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.

The Mercenary on Silver Goggles and Other Rambles

For those who like reading me talk about steampunk, costumes, character, the design process and larp, I've been interviewed by the very interesting and thoughtful Jha at Silver Goggles. I've probably written far too many words, but the internet seems to encourage that sort of thing given the lack of word limits.

Other times I've written about these things include:
Water Palace and Other Places: Oriental Steampunk Inspiration which is an illustrated ramble on varous ricepunk ideas.
Steampunk: What the Mercenary Means which is a lengthy, lengthy discussion of the different layers of the word steampunk when I use it with regard to costumes and talk probably too much about the design process.

I talk more about ricepunk in Asian-influenced Steampunk and other pictures of that day can be found under the tag ricepunk.

Dr Watson's Costume from "Game of Shadows"

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I was watching Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows at the cinema the other week and happened upon Doctor Watson's costume in a glass case. Out came the camera phone and here are the few snaps.

Jenny Beaven reprises her role as costume designer (there's a nice little interview with her in the wake of the first film on frocktalk). Clothes on Film also did a Q&A with her and some commentary on the first glimpse costumes from the trailer.

The scarf (left) is particularly interesting as she says: The idea was that Mary had knitted it for him (Watson) and Holmes therefore absolutely hated it! I chose colours she would have thought he would like, and he loves it because she made it for him. 


The scarf seemed to have a journey of its own as it gets taken off, claimed by gypsies (etc) during the course of the film. Other fascinating costumes in the film for me were Holmes' disguises which seemed to have to be good but not good (tipping the hand to the audience). Irene Adler's gorgeous pink bustle dress and dark blue coat from the first film is reprised and all the gentlemen wear some very smart suits in various degrees of actual smartness


I suspect you'd probably get better detail of the dvd when that comes out, but I still thought it would be cool to quickly share this.

A closeup of Watson's costume under the cut.

Tat on the Table: Clockwork Pocket Watches and Other Bits and Bobs

The good news is that I've been talking to our pocket watch supplier and we have some new designs in (as well as a few more of the old). They won't be on the website for a couple of months, but it's still very exciting. The one above is rather snazzy.

Bad news, however, is that they've gotten more expensive. In all honestly, we'll end up absorbing some of that price difference, but we really can't afford to absorb all of it.

In other news, we've got some bits and bobs in. A job lot of exceptionally over the top pewter rings (featuring skulls on skulls on more skulls), a couple of bejewelled mirror compacts and some rings-with-hidden-watches. It has proven impossible to hold the ring open and to take a photo of it at the same time, but suffice to say behind that plastic gem is a watchface. I have funny feeling these items will be crowding the end of the table for far, far too long. But who knows?

The custom-patterned brocade is looking less likely by the day. I'm just not sure we can use five hundred metres of brocade (that's around three hundred waistcoats). Though I suppose we might try to use it with the million cog and screw buttons we have in stock.

Also, the Proprietor and friends have been working on State of Grace, a new post-apocalyptic cyberpunk Live Roleplay Game full of cyborgs, mutants and cannibals (to quote the website). First event is pencilled in for the November of this year. Go peruse the new (if incomplete) website.

(So all in all, not a bad time to head over to Character Kit to buy a pocket watch before the price goes up. They're £16 for the regular sort and £20 for the globe watches.)

Photo of all the other tat under the cut.

Poison Pendants and New Buttons...

I am utterly in love with the style of these buttons with its use of two colours of alloy. I found them the other day and am toying with them right now. Unfortunately, due to it featuring the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom as its design, there's really not many live roleplay systems you can wear it in. It was adopted in 1837, so perhaps we could do something with it in the context of Victorian Steampunk.

If you fancy them, I'm really rather keen to see them on a garment, so do drop me an email.

I'm also negotiating the sourcing of little poison pendants. They're little tiny box pendants, absolutely adorable, wonderfully subtle (though perhaps almost too subtle, I'm not sure there is much that fits in them). But hopefully they'll be coming to Character Kit soon-ish.

A Flembic Jenny: High-Waisted Waistcoat and Shirt

part of a series of Maelstrom-related Portraits 

done by Chris Brett

A highwayman is his own man, proud and confident in his own abilities. Every child knows their names every man will buy them a drink, and it is considered good luck to have them attend weddings and funerals.

The high-waisted waistcoat is of hunter green faux suede, edged in brown velvet ribbon. The shirt is of white linen, false drop shouldered. It has moderately puffy sleeves and a ruffled band of white linen. The waistcoat is actually the ancestor to the black one seen in the Ricepunk Traveller post, though this one actually has a zip down the back and the painted wood buttons on the front are purely decorative. It has two spacious flap pockets.

I was instructed to throw forward the pistol as the shot was taken in many them, to give the photo a sense of motion. I'm not sure how well that was captured, but the somewhat odd positions of the arm is something of a direct result from that.

The beautiful rose scabbard, I believe, is made by the legendary Tim Baker. The black trousers, I confess, are simply Tesco's Teflon-coated stain-repellent "back to school" trousers, from the boy's section. As explained in the preview post, "Flembic Splendor", the object of the photoshoot was very much to show characters from Maelstrom and thus it seemed in keeping with that I actually wore my character's costume instead of, say, opting for some fall front breeches. (That said, all the posing suggests a level of coolness absent in Odette, but artistic licence and all. I think Chris described the photos as presenting an almost film poster version of the characters - if you detect a passing similarity in style to the Sherlock Holmes posters, that was one of the original inspirations  apparently.)

The black domino mask is from a fancy dress stall in the Durham Indoor Market, the belt a charity shop and the pistols are from Makai Larp. The winged pendant is disassembled from one that had a garish treble clef and strange cross-eyed cupid. These photos were taken by Chris Brett.

To commission a similar waistcoat would cost in the region of £30-40 and £15-20 for a similar shirt.

More photos under the cut.

Wool Coat Prototypes: Red Military, Triple-Caped and Red-Lined

The red military coat (Large, prototype cost £75.00) is made of a bright red wool-linen blend and lined in faux silk. It features bright gold buttons and fully double-breasted. Its cut is simple but hopefully effective.

The triple-caped watchcoat (Large, prototype cost £120) is made from a wool-linen mix. It is single-breasted, and features the buttons of chaos and exciting flared cuffs. It can be seen as the predecessor to the other caped greatcoat we did in a commission, but I do actually prefer the single-breasted look since it's a little more streamlined.

Wool coat (prototype cost £130.00) of midnight blue and distinctive shape with bright red faux silk lining and heavy wool-linen mix. It features gunmetal silver buttons with a curling fern design. The deep cuffs are decorated with red braiding and there are two hidden pockets.

Collection of Coat Sketches from the Paintbox

Mostly just a post of all the coat designs I've sketched in the last month or so. As said somewhat flippantly before, coats have somewhat become our mainstay. Perhaps in part because there's a certain leeway in our culture for wearing more flamboyant coats in everyday life (less so dresses and doublets). This is probably to do with mainstream fashion churning out a plethora of military-style coats for the last couple of years.

That, and after a while you don't need any more frilly shirts or black breeches. But a new coat would define a new character.

Anyway, here's a collection of coats. Many rather bright colours and due to my rather finite drawing skills, much of what may end up being patterned brocade in the final product is plain colour here.

I'm also playing around with new templates and these women are slightly less skinny and completely made of legs. This is probably a good thing.

Oh, and I do did think there was something rather badass about the buttoned-up collar coat to the left, with a dash of cyberpunk thrown in. Though it may just be the purple hair.

A couple more sketches 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.

Commission: Steampunk Magistrate

The steampunk magistrate consists of a real silk surcoat (or chao pao, 朝袍, literally "dynasty robe") and a hand-embroidered rank badge (also known as a "mandarin square"). The surcoat is fully lined, edged in a slightly lighter shade of green and has engraved jade buttons and side pockets hidden in the seams. The mandarin necklace Jha has made herself.  


The outfit was designed for Jha's steampunk persona, a Qing Dynasty colonial magistrate hot on the heels of opium smugglers. She was hoping to introduce education about the Opium Wars to steampunk events and was planning her character around it.

More photos and discussion of the steampunk magistrate outfit under the cut.

Prototype: Velvet and Brocade Tailcoat

A sort of unisex version of the steampunk velvet tailcoat. In the button-related negotiations and the consequent chaos of the various revisions, we ended up buying significantly more brass mock-filigree buttons than were needed for one coat. Staring at the several gross of remains, we decided that the design can't have been that bad if we managed to sell off both of the surplus coats.

The full-skirted tailcoat is made from cotton velvet with brocade revers and lined in faux silk. The buttons are all decorative and the garment fastens in the front with two brass clasps.

With the swords and the filigree mask, there's something of a particularly eccentric highwayman, perhaps with steampunk (or even clockpunk, given the excessively frilly shirt) inclinations, leaping on unsuspecting travellers from his giant cog.

In retrospect, I do prefer the sketches with the double-breasted front (see under the cut) instead of the brass clasps, but this does make the garment more flexible in terms of sizing and gender. Originally conceived of as a woman's coat, it works remarkably well on male model (which is a nice change of pace from me modelling too-large male coats).

The brocade tailcoat is currently available in Mens Medium and UK Ladies 16-18 for £75. It comes in black, royal blue and emerald green. To commission the tailcoat in other colours and sizes would cost more or less the same amount.

The green greaves are from full set of unique green armour Clockwork Firebird Designs has been working on as a custom commission. It has matching vambraces and a suede jerkin.

The golden filigree mask is from Reeshiebeads (custom-made, £20). The swords are a Scimitar and a Fey Longsword, both available from Character Kit. The brocade tailcoat is also worn with a linen frilly shirt and fall-front trousers, both of which are from the Mercenary.

That is also quite possibly the longest credits list I've had for a post like this. Which goes to show steampunk highwaymen are by far the most overdressed of all the dandies that have appeared on this blog. Perhaps I should keep it shorter with a string of links and morph into a photoblog...

More photos of the steampunk velvet tailcoat 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).

Preview: a Wander by the River

Much as the ruined chapel has provided us with many beautiful photographs, it seemed to be getting a tad repetitive, so today the Designer led us to the broken railway bridge. On the way there we did stop by the giant pillar segments cogs (last seen in the photos with the steampunk pirate) which appear with the tailcoat.

1896-1897 map of Durham,
map from  Old Maps

We ended up cheekily festooning the cow statue with our coats, in vain attempt to keep them out of the mud (photo under the cut). The nearby bandstand is topped with the cricket pun, "Lest time bails you out."

The ruined railway bridge we use in many of today's photos was part of the passenger service from Durham Elvet to Sunderland. It wasn't particularly popular and in the latter years of its forty-year history ran for only one day a year (that day being the Miner's Gala in July). The Durham Elvet station has since been demolished and apparently an office block stands where it once was.

The beautiful golden wire mask in the first photo is made by the lovely Reesha Dyer (of Reeshiebeads). She makes many gorgeous (and some slightly silly) things at very reasonable prices. A mask similar to the one pictured would cost in the region of £20 from her.

The laced leather vambraces are from Clockwork Firebird Designs (also on etsy). They're hand-dyed a lovely shade of green and have matching greaves.

The weapons are a scimitar and fey dagger, both normally available from Character Kit, though both tragically out of stock.

There's a Spider in My Living Room! or living with Clockwork Firebird Designs

Gracewing (the woman behind Clockwork Firebird Designs) often fills the house with many exciting things. She uses the conservatory as her workshop for the most part and interesting things are produced on a fairly regular basis. More recently, I came into the living room and found Gracewing in full drider kit (she had realised that she hadn't any photos of her awesome spider-butt and needed some for her website). It was briefly extremely intimidating and more than a dash surreal.

The photo to the left is taken by Many Lemons. The ears, arm, greaves, tail and corset in the photo are all by Gracewing. Due to their immense popularity, there are very few detail shots of the items. Do email her if you fancy something along those lines (or not, with commissions, the limit is your imagination, after all).

Gracewing has just launched her etsy shop which is now stocked with a variety of leather pouches, scabbards and vambraces. She also has the beautiful Black Raven Corset with suede feather-shapes (also seen in the drider photo to the right).

We did some photos of Gracewing's leather goods and I modelled (using that term very loosely) the tooled leather cat ears (from the Crown of Gears range). The Pillywiggin adamantly disbelieves it's actually me in the photos and stated it had to be someone else wearing my face.

Of course, such posing wouldn't have been possible without Wongfu Productions' Poser! putting me in touch with my cultural heritage.

It really isn't very dignified at all, but it is apparently very funny (I'm sure the rest of those photos will be unearthed for the outtakes post when that happens).

And on the mercenary note, the coat worn by Gracewing in the catgirl photo is the steampunk tailcoat. Similar ones are soon to be found on the Character Kit website in a range of colours.

The Case of the Missing Raccoon: A Steampunk Adventure

Yes, that is a photo of the Proprietor using a telescope as a sight on pistol.

Raccoons are sly, tricksy beasts, you know.

As can be surmised from the silly photography, we were out with the camera and the new costumes. We've had a busy few months and are sitting on a large heap of updates and things to be posted off to their new owners. We're also working on a prop-related project that's turning out to be more logistically complicated than originally thought. It's all very exciting, if a little chaotic.

So we're back to old favourite of our nearby locations, Chapel of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene. We had wanted to borrow the Proprietor's 'coontail hat, but it was not to be found. In the end, we did without and the photos are rather less silly (and perhaps more offensive). The costumes done included a "native" shirt and trousers for the Onontakhan culture at Profound Decision's Maelstrom, a three-tiered caped coat, some waistcoats and a dieselpunk greatcoat.

See under the cut for the full preview.

Chance Encounters: Scrap Metal Statues

I was wandering in Birmingham's Christmas Craft Fair earlier in the month and encountered these amazing metal statues of the iconic Alien and Predator (from their respective franchises). I've since managed to lose the business card from the stall, but going through the camera memory card, I still wanted to share the photos.

This is where I discovered there's quite a quite a few metalcrafters working in the scrap metal sculpture business (this blogpost got delayed as I was lost in the pages of Metal Art and Yumimodal). I think the stall I saw might have been affiliated with Robosteel (who were featured in Wired no so long ago and are based in the UK), but the name doesn't ring familiar, so I'm really rather baffled. So if you recall wandering in the streets of Birmingham, do share. And yes, aren't they awesome?

A few more photos under the cut.

A Surfeit of Steampunk Buttons

It's more or less Boxing Day, so it seems appropriate to open with a belated "Merry Winter-related holiday".

I picked up the big box of steampunk buttons the other day, so I'm currently staring at thirty gross of them in gunmetal grey (they're all in a giant ferrero rocher cardboard box, which led to an amusing incident with my cousin). A lot has come about because of these cog-and-screw buttons and it does feel somewhat appropriate that our first big order of buttons is of them. Needless to say, we'll be seeing them on an awful lot of garments in the near future. We'll probably be starting with a number of waistcoat prototypes and we'll see from there, but if you fancy anything with these buttons on it, don't hesitate to drop us a line.

Commission: Black Linen Cassock

This cassock is made of black linen. It's unlined and is fastened with a row of gunmetal grey buttons down the front that give the cassock a mild steampunk edge. It has three deep pleats at the back, plain cuffs, piping and a standing collar.

It was commissioned by Femina Necans, who is modelling the garment herself in the photos. The Designer and I were unable to convince her that she wanted the cassock to be edge in purple or red (like the high ranking catholic cassocks). There was some debate as to where we should move the front pleats so as the garment interfaced with breasts, but overall it can't be said to be the most exciting of commissions. Also seen in the photos is the silver-lined Necromancer Cloak, with gunmetal grey rose buttons (like those on the Red Rose Coat, but larger).

With the cathedral in the background, we did joke that we were taking photos for some form of female priests campaign or the Miss November of a priestly fund-raising calendar.

We toyed with giving the whole set a more vampire-hunter feel with more props and taking some by the weather-worn tombstones in front of the cathedral, but in the end, none of those came out particularly well. Still with the cassock worn open and armed with the gun (from Evenlode Studio) and the Tallows dagger, I fancied this brought to mind Solomon Kane (except more Catholic).

There isn't more more to say of the cassock, save if you would want one like it, it would cost in the region of £50-55.

More photos of the black linen cassock under the cut.

Steampunk Pirates Concept Art

Airship pirates, steampunk or otherwise, owe a lot of the aesthetics to the Golden Age of Piracy (which is largely Georgian, with particular emphasis on bucket-sleeves frock coats). And I do love the Carribean-esque air pirates (in all their many shades of historical accuracy), but as The Designer and I began talking steampunk pirates of late (in part due to a remark from one of the denizens on the BrassGoggles Forums a while back), we started thinking about "our" take on it (looking back, we did do a set of photos themed around a Steampunk Pirate earlier in the year).

We return to the fact that high altitudes are really quite cold and whilst we can justify the wearing of loose coats and more abbreviated clothing with technology that compensates it seems worth more than a moment to explore the idea (the classic being spacious heated cabins, boiler room temperatures or you can just handwave it altogether; Disney's Treasure Planet pretty much went this route with its aesthetics and happily did it handwave why its frock-coat-wearing characters were sailing through space on galleon-esque vessels. Very pretty, by the way, if completely silly).

So, the Designer and I looked at what early pilots wore. Fleece-lined bomber jackets are certainly very iconic. Some seemed to be simply wearing electric blankets plugged into the engines (and strapped to themselves). It's really very cold up in high altitudes. We looked at photos (much like this fighter pilot), read articles (particularly found Flight Clothing for High Altitudes useful) and had a look at the Anime Last Exile at the recommendation of a friend.

And here are the results.

The basic premise revolves around the materials and textures of a aviator jacket and the shape of the Georgian frock coats. We wanted the collar to be very reminiscent of a bomber jacket, but with more buttons and buckles instead of zips (old trick, we know). We were also vaguely trying to cut back on the number of pockets and pouches (not trying to seem too much like a one trick pony when it comes to designs) but they snuck in anyway.

The shorter sleeves with the long leather gloves were supposed to bring a touch of practicality (allowing for interesting detail but keeping them out of the way). The Designer felt that the harness with the d-rings could possibly be used in conjunction with rigging or seatbelts of some kind. We tried to incorporate classic pirate accessories (like the tricorn, the sabre and a cravat), but also insignia badges, flying scarves and aviator caps.

The results straddle classic steampunk and dieselpunk, but I'm reasonably happy with the pictures though it some of it still looks a little disjointed. What do you think?

Oh, and fleece is annoying to draw.

(For what it's worth, the Proprietor is using some of this concept art to illustrate Haslanti League in his Exalted game.)