice has a laced back and all the gromet holes were hand stitched.

Date: 2010-07Child's Reversable Bodice (Pink, Yellow and Blue)

This item is designed for use by a child. My primary concern is for comfort and appearance and not period accuracy. My children love to go to renfaires and love to dress up. I needed to make this item look "period" while being as comfortable as possible. I made this bodice to be reversible since I have twin girls. Sometimes they like to dress alike and sometimes they don't. The bodice is pink on one side and yellow on the other. It was constructed with small rings on the sides so that I could tie it to the skirt. The bodice has a laced back and all the gromet holes were hand stitched.

Small Leather Draw String Pouch (For Bees Wax)

This is a small leather pouch for my sewing kit, to keep the bees wax from melting all over everything. This pouch was made from lamb skin. This seems rather simple but took quite a bit longer than I would have liked. I made three attempts before coming up with a pouch I liked. I started by cutting some leather into three long thin strips and then braiding them. I was hoping to use a braided leather line for the pouch closure. That's the portion which took the most time. I tried three differant weight leathers before I found the one I liked. When I decided on the weight leather and had the braided line, I simply cut a circle of leather of the same material and then punched holes along the endge of the circle. I wove the braided line through the holes to complete the pouch.