Khal Drogo

[Skxawng]

Long overdue update!
Despite a busy life I've been working somewhat diligently towards completing the girdle first. I've punched all of the holes needed, and as you can see below experimented with the stitching.



I need to buy some leather lace, as well as some buckle ends for the belts, and then I'll be basically ready to dye the leather, and finish it. I'm totally stoked

Next up is the Arakh, which I've been honing down more and more. It looks a bit rough currently but is a lot more smooth and finished than the photo shows.



You can see the knife is more or less close to being completed ... I still have to buy filler so I can make the blade smooth enough to look like metal once the silver coat is applied. Next is the armband, waiting to be dyed, and tied together, and attached to a more loose, low ounce piece of leather.

In addition to all that, I've started to think about the leather pants, and how I'm going to manage that.  As luck would have it, today when I was dropping off my rent check I spied by a dumpster a chair that was upholstered with leather. Checking it out I noted that it was broken, but still in halfway decent shape.

Naturally I drove home and got my compound bow, and while ghost-riding my car drove by and nailed the beast just behind its front haunches. It didn't want to part with this world, so I had to nail it again before I reigned in my steed and performed the coup de grace.  With deft hands I flayed its fallen body, making quick, skillful cuts in the right areas to let the hide be removed easily from the corpse.

The chair yielded what would appear to be just enough material to make the pants, and even better, despite the fact that it was finished, it would appear that the leather can be dyed easily.  It may not be one large solid piece to be divided up into the pants pattern, but ultimately its an all in all good solution that just happened to drop from the sky.

[ingsve]

The pants Drogo wore were really cool. Jason Momoa thought so too so he begged the costume department for him to keep them and they allowed it so he is the only one who has gotten to keep any of their wardrope it seems.

[Hrakkar]

Lucky find! I'm guesing that the leather from that chair was supple, so it should work well for the intended purpose.

I did a little research some time last week, and found that there are a lot of cultures that used swords with more than a little curve to them. There was one but culture that used a sword as curved as the arakh. The author of the book reported that it was sharp on the inner edge. It was not a given much in the way of good comments, including that it was hard to draw and return to the scabbard. The Dothraki version is sharp on the outside edge, which is more useful, but it removes much of the advantage of the curve. (I still like straight broadswords the best.)

[Skxawng]

The pants Drogo wore were really cool. Jason Momoa thought so too so he begged the costume department for him to keep them and they allowed it so he is the only one who has gotten to keep any of their wardrope it seems.

Yeah they were. Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to replicate them with as much detail as I would like ... in the show the pants still have fur in patches that don't usually receive wear and tear, and are very clearly only a few seams. Interestingly, hair-on cowhide is more expensive than leather, (substantially so) so I'll only be able to have a couple bits of that.  The resulting pants from my 'harvested' leather is going to be a lot more riddled with segments, which might ultimately be pretty cool, so who knows.

Lucky find! I'm guesing that the leather from that chair was supple, so it should work well for the intended purpose.

I did a little research some time last week, and found that there are a lot of cultures that used swords with more than a little curve to them. There was one but culture that used a sword as curved as the arakh. The author of the book reported that it was sharp on the inner edge. It was not a given much in the way of good comments, including that it was hard to draw and return to the scabbard. The Dothraki version is sharp on the outside edge, which is more useful, but it removes much of the advantage of the curve. (I still like straight broadswords the best.)

Yeah the chair leather is indeed quite soft and supple. It stiffens slighty when I applied the dye on some test strips, but I have confidence that a little bit of working and wear will get it soft again.

From what I can tell about the dothraki arakh, is that the inside (on the larger ones at least) is as sharp as the outside. Furthermore, they don't carry them around in scabbards, appearing to instead favor a sort of slipknot attachment to their saddles.  My current arakh is a lot of fun to swing around though

[ingsve]

From what I can tell about the dothraki arakh, is that the inside (on the larger ones at least) is as sharp as the outside. Furthermore, they don't carry them around in scabbards, appearing to instead favor a sort of slipknot attachment to their saddles.  My current arakh is a lot of fun to swing around though

During the fight in episode 9 you can see Qotho swinging the arakh with the inside blade at Jorah. This is when it gets stuck on Jorah's armor. I'm not sure if he's attempting a cut with the edge of the blade or if he was trying to use the tip of the arakh more like a pick axe.

[ValekLost]

Qotho, however, cut Jorah's face with the outside edge.
But, it's also true that during the wedding feast in the really first episode, while the 2 random Dothraki were fighting for the dancer, the winner ripped the belly of the other with the inner edge.

In my opinion it would be hard to have a weapon with only a sharp edge, given that in battle there are situations in which you can use both edges, for attacks and defence as well, so, I believe arakhs have both edges sharp. Maybe the inner one is less sharp than the other one O.o

[Hrakkar]

Qotho, however, cut Jorah's face with the outside edge.
But, it's also true that during the wedding feast in the really first episode, while the 2 random Dothraki were fighting for the dancer, the winner ripped the belly of the other with the inner edge.

In my opinion it would be hard to have a weapon with only a sharp edge, given that in battle there are situations in which you can use both edges, for attacks and defence as well, so, I believe arakhs have both edges sharp. Maybe the inner one is less sharp than the other one O.o

It seems to me that if you are going to make both edges sharp, you would make both edges more or less equally sharp. There is no advantage I can think of to having one edge sharper than the other. That said, someone more knowledgable than I in the art of using a sword says that you don't want a sword to be too sharp, lest it hang up in a partly cut-through bone. He suggested that soldiers would sharpen their swords by dragging them over river rock, and this provided the right amount of edge for the job.

Maybe some time when I get a chance to butcher a big animal for the cats, I will try to see what a sword with a modestly sharp edge can do.

If they are simply carrying the arakh loose on their saddles (need to watch the show!), it seems to me that it would be really easy to injure horse or rider with such a loose blade. Perhaps it is only modestly sharp, and gets its effectiveness from a good arakh-weilder.

This might be a bit much for this project, but have you considered tanning your own leather? It is a challenging process (and easier with modern chemistries), but is certainly doable.

[Skxawng]

This might be a bit much for this project, but have you considered tanning your own leather? It is a challenging process (and easier with modern chemistries), but is certainly doable.

I would really love to learn how to do this, but I don't really have the time, nor the required nearby facilities to help with this.  If I had a garage I'd hunt during fall and learn on a deer. For now, though, leather must be bought!!


update:

I've been sick the last few days, and that coupled with an injury has got me frustrated because I can't work out, and I need bigger pecs!  However since I've started this I've lost about 10 lbs so I'm happy.  Being sick, however, I spent some time this weekend working on the arm band, and experimenting with dye. The results are pretty good!





Clearly some work is yet to be done here.  I've gotta finish dying up the edges, and the man who's instructing me on leatherworking has stated that after waxing the leather, adding 'antiquing' dye thats been diluted all of those edges and bright spots will be covered up. He also recommended that I pull it tight over some wood and slash at the whole affair lightly with a knife a few times to simulate combat damage. As the leather is pretty thin, I worry about marring it to destruction.  I'm also slightly worried that its a bit too red ... though that only appears to be the case under incandescent light and direct sunlight.  I recently purchased some more dye - this time black - and will be experimenting with adding more dark to leather before I go to dye the primary girdle. I've also attached a bit of pigskin leather to the interior, which needs to be worn down a bit, and possibly dyed itself to match the feel of the latticed part.  A tshirt that has been cut into long strips attaches this to my arm rather snugly - this is but a placeholder until I purchase some more leather.

Today I also received 3 bridle strap buckles, which will serve to attach the girdle to me before the corset style lacing goes over. This should allow me a good deal of adjustability, both for comfort and good fit. Once this has all been completed and installed, I'll be ready to dye and more or less finish! I'm so excited!

I've also begun  to re-carve the wedding belt, this time in 'Hard' Chavant NSP, which has proven to be more flexible than its 'medium counterpart' -- if at any point I find it too hard, a quick blast of a heatgun will get it to medium, another to soft. And its hard enough to allow for very fine details, should I want them.  Unfortunately the only picture I have so far is the 1/2 completed 'medium' version and its 'hard' counterpart plug before I started carving.

I've also begun to experiment with resin a little. Nothing too crazy, as of yet. I simply started with a poured coat of 15$ resin i bought at Home Depot over the blade as a way of filling the wood and a method of getting a very very smooth coat. If the spray enamel is going to work I'll need the surface as smooth as possible.  That said resin seems to be very very promising as a method of forming surface. Curing in about 2 hours I was able to sand within the day, and while the surface isn't perhaps rock solid, its still very durable. The one drawback it seems is when I blow through while sanding and go down to the wood - then it starts to flake off.  However, I also found that it bonds seamlessly to the Apoxie sculpt, which means a lot less sanding for me, I'm guessing, as the thick resin might fill the cracks and crags of 80-120 grit sandpaper and leave a very smooth surface. Tonight I'll be experimenting by coating the handle/hilt end.


- - - -


Finally got everything laid out like I wanted it, so I went ahead and dyed the girdle. I'm pretty happy to see that the belts  match the patches of leather pretty well.  After attempting to lace up the central star shapes, I found that the holes were too small to accomodate the thickness of the lace.



So I went to home depot to pick up a grommit punch that was 1/2" thickness. It seemed too small, so I also picked up a 10' pole of 1/2" conduit pipe.  I was right that it was too small, so I took the pipe, cut off about 4 inches, and used a bastard file to sharpen one end. Worked Perfectly!



I also took the time to re-lace everything together (with the exceptions of the star centers, as I need to re-punch a few holes, and dye some more lace before I can actually thread them. After that I'll be using a friend to help put the holes in the adjustable belts so that I can get a good fit on the body.

Here's where its at now:





After all that is completed, all thats left to do is apply a finish to the leather, and perhaps add a softener to it to really make it supple, and its done!

I've also halted the production of the Arakh, sadly, as Its not an integral part of the outfit.  I'll finish it out later, but for now the other stuff is more important

[Hrakkar]

Looking very nice! I might just copy that arm guard design for my  ancient Celtic outfit. Perhaps not perfectly authentic, but looks to be very useable and effective.

If you haven't, you might check out Van Dyke's Taxidermy supply for casting resins and epoxies. They have many different grades of this kind of material.

[alegra]

While I hate all the leather and animal material happening here (vegan) I love the concept! Totally into themeing it up and going Dothraki!

[ybenzine]

Awesome work, Skxawng. I am actually in the preliminary stages of making a Khal Drogo costume for halloween as well. I was thinking of using Etsy to have the belt and wrist guards made, but seeing what you've done is making me wonder if I wouldn't be better off designing the costume myself. I think the trickiest bit will be the golden horses belt worn by Khal Drogo during the wedding. I think it's a really cool addition to the costume, but it may be too tricky to pull off.

For other aspects, I've bought a 60" long wig on Amazon, a pirate's beard, and some miniature brass and silver bells to put in the wig (in the book, this is mentioned more than once that Drogo has bells in his hair and I thought it would make a nice touch anyway). Also bought some blue body paint and a Raccoon Tail Faux Fur Pillow Cover to use as a pelt under the belt (sort of like a loin cloth). So really, what's left is the hard part - the leather work and the jewelry.

Thanks for sharing these, they'll be helpful in the making of my own costume. I also plan on being able to communicate in Dothrak as much as I can, and I'm going to go P90X over the next three months and I should be able to bulk up enough by Halloween.

Glad to know there are others out there so dedicated; and I thought I was getting an early start! You're an inspiration!

[Hrakkar]

I wonder if that wig with the long tail would be good for making a Na'vi tswin?

[Big Dork]

This is awesome. I decided a few months ago that I would also be Khal Drogo for Halloween. Although my costume will not be quite this awesome, I too have been growing out my hair and beard, and working out 6 times a week to put some mass on. Glad to see some other people have the same dedication. I'll post some pics once I get it all together. I plan to do a dry-run of the costume at the rennfest in early October. I guess I need to start brushing up on my Dothraki.

[ValekLost]

If someone already has medium/long hair, I think Kanekalon fiber could be a cheap solution.
It's a japanese fiber of fake hair, low fire-sensibile and really easy to use/comb/brush (I used it to do something DIY).
It's usually used (sorry for the words-trick ) to do fake dreads/dreadfalls and not only in the dark/cybergoth/cyber fashion but also for "normal" hair extensions.

Braiding the hair or tying them up (and tying the fake braid/ponytail with the real ones) make easy to add more hair if one pack is not enough (though insider they're really a lot!), either if a person want the tv-series hairstyle or the books one.

The hair colors are really natural and kanekalon packs are really easy to find around internet, like here

http://www.doctoredlocks.com/catalog/Kanekalon-Jumbo-Braid/.


I quite hate wigs, because if they're not of very high quality they're horrible to see

[Daenerys]

The details in your costume are fabulous!!
I hope you update us soon on your progress.
Now I am inspired to make the Khaleesi outfits!