Jenny - Thanks! I too am ecstatic about it
Glad to see that you are enjoying leatherwork. I have always enjoyed working with natural materials, like leather, bone, etc. And it is interesting to think all leather is, is animal skin that has been treated such that the 'hydrogen bonding sites' on the skin proteins have been 'capped' chemically in such a way that bacterial enzymes cannot attack the protein. We have super-materials today that have better properties than leather. But for instance, in pipe organ construction, not one artificial material has been found that works as well as leather.
Mì kifkey leNa`vi, fko syaw oe `Eylan Ayfalulukanä.
Ah! Kaltxì! Wild stuff, leather.
Second Update!
Spent a good 5 hours marking out and cutting the leather. I ended up with *just* enough for the belt and his left arm's bracer. I've still got another belly half of thinner leather which I'll be using for lace and other parts. Wouldn't mind having extra, though
After I cut them all out I had to slot them for the 3 cross belts, which was a major pain, but after I put it all together, it was clearly worth it:
(the tied off knots are simply placeholders)
I've still got to punch a LOT of holes for the connective lace, as well as the decorations. From there I also need to figure out how the belt is going to connect to itself - Initially I figured I'd do a corset-style lace up the back (which is I think how they do it in the show, though its hard to tell) but I'm thinking that maybe instead I'll have 3 belt buckles that will be either exposed or hidden. I need to give it some thought, as I want the belt to fit snugly against me. Anyway, spent another few hours beveling the edges of the leather, as well as bending it backwards against the smooth surface to add texture. I'll be ready to dye hopefully in the next week or two.
After that was taken care of I've been primarily working on the Arakh - the long curved sword, that we don't actually see him use, but I figure will be fun to have around. I started out by laminating two pieces of 1 1/2" strips of pinewood together, then cutting them accordingly into pieces to match the curve, and re-connecting them. From there I further cut the shape, and cut the bevel of the blade's edge with a knife and a large wood rasp. Then i started experimenting with Apoxie sculpt and filling spaces, before just adding a large amount to the hilt to make it fit the hand:
Apoxie Sculpt is the graddakh!! After it cures it has the feel of a soft soapstone when further carving into things. The wood rasp smoothes it nicely, and a wood scraper also evenly strips the material away. Its mind blowing stuff, really. Emboldened by the success of the first layer, this morning I added more overtop of the wood on one side, and began to shape the hilt a little further. Its rough currently, but a bit of rasping, sanding and scraping will quickly fix that. I'm looking forward to working tonight:
Furthermore, the blade is starting to feel bulky and heavy, which is exactly what I was hoping for. At this point, I'm wondering if I should even consider re-casting the entire thing in resin, or if I should just focus on working it to a good state with the apoxie sculpt. We'll see what happens when I get to the detail on the hilt ... it may be a job for NSP, in which case I'll definitely need to cast it.
I've also been carving out the wedding belt medallions, as well as experimenting with getting a metallic look that won't easily rub off. Photos of that will come later, as things progress.
