Prototype: Purple Embroidered Tailcoat

It has been some time since I've given news about the Embroidered Tailcoats. Prototypes of them exist in a variety of colours and should hopefully be on the website (both here and Character Kit) in the coming week costing £100-110 each.

This one is in a purple wool with silver embroidery and a silver lining.

More photos of the Purple Embroidered Tailcoat under the cut.

Preview: Embroidered Elven Robes

Due to the nature of the embroiderers and them reluctant to take on any orders that don't involve fewer than a dozen garments, we have been experimenting with designs and have come up with this elven ensemble, drawing quite strongly on elven aesthetic of the Lord of the Rings films. Though as said before, there's something very oriental about the garments and it came easily to people who were accustomed to making tangzhuang.

The whole outfit doesn't really fit me. It's a couple of inches too wide in the shoulders and hangs more than a little oddly. The wide sash (maroon faux silk with a silver white embroidered design) makes the whole thing neater than it really should. The sash is just pinned to me in the photos (being on the large side) but there are snap buttons.

The elven coat is a dark green wool (very much the same lovely medium weight wool as that of the tail coats), though we've also done a couple in a much lighter fabric, a faux silk. It's fully lined in green faux silk and the buttons are small, round and in gunmetal grey, fitting into tiny little satin loops. The stretch velvet robe is unlined (and really quite rough). We've more made it to show the effect of a complete outfit than selling large numbers of them.

And yes, these are indeed more blurry photos. I'm having some problems with the camera battery and long story short, it might be a little while before we're seeing really good photos on the blog again. But hopefully we'll sort this out.

Also, if you have any commissions, I do recommend sending them in the next week or so. The official deadline is the February the 3rd, after that it's very unlikely we'll be able to do any custom work.

If you're interested in our Elven designs, do have a look on the items we have in stock on the Character Kit website. These embroidered coats (sash included) are likely to cost something in the region of £95-115, depending on how the maths works out at the moment. Unfortunately due to how the extra surcharge on single item orders with the embroiderers, custom versions would likely cost about £15 more than the standard.

More photos of the embroidered elven robes under the cut.

Leather Pouches

We appear to have some prototype pouches, though we're still playing around with ideas for the basic shape and insides. These are without compartments, but I'm still relatively keen on the idea of having a slot against the back wall of the pouch for character cards and the like (or out of character stuff, if you're so inclined).

We're consciously trying to step away from standard medieval/renaissance fantasy designs and dabbling in something different. The one on the left is based on a stylised lamassu (winged lion of Mesopotamian mythology) and the one of the right is the Raven stealing the sun.

It is likely that the next batch may wander back towards more classically fantastical designs, but we felt this was a worthwhile foray. The vambraces, however splendidly tooled, haven't sold that well over the last six months, so we're wary of getting too many of these in. That said, we do need some prototypes to at least show what we can do.

Also, Happy New Year!

Return of the Mercenary, Sheer Opulence from the Embroiderers and Some Books

I've again found myself neglecting the blog (and emails! Sorry!) but I am back again, with news and photos and costumes.

The rather magnificent green and silver frock coat to the right is one of the new prototypes we've been working on. The Embroiderers seem to have outdone themselves (though in a tragic twist of fate, they have gone out of business, but their machines - along with all the backups - have been bought up by a new company of embroiderers, so we're still in the game). We're still debating whether or not ornamental buttons should be added to the garment (it closes with hooks and eyes). There are vague plans for the embroidery to appear on other garments and new iterations of the embroidered tailcoat from last year are in the pipeline.

There's another dubiously amusing story of mistakes in colours of thread used, but I'll save that for another day. Suffice to say, if you're in the market for a cut price embroidered doublet, it may soon be your day.

Profound Decisions's Empire is glinting at us on the horizon, and at some point, when more information is available, I intend to do sketches for it (like I did Odyssey). But despite all the speculation, there's really a distinct lack of concrete detail to build costumes from. I've heard things like BBC's Merlin and Camelot being cited as potential sources of inspiration, and the word "coolthentic" has been making its rounds, but it's not quite enough to start me drawing. I want the garments to feel like they are grounded in the culture they are supposedly from (even if I'm building an outfit from tat I already own) and I'm not sure I can quite envision it yet.

I've also managed to raid Hilde Bede College's library back when they were renovating earlier this year, so I am sitting on a small mountain of costume books (though many of them are admittedly ancient and in some ways quite outdated in their research). Flicking through them has been very exciting and maybe eventually some of the new sketches inspired from them will make it onto the blog.

I've been indulging in the simple joy of flicking through all the pretty pictures on the various tumblrs on historical clothing, including Dames a la Mode (fashion plates), OMG that Dress, Impersonating History, Costume Reference (does what it says on the tin), The Ornamented Being (pretty things, mostly Victorian) and My Lovely Petticoat. Especially with the tumblrs with an interest in extant clothing, it gets all terribly modern at times (my interest begins to wane once we hit the 1900s), but it's been an interesting pictorial journey.

In other, other news, I've been playing about with Doll Divine's Tudor Scene Maker. It has an utterly mind-boggling number of options and layers to fiddle about with.

Prototype: Embroidered Tailcoat

Due to the swiftness with which we sold the tailcoat, we never did manage to do photos of this coat beyond running into the garden, hurling the tailcoat on the Proprietor and pointing the camera at him.

The coat is made from a medium weight black wool. Elaborate black embroidery is on the front, cuffs and high collar of the coat. Aside from the tails, the back is plain and dark metal buttons go down the front. The silver faux silk lining has two hidden pockets at the breast.

Looking over the preview of the embroidery, and it really has been significantly more than a week. Many things seem to have gotten in the way. We will reuse the templates of the embroidery, though part of me feels reluctant to do an exactly the same combination of colour and coat shape. Perhaps we can do the silver embroidery on black wool, or perhaps a dark emerald green.

To commission a coat with similar quantities of embroidery from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £120-50.

More photos of the black embroidered tailcoat under the cut.

Exquisite Hand-Tooled Vambraces

Frankly, these are utterly exquisite. I do think our leatherworker has outdone herself this time.

The designs are adapted from stock images, ranging quite widely from celtic beasts from the Book of Kells to heraldic beasts. There are some rather obvious attempts at tapping into recognisable motifs of the various live roleplay settings, including a green scarab bracer for Odyssey's Egypt (unlike real world Egypt, Odyssey's Egypt is rather more keen on green than blue.) There's also a very classical-seeming hippocampus (see left) again for Odyssey and various celtic knot-beasts.

There is a plan taking shape to commission some our local artists like Amy Clarke and Christopher Worth to design such armour for limited runs. Though it is (unsurprisingly) somewhat dependent on how well the vambraces do in the coming months.

And so, the tooled vambraces are finally available at £40 a pair on the Character Kit website.

More photos of the vambraces under the cut.

Prototype: Embroidered Tailcoat Preview

Just got the embroidered pieces from the embroiderers and I'm really very chuffed. It's not yet a wool frock coat with embroidered front, cuffs, collar and so forth, but the pieces that will become it look amazing. We tried to pin the pieces to a mannequin, but it's not particularly informative or impressive, so I'll leave it for the moment.

This is one of the more ambitious prototypes we've been playing around with (between and around other less blogable items). The story is that though a convoluted series of contacts, we've managed to get in touch with some embroiders who are willing to work with us, stepping well outside their comfort zone of monogrammed dress shirts, posh bathrobes and company aprons.

Truth be told, it's isn't quite perfect. Or rather, there is the rather fundamental error made by the lovely people at the embroiderers (it was supposed to be silver?!) but I'm still very much in love with it. There's something rather compelling about blackwork.

Hopefully there'll be photos of the completed tail coat in a week or so.

Also on the embroidery front and under the cut (if somewhat less impressive): a golden swan to go on a knight's particoloured surcoat.

Vambraces Preview and Holy Symbols on Strings

Remember the hand-tooled vambraces prototype from a few weeks ago? Well, things are finally moving and hopefully the first batch will be done by Nerd East and you, dear reader, will be able to view (and purchase) them in person.

I'm really quite excited about them. There's a lot more work to be done, but here's a photo of two of the designs (a winged scarab and a phoexnix) undyed.

I've also been running around looking at pendants and things for a friend (raw materials for troll tat) but I've come across some reasonably good looking bits and pieces, possibly useful for those looking for holy symbols. The double-headed axe, for example, is good for DUTT's Morvana. The scales are good for Astalon. If you're looking for any symbol in particular, drop me a line, I can keep my eyes peeled for you. Pendants like these would cost in the region of £1-2, mostly depending on size.

Prototype: Hand-tooled Vambraces

I've finally managed to get my hands on the tooled vambraces prototype (it was trapped in the limbo of the postal service for far too long). After the business with the the tooled notebooks (now available from Character Kit at £13), I had tried to convince them to attempt making simple vambraces with tooled designs. The details aren't quite right, but as a prototype I'm rather pleased.

The design, incidentally, is taken from the pages of the Book of Kells.

Prototype: Basic Drop-Shoulder Shirt

After the musing on the basic larp shirt many, many months ago, we've attempted three basic designs encompassing three approximate periods that larp frequently covers. They're by no means comprehensive or historically accurate, but they function well enough as basic items to be worn as the base layers of more complex outfits.

The first few basic larp shirts are now available from Character Kit for £15. There's also the basic laced shirt and basic eyelet shirt. If you catch us at events, you'll probably find some of the previous prototypes that have a variations on these design elements. It's very much of an experiment to see what people are interested in.

More photos of the basic drop shoulder shirt under the cut.

Maelstrom Coins!

Aside from the post on the Rule7 Forums that started it all and the odd cryptic facebook update, the plans for the Maelstrom coins have largely been kept under wraps. In essence, I'm attempting to find a cheaper source for Profound Decision's much lauded coins mostly by trying to convince people who make my buttons that they also want to make me coins.

Still not sure if they're making the cut (not being exact replicas, they're a little lighter in the hand and the finish on one seems off), but we'll see.

There isn't much more to say other than look at the pretty picture and if you happen to be running a large system (or a small one) and happen to want some coins, you might want to speak to me.

Prototype: Steampunk Tailcoat

The blue version of the unisex velvet and brocade tailcoat is very much like the green, with its brass clasps, decorative buttons, brocade revers and faux silk lining. There is more musing on the design on the previous pages, but suffice to say it is good to have some photos of the blue version.

The Archaeologist did say it made her feel 90% more dashing than she normally felt.

This velvet tailcoat is available on Character Kit for £75. It is also available in green and black. Unsurprisingly, to commission a similar tailcoat (but in different colours, with different buttons, in a different size) would cost a similar amount.

The linen frilly shirt (£15-17) and the stretch silk circle skirt (£25) worn by the Pillywiggin are both from the Costume Mercenary. The half-handle dagger is also from Character Kit.

More photos of velvet and brocade tailcoat under the cut.

Prototype: Linen Waistcoat and Fall Front Trousers

Long linen waistcoat, lined in cotton. The linen is pale blue and grey with a distinct herringbone weave. It is also laced at the back with black thonging and has brass celtic beast buttons.

The fall front trousers are of thick white linen and feature the aquila buttons. They are much like the breeches, but longer. Less historically fashionable but certainly good in larp and easier on modern eyes. The black version were worn with the green steampunk tailcoat.

To commission similar fall front trousers or breeches would cost £15-7. A waistcoat would cost in the region of £30-5.

More a few more photos of the waistcoat and trousers under the cut.

Prototype: Steampunk Waistcoat

If you recall, the Mercenary had ordered a great deal of cog-and-screw buttons not so very long ago and we've been wondering what to do with them. And such is one of the solutions.

The steampunk waistcoat is made of faux suede (coming in midnight blue, black and brown), lined in faux silk. It's a fully double-breasted waistcoat with two flap pockets and one hidden pocket. There is also a half belt at the back for a more dapper shaping.

The buttons add a touch of steampunk to the otherwise quite normal waistcoat and the hidden pocket gives it greater utility.

The double-breasted nature of the waistcoat means it can be won three basic ways, as can be seen in the prototype double-breasted waistcoat.

In a fit of faulty memory, the Mercenary has managed to photograph the brown twice but the black not at all. This should be remedied in due course and there will be some photos of the midnight blue one. I would call it navy, but it is much darker than that. It wasn't until we held it next to the black did we realise that it wasn't quite black.

The giant cog is part of a public sculpture about the founding of Durham Cathedral (Bishop Aldhun, Dun Cow, etc) and is, in fact, actually a pillar segment. The linen frilly shirts won by both models and the fall front trousers are both from the Mercenary. The felt topper is from the ebay. The rather battered musket pretending to be a hunting rifle belongs to the Proprietor.

The first few steampunk waistcoats are up on the Character Kit website for £35. It's available in black (large only) and brown (medium and large).

Commission: Reversible Clockpunk Frock Coat

This commission was based around a character concept I won't delve too deeply into, but the short of it is a discreet messenger with a mild steampunk/clockpunk vibe. The Designer and I kicked around a lot of ideas, most of them circling hidden pockets and pouches of rolled papers. The upshot appears to be us taking elements of the steampunk coat and fusing it with a frock coat.

The most interesting feature of the Clockpunk* Frock Coatis that it's reversible (though it does make any shaping rather difficult, thus resulting in a loose, flared coat). It has a "fancy" side (purple faux silk damask) and a "practical" side (Tyrian purple faux suede) with all the various pockets. The various pockets (including ones under the cuff) and the cuffs themselves are in a dark brown faux suede. The documents glimpsed in the pockets are, as some readers may recognise, the New World Chronicle (of the larp, Maelstrom).

The cuffs fold both ways and the effort of reversing them does make quick costume changes difficult. The buttons go all around the sleeve, making for a nice effect, but they do occasionally catch.

There was briefly the intention of having different buttons on the two sides of the coat, but that was complication involving that and in the end, it never really came about.

The concept art to the left of the coat, of course, showing the two sides of it being worn. Originally, before the coat was shortened to mid-thigh, we toyed with the idea of adding utterly giant pockets to the practical side.

The camera ran out of battery during the shoot and we had to do some pick-up shots in my back garden the next week (bonus shot of the sniffly Mercenary bundled in an overcoat with bucket cuffs).

The beautiful pistols are again from Makai Larp and the dagger from Character Kit. The shirt and waistcoat are both from the Mercenary. The white is a steampunk shirt (though it is rather too big on the model)l. A black twin of the green waistcoat can be seen on the Victoriental Traveller. She is also wearing the ever-useful Beer Googles and has around her neck one of the lovely globe watches.

To commission a similar coat from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £120-130.

More photos of the Reversible Clockpunk Frock Coat (including early design sketches) under the cut.

--

* The term clockpunk is used here largely because the coat and its character concept are vaguely intended for live roleplay setting which centres around clockwork and magic rather than steam engines, placing it - for those pedantically inclined - more in the realms of clockpunk than steam.

But really, who is the Mercenary kidding? I'm also hoping to crawl up the google search results as well.

Prototype: Fall Front Breeches

The fall front breeches (or britches, if you fancy the different spelling) are made of black linen and feature rivet buttons and buckle below the knee.

The exact cut of breeches varied through their five hundred or so years in men's fashion (sixteenth to nineteenth century). Their approximate trajectory appears to have been to have begun very full (but gathered at the knee) and slowly become more fitted as the centuries passed, first to the legs and then upwards. By around the early eighteenth century fashionable English breeches tended to be low cut to fit around the hips and style to be very full around the ass (in a baggy way that would not necessarily be termed flattering to the modern eye). These in particular, though were styled to be quite generic, though would be rather late in their history (late eighteenth to early nineteenth century) due to being relatively high-waisted and fitted.

The Proprietor confessed to feeling more silly than dashing in these breeches. He wears them with a pair of fencing socks (the logo of which we had to carefully angle out of view). He also wears in various combinations in the photos: the winged doublet, the reversible cloak and a generic frilly shirt. 

To commission a pair of breeches from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £15-20.

More photos of the fall-front breeches under the cut.

Gothic Silver Roses: One Waistcoat and One Caraco

The Mercenary stumbled upon a bolt of brocade with silver roses on it almost a year ago. It seems that I am not the only one who has noticed it as by the time we were toying with the idea of some brocade waistcoats there was two and a half metres left at the market stall - a little bit too much for the one waistcoat we had in mind.

One lovely Regency-esque waistcoat later, we were all looking at the offcuts and wondering what should become of them. They weren't exactly enough for a full garment, of course, but they would work nicely as the contrast fabric of something.

And so the caraco (short jacket) of silver roses came to be (see below).

The waistcoat of silver roses (or "vest" if you happen to be American) is made from silk-wool brocade bearing the pattern of its name. Like many of the fashionable waistcoats of the Regency era, it's relatively high-waisted, possesses a standing collar and is squared off at the bottom, though it is only single breasted and without a wide lapel. It uses silver rose-shaped buttons, which whilst thematically consistent, do seem a little overwhelmed and lost in the pattern of the brocade.

The shirt has pleated frills at the cuffs and the front opening (something that was beginning to go out of fashion, but not unheard of during the Regency.)

The jacket of silver roses is made from the same brocade and a faux silk taffeta. It is lightly boned and fasted with loops of scarlet velvet ribbon over brocade-covered buttons. The jacket is laced down the back with same velvet ribbon with is also used to trim the jacket. It has been remarked that there is something deliciously spidery about the collar.

We're vaguely hoping to do a photoshoot of the two garments in the same shot, but we'll see how things go with all the other prototypes coming into being.

To commission a similar waistcoat would cost in the region of £30-5 and a similar jacket £75-85. The silver roses waistcoat is now available on Character Kit for £35. The clockwork globe watch seen in the photos is also on Character Kit for £20.

As always, more photos of the silver roses garments under the cut.

Pocketwatches and Other Things that Aren't Clothes

Various bits of clothing production seem cursed of late (or perhaps certain designs are just somehow cosmically doomed), so instead of posting about progress on that front, I thought to share some of the non-clothing ventures of the Mercenary.

These pocket watches (though technically they're more watch pendants) first appeared at night markets around here two years ago. I'm proud to say that I've finally tracked down a supplier and they're coming with us to Foreign Fields in October and will hopefully be on the Character Kit website around the same time. [edit: the globe watches are now available for £20]

The clockwork watch pendants wind up, its ticking, whirring mechanism visible (and magnified) by the glass globe. It has Roman numerals on the clock-face and comes with a brass chain. There are a few more photos of the glass globe watch pendants under the cut.

Above are some tool rolls. The Designer thought after the tool roll we did attached to the thief's gambeson, we could try doing a run of them separately. The above prototypes are in beige cotton-denim and brown faux suede, each with little brass buttons (there will be, in due course, a selection of button designs), a long tab for tying up the roll and a belt loop. Now all I have to do is to find some tools to fit into it. Maybe some test tubes? [edit: tool rolls are now also available from Character Kit]

The I-Am-Not-Evil claws are rather classic evil overlord (or perhaps over-evil lord). We've not got many of them in (though I do believe they are all skull-bedecked), but they were rather intriguing and we thought we'd see how well they sell (or not). Perhaps someone would like it as an accessory as they wield something from Character Kit's flaming-skull-themed Chaos range.

In Other News: I've learnt more about different sorts of traditional rice hats than originally thought possible. More on that in a different post.

Prototype: Midnight Blue Winged Doublet

The winged doublet is in a midnight blue velveteen. It is lined and edged in red linen. It closes in front with eight round metal buttons with a fairly subtle Celtic cross design.

The doublet is somewhat big on the model (which is why he's wearing it open rather than closed), as it's made to our standard Large and he's more of a Medium. Hopefully I'll be able to corner the Proprietor in due course and we'll have proper photos of it. For those curious, I believe the model was attempting something of a Alas, Poor Yorrick! pose, with the somewhat pseudo-Shakespeare mindset of the day.

This is by no means a historically accurate doublet (unless you're of the looks-alright-from-six-feet-away school), but for the record, it takes most of its cues from late Tudor doublets rather than early ones. The winged shoulders echoes that those seen in this portrait of Robert Dudley and Federico II Gonzaga, but significantly less elaborate.

On a sidenote, here's some interesting modern reinterpreting of Elizabethan doublets in modern menswear by John Galliano.

To commission a similar doublet from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £75-85. This prototype of the doublet in particular is now available from Charackter Kit for £70.

More photos of the midnight blue doublet including wing and button detail under the cut.

Prototye: Blue Chiton

Chiton made of a thick blue linen, unsurprisingly designed with Profound Decision's larp system Odyssey in mind. Worn here with beaded sandals and belted in with suede thonging. Thoroughly Greek.

This didn't begin as a blue chiton. It was originally beige until the Designer noticed a very subtle beige-on-beige fleur-de-lys pattern in the fabric that was completely invisible unless held to bright sunlight. It was printed so after some deliberation, we dyed it bright "ocean blue" (or so the packet calls it) along with a once white shirt (a red scarf snuck into the laundry).

The buttons are decorative, simply sewn to points where the cloth has been sewn together. They bear a rather nice abstract knot-beast design.

This a lot more basic and significantly less cloth than the giant red and black chiton. The Mercenary was essentially playing around with just how cheap she could make simple chitons.

The blue chiton is available from Character Kit for £15.

More photos of the blue chiton under the cut.