Re: Work In Progress--Deryni Action Figure Project (was Duncan Action Figure)

[DesertRose]

If I recall correctly, the Deryni aura is usually concentrated about the head and possibly neck and not a full body aura anyway.

Looks really cool, Evie. 

[Evie]

Untitled by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Woohoo!  FedEx just delivered Helena's new body double!  Her eyes look a bit vacant, but that's fine, since I'm planning on popping off that little head and replacing it with Helena's anyway.  I may repaint this one's eyes and put it on Helena's current Liv body, though, if they're compatible.  I wanted Helena to have better articulation, and this pale skintone will hopefully be a near match for her head if not a perfect one.  I don't plan to get action figure bodies for all my ladies, but if I find an affordable one in a good skintone for Richenda, I'd like to rebody her as well someday.  The Liv bodies pose well enough for the other ladies, but it's nice to be able to stand a figure up without having to use a doll stand, so having a few characters that stand easily on their own will reduce the number of seated poses or concealed stands I'm forced to use.

Now to get her into some proper Schola robes before Bishop Duncan notices his Schola magistra flashing all that cleavage! 

[Evie]

And here she is with her new body!


Helena's new body by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

The color match turned out to be nearly spot on...even closer than Duncan's.  You can't really see a difference in this photo thanks to the flash.  In person, I can see an extremely slight difference, but the body is paler than the face, so I can live with that.


Now she needs a permanent wardrobe by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Now that she has a permanent body, I can finally stop giving her Duncan's hand-me-down robe and sew one that fits her better, and not like a tent!


Court gown by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

This was my first attempt at a Court gown, and I originally made it for Richenda.  However, I cut the neck opening too big for Richenda's slight frame, and so the gown looked like a wardrobe malfunction just waiting to happen.  I had to pair it with an undergown to make it work, but since I didn't like the look of that as much, and I didn't like how the sleeve lining turned out, it's been sitting in a bag of extra clothes most of the time since then.  Tonight I decided to try it out on Helena.  It's still quite low cut, but at least she's got enough curves to make the gown work for her, and she's not in nearly as much danger of showing off more than she means to as Richenda was in this gown.


Bliaut and undergown trial fit by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

This bliaut style gowns I made using a Barbie pattern will still fit Helena's new body, but it is a rather snug fit, especially in the sleeves.  To put the gown on her, I had to take off her hands first, and even then the arms were just barely slender enough to go through the sleeves.  Once they were through and her hands were replaced, though, I was able to get the undergown to snap in back.  (I haven't attached snaps to the bliaut yet.)  I think if I use this pattern to make a gown specifically for Helena, I'll add another quarter inch of seam allowance to the side seams and see if that helps.

And because I know you are probably wondering where my snoopervisor is.... 

[Jerusha]

That initial picture of Helena's new body nearly sent me into shock! 

I like the head, though.  She could make a nice lady in waiting in the background of a scene.  Provided its not on a stick.   

[Evie]

The original head's neck opening is just a bit too small to fit over the Liv body neck post, even after heating it, so I will either need to get her an Obitsu body or wait until I can either enlarge the head hole or file down the neck post in some way.  I don't own a dremel tool, or that would be quick work, but I might be able to either sand it down or use an X-acto knife to pare away some of the vinyl to enlarge the head opening.  I agree she'd make a nice lady-in-waiting, at least once I repaint her eyes so she looks less stoned.   

[DesertRose]

Does marijuana exist in the Eleven Kingdoms? 

There's a question for KK, LOL.

[Evie]

Maybe she just had too much Vezairi port?   

[DesertRose]

Maybe so. 

[Elkhound]

Does marijuana exist in the Eleven Kingdoms? 

There's a question for KK, LOL.

There have been, IIRC, references to hemp, but it would have been what we call "industrial hemp"--but if we have the one, we have the other. 

[Evie]

OK, so remember that brigandine armor I started at the last SCA event?  Well, here's even more I've added to that project.

A brig is properly worn over chainmail, but since I would like to outfit all of my knights, not just one, I didn't want to make 1:6 chainmail the hard way with miniature metal links.  I looked for pre-linked chainmail "fabric" online, but the cost was prohibitive (something like one foot of the ring mesh for around $40, IIRC?), and the smallest scale rings were still slightly large for the purpose.  Then I tried my hand at crocheting some with steel gray crochet thread.  I discovered that I truly suck at crochet.  So I figured I'd just use a knit fabric for the chain mail, and if I got really lucky, I might find suitable fabric in a black-and-silver knit like the stuff that Ignite uses for their medieval action figure chainmail.  So I started an eBay search for something suitable, and when I tried "mesh" as a keyword rather than "knit," I came upon this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jet-Black-MilitaryTactical-Mesh-Poly-heavy-weight-fabric-by-the-yard-60-61-/221208559533?pt=US_Fabric&hash=item33810ebfad

*Insert picture of Evie doing a happy dance here

When it arrived, I discovered that it doesn't have that nice steely, grayish color that you see in the flash photos on the eBay listing.  It truly is "jet black."  This seller also happens to sell a gray color mesh, but as it turned out, buying the black ended up being a very happy accident.  I decided to paint the surface of the mesh with silver acrylic paint and then seal it with clear sealer to avoid any paint rub-off on my figures or their clothing.  Here is the result of my initial attempt:


Black mesh armor after first wash of silver acrylic paint by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

My initial wash of paint was too thinned with water, which resulted on very little coverage.  (It looks more silver in this photo than it actually was due to the flash reflecting off the silver pigment.)  I was about to give up on this idea and look into using something like silver Rub n Buff instead when it occurred to me that maybe I had thinned the paint too much, and that a thicker paint drybrushed onto the surface might result in better coverage.  I tried this on a scrap and liked the result, so subsequent layers of only slightly thinned silver acrylic went on next.  I dipped the tip of the brush into the paint, swiped it across a paper towel a time or two, then went back over the mail for a second coat.  That was an immediate improvement, so I went back and did it a third time.  Each addition of new paint made the coverage more even.  By the end, I figured out I didn't even have to thin my paint or even wipe the excess off on the paper towel; simply dipping the brush into water before picking up a dab of paint on it and then brushing it across the surface of the mesh worked wonderfully. 

I'm sorry that I don't have pictures of these intermediate steps, but I was too busy painting, plus my battery was nearly dead. Anyway, once the last coat of paint (3 or 4 in all) was fully dry, I took it outside and used a spray sealer to clear coat the mesh to ensure (hopefully!) that the paint won't rub off.  I had to wait for the sealer to dry fully before assembling the armor.  My first go-round, I tried to sew it down each side from sleeves to slightly below the hips, using a whipstitch to avoid a bulky seam.  I just butted the fabric together cut end to cut end and stitched it with black thread, wanting it to look more like the ends were linked together rather than leaving an obvious seam.  This mesh doesn't fray and doesn't require hemming, so sewing the side seam was just a matter of stitching over the edges of fabric through the little holes in the mesh.  I only did one side and then did a trial fit on a body, which is when I discovered that the mesh is too stiff to allow for attached sleeves.  So I cut those off as separate armor pieces.  The torso piece also needed wider arm openings, so I adjusted that, and then I realized it needed to fit more tightly to the body as well.  If I sewed both seams shut on a narrower hauberk, I wouldn't be able to get the figure into it unless I cut some long front or rear opening which would subsequently need to be laced up as well.  So instead, I just overlapped the front panel over the rear panel, since this hauberk will be worn underneath a brigandine and/or a surcoat anyway, which will hopefully disguise the lack of a side seam. 

After making that discovery, I snipped out the side stitches I'd already made, narrowed both sleeve pieces just a tad, and put the chainmail back on my figure, this time adding Duncan's new brigandine on top of it all.  Here's how it looks thus far:


Prince Nigel shows off the new armor by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

This is Prince Nigel Haldane, the Iron Duke of Gwynedd, or at least he will be once he gets his makeover, so I figured he'd be a great test model for this project.  As you can see, he needs some spaulders for shoulder protection, not to mention other pieces to cover other vulnerable areas, but the armor is beginning to take shape.  My husband suggest a clever source for the spaulders that I hope to try once I drain the two-liter bottle of cola I've got in the kitchen.  The bottle has intriguing knobby bits on the bottom of it that I'm hoping can be cut off and turned into shoulder armor and maybe knee cops as well.


The Iron Duke by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Here is a closer look at chainmail and brigandine.  The brig isn't tightened as snugly as it could be, but I didn't want to cut a new hole in the strap in back just yet, since this isn't the figure who will end up wearing this brigandine on a permanent basis. Also, I made the buckle myself and I don't know how well it will hold up to high tension.  So the brig is only loosely buckled in place.


Handmade buckle by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Here is that buckle I just mentioned.  It is just some brass wire bent with needlenose pliers into a D shape, with the overlapping bits at the straight edge of the D.  I found some brass eyelet pins in the jewelry findings section of Michaels that have a small round eyelet on one end and then a straight, blunt pin that extends from that.  I wiggled the eyelet through one of the ends of the D-ring wire, used the pliers to squeeze the two straight bits together as closely as I could, slid the eyelet over both to hold them together, and then cut a teeny slit about a half inch from one end of my strap.  I stuck the pin through that slit and folded the excess bit of strap underneath, gluing it in place after checking to make sure the pin was lying over the curve of the D ring rather than underneath it.  I also inserted two brass "rivet" pins (applique pins) through the glued end of the strap to help further anchor it in place (and also give it a riveted on look rather than it being an obvious glue-on piece).  I secured the other strap to the other side the same way, and once all the glue was dry, I cut the long end of the buckle pin short (almost too short, really--next time I'll make sure it protrudes a little more past the curve of the buckle), checked the fit, and made a hole in the strap for the buckle pin to go through.  It was easy enough to make, just super fiddly work, and using strong reading glasses helps a lot!

So anyway, I'll add more photos when there are more bits to add, and once Nigel has a full suit of armor, I'll use this set as my pattern for making more sets for the rest of Gwynedd's knights.

(And for those of you looking for a cat appearance in my photos, Luke isn't allowed outside, but he left a cat hair on that brigandine to show it's been snoopervised!)

[Evie]

Ever since I started making 1:6 medieval figures, trying to keep proper headgear on my ladies has been a major headache for me.  Not to mention for them also, since this usually involved having to stick a straight pin into their little vinyl heads!      I wanted to find some better solution for this problem.   Looking at various wimple styles online, I found one that is essentially a tapered tube that is pulled on over the head with the face peeking through the narrow end, and the wider end draped over the shoulders.  I decided to improvise something along those lines for 1:6 scale use.  While I am not aware of any period documentation for wimples cut and sewn in that style, I'm willing to try anything that will allow for 1:6 head coverings that aren't pinned to a figure's scalp. 


New wimple with veil by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

So here is Helena wearing the new wimple, with a veil pinned to the wimple rather than through her head.  I used applique pins because they fit in better with this scale.  So far, she has managed to keep her headgear on for two days without any of it slipping, even when held upside down and shaken gently.  Works for me!


New wimple with veil by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Here is a close-up of of the wimple and veil.  After I sewed all of the seams on the conical tube that forms the wimple, I gathered the front seam so it would drape nicely underneath her chin.  In this shot, you can see one of the applique pins I used as a veil pin to secure the veil to the wimple underneath.  The wimple could also be worn alone; without the veil draped over it, it looks like a hood with soft gathers in front.


New wimple with veil by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Here is a front view of the wimple and veil.  There are three veil pins securing the veil to the wimple--one on each side and one at the top of her head, sandwiched between layers at the front edge to help conceal it.  This fabric is prone to fraying, so after Fray-Checking the edges, I gave the top and bottom edges a rolled hem and whipstitched it into place.  The front seam is finished with a slight variation of a flat-felled seam (think of the side seams in a pair of jeans) so that all raw edges are folded into the seam.  The running stitches used to gather the front of the wimple are sewn through this seam from the inside and aren't visible on the outside.


Wimple pattern (not to scale) by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Here's a rough sketch of the wimple pattern I created for my ladies.  Hopefully the captions are self-explanatory.

[Jerusha]

Very nicely done, and I'm sure your ladies appreciate not having pins stuck into their heads to hold the headgear in place!  Of course, being held upside down and gently shaken may have been a bit dismaying.     On the other hand, Helena has been known to stand on her head.   

[Evie]

I believe that was Grub, although in this new body, Helena could probably do so too now.  Let's find out....

No, on second thought, given her full skirt and lack of undergarments beneath them, let's not!   

[Laurna]

  I am certain Helena very much appreciates not having pins stuck in her head, And now she is very beautifully attired in her new veil and wimple.  Looks great.  And the young lady does not need to stand on her head.  However, put her on a R'Kassain stallion with Duncan( before a high speed fan) to test the endurance of her new head gear while riding.

[Evie]

LOL!  Now there's a thought!  I'll need to find a short enough fan, and they'll need to ride bareback, since I haven't made medieval saddles yet....