Empire: Facing the Monsters of Varushka

I had thought at first that we hadn't any costumes that would work with Varushka, but after some rummaging, it turns out that the elven embroidered coat works a lot better for Varushka than it does Urizen or even Navarr. The silver embroidery on dark forest green of the wool works remarkably well given the Varushkan love for complex embroidery and stark contrasts. The addition of the white fur mantle and red sash decidedly makes it Varushkan.

The stripy hero trousers belong to the Slander Rat and the cream tunic to the Designer. The firebird cloak seems now almost made for Varushka with its strong reds, ornate trim, stark contrast and a fairytale allusion.

As always, the various cloth components can be commissioned from the Mercenary. The round boar shield (£110), the sword (£50) and the embroidered coat (£110) are all available from Character Kit.

More photos of the Varushkan costumes under the cut.

Empire: Three Tears Entwined

Of the multitude of costumes we've pulled together this weekend, the Kallavesi Mystic (as worn by Lord of the Macaroons) is probably my favourite. The mask is far more stylized than the ones on the wiki, but do think it works very well. With the crest of feathers, we sort of imagined that he's some sort of feathered fox, probably a trickster of sorts. 

The feathered fox mask was made from moulded leather by the Designer for a Loki-esque character he played at Ragnarok. The mantle of many furs and the goatskin skirt are both made by the Designer. Both garments have also appeared in the Navarr costumes.

Given the rather diverse inspirations Wintermark draws upon (I believe the mood board was rather flippantly described as House Stark With Eskimos at one point), its rather nice to see that there is still a sense of continuity and cohesion when you stand the three together. In these photos at least, the consistent palette of reds, browns and blacks really helped.

The sword held aloft by the Ginger Ninja is, if I recall correctly, from Saxon Violence and the helmet from Planet Trading. The jewellery and assorted belt hangings of bone and bead are made by myself. 

The various tunics, cloaks and robes can, of course, be commissioned from the Mercenary. The highly detailed vambraces (£40), the pouch (£40), small wooden shield (£50), the feathered mantle (£60), cloak with hidden pocket (£60) and the fey dagger (£15) are all available from Character Kit. 

More photos of the Three Entwined Tears of Wintermark under the cut.

Empire: The Dreaming Spires of Urizen

Like many of Empire's cultures, there is a strong focus on the use of many diaphanous layers in Urizen's look and feel. If I were designing an Urizen outfit from scratch, there may well be less of an emphasis on heavy velvets and wools, which were chosen to be warm rather than ethereal. The colours are also overall a little dark and jewel-toned for Urizen, again from the fact that we're pulling this together from preexisting garments. In the absence of a brief, most people seem to veer from pastels and favour richer shades.

Given how this was the most extensive of the Empire photosets, it does appear that the Mercenary has developed an accidental specialization in Urizen costumes. We do seem to tinker and there have been many, many variants on "elven" robes in slightly different shades, cuts and weights of fabric. I do think we've come a long way from the first generation of elven robes.

The Slander Rat is in the cream renaissance gown that appeared in the League photos. The extensive train has been pinned up in these shots and form more draping folds from her waist (though it is mostly hidden by the pooling velvet robe). She also wearing the Egyptian cultural armour she and the Ginger Ninja made for Odyssey (though I believe that set is actually made for the Ninja). She is holding a Lorien Shield and a fey sword, both from Character Kit.

Attempting to arrange everyone into group shots for Urizen was difficult, if amusing. Given their cultural need for personal space, we all felt that it would be deeply inappropriate for us to huddle too close even for the purposes of these photos.

Thus were born many jokes of how flirting between Urizen couples need happen via the medium of semaphore (the Proprietor and the Slander Rat star as a pair of star crossed lovers on the opposite sides of a flying buttress who cannot bear to approach each other any further) and the inconveniences of secret wizardly cabal meetings (thus being unable to whisper properly at each other). The Proprietor also quipped that all Urizen, no matter their actual skillset, look like wizards.

These photos were around the back of St Giles Church, where once two prince bishops (one true, one false) fought for the control of County Durham. Or so I'm told. There are a lot of long, low shots with the walls and church windows, hopefully with the careful cropping give a vague sense of the spires and towers of Urizen.

The long sleeveless robes that are being worn as the outermost layer in most of these outfits do not appear to be particularly compatible with larp fields, though they are quite that long in part so that they still look good (by having sufficient drape) when you pull the train over your arm to carry it when walking. It can, of course, be commissioned shorter.


We did run out of pale under robes and the Battle Librarian is wearing a pale blue peplos under the various blue robes he has on. The Proprietor is wearing as his base layer a cream robe that could legendarily fit three people (it was once a bedsheet).

Of the props, the naginata is from Eldritch. The black leather crown is from Nordavolk. The necklace worn by the Pillywiggen, I believe, was made by Sara Emmims.

The white and gold shield (also having appeared in the Highguard shots), the pike and the fey swords can be purchased at Character Kit. The velvet robes (midnight purple, grey and beige brown), the cloak with a hidden pocket and the various sets of faux silk elven robes (greens and blues) are also on the website. The Proprietor is in a gold elven coat, which is also available in green. The various robes can be commissioned from the Mercenary in different combinations and fabrics.

More photos of the Dreaming Spires of Urizen under the cut.

Empire: The Many Paths of Navarr's Great Dance

Navarr was odd for us in that instead of doing all them as a set, we did the three sets of costumes separately and thus had no group shot. It seems that these Navarr are loners and walk their own separate but intertwined paths (after all, they do seem to be tracking each other).

This is the only set of photos that we've done with any form of Lineage makeup. We had originally intended to do one with each nation, but it was soon obvious that this would be impractical given how we had intended to do all the nations in one weekend.

The Slander Rat was originally done up as a Draughir, but due to the Designer wanting to do some gill makeup (closeups under the cut), she was swapped over to a Merrow. The pale grey (or more accurately, a lightly applied black and white) colouring the Draughir was tinted green around the eyes and mouth. The colouring around the mouth in particular gives her a more fishy, inhuman look. The fluttering gills are done with tissue paper and latex over a patch of skin coloured black and red. The Designer describes it as a sort of latex papier-mâché. The black and red snazz provides contrast with the gills as the move.

There are quite a few photographs of myself festooned in half of my troll kit, which last appeared on that Carthaginian Philosopher. The jewellery was made by myself (though that feather is borrowed off a straw tricorn).

None of the bows in the house proved to be plastic-free enough to be photographed and in the end, there was only the beautiful quiver and some arrows. There's probably a story there.

The Navarr costume guide recommends long, close fitting boots and the only pair of those I own has a faulty zip on the right boot. Thus was necessitated the belt to hold it shut and the Navarr penchant for belts and straps is thus further fulfilled.

The armour worn by the Ginger Ninja is that set that was made for a Dragon Age cosplay some time ago. It was made by Julie Knox and is still for sale. It would fit a medium-sized man. The leather shoulderpiece is part of a matching set and was made by the Slander Rat (among her first efforts) and the goatskin skirt, inspired by Morrigan's in Dragon Age, was made by the Designer. The mantle of many furs (including rabbit, goat and sheep) is also by the Designer. The green man quiver is by Miss Wu. The dubiously functional armour I'm wearing was inspired by that from the film King Arthur.

The warpaint swirlies are drawn by The Slander Rat (of Slander Rat Crafts). She appears here as a Merrow with green fishy.

The black hooded coat (£75), fey daggers (£15), fey swords, tooled vambraces (£40) and the intricately tooled quiver (£140) can be bought from Character Kit. The Forest Cloak (£75) also makes an appearance. The spear is utterly ancient and has been tipped and repaired so many times that it's really only good for being in photos for this blog.

More photos of the Navarr under the cut.

Empire: The Whetting of the Marchers

During the photoshoot, the Pillywiggen's angry demeanor came to known as the "Angry Baker." An elaborate backstory revolving around the defense of her bakery came to be concocted. From her expression, you can tell this is Serious Business.

The Marchers were mostly dressed with laced gambesons over basic laced shirts in various combinations. The Shoddy Knight is only a gambeson with only one inside out sleeve laced on (thus contrasting with the main body of the gambeson). The grey gambeson is also worn with one sleeve. The Valkyrie, breaking this trend of asymmetry, is in a dark blue gambeson with both its sleeves.

The Proprietor and the Pillywiggen are both actually dressed in Tudor reenactment kit. The heat and the wool did not mix very well.

The laced gambesons are available from Character Kit for £60 each. The shield and polearms (pike and halberd) also available on Character Kit, the latter at the discounted cost of £75. The scythe is from Wandering Soldier.

More photos of the Marcher Rabble under the cut.

Empire: The Rich Colours of the Brass Coast

As perhaps wasn't implied by the teaser post, some nations got a lot more love than others. For the earlier ones we ventured forth to the nearby church and the woods, others we did in the garden due to dwindling daylight. For some nations, like Urizen with its elven and oriental influences, we managed to pull together a multitude of outfits from past and current stock. Other nations presented more of a challenge simply due to having as much of the kit to hand.

Brass Coast was one such nation. We did these late in the afternoon of Sunday in the garden and as such there just isn't much.

It's the Slander Rat (the eponymous proprietor of Slander Rat Crafts and fuzzy things creator extraordinaire) underneath all those robes. As the Proprietor quipped as he left us, she was wearing enough clothing for about four characters.

The challenge for us in these was to get the palette right, to have both the rich, warm colours but to not clash. We had thought to reuse far more from the Carthaginian Philosopher ensemble, but the colours simply weren't working out for us as Carthage uses far cooler colours with a focus on blue. We were careful to avoid the various pitfalls listed under Look and Feel and the Designer was delighted to note that Freeborn favoured the sort of headcovering (the Tagelmust) he knew how to knot, having learnt it for Odyssey.

Of the layers, the outermost robe is an elven coat (gold faux suede, half lined, ivy trim, £75). It is not the most Freeborn of garments, but works very well here as one among many layers, especially with its sleeves. The white voile base layer is the same as that worn by the Carthaginian Philosopher, one like it would cost in the region of £25-35. The dark red skirt and orange paisley robe are both the model's own. The dark red embroidered sash has been seen before with the Embroidered Elven Robes.

The lamp belongs to the Slander Rat and I believe is from a charity shop. The scarves are from a street market in Hong Kong. The dangling waist ornament was once a necklace and was from ebay.

More photos of the Freeborn under the cut.

Miranda and Layout Update

Been playing about with photoshop and I've desecrated Waterhouse's Miranda by smooshing it with a photo we took of the Pillywiggen in the kirtle.

In other news, the blog has had a redesign and apologies for any wibbliness this may cause to your browsing experience. Also, many of the older posts are probably not happy with being viewed at this width. I know about it and it should be fixed... eventually.

Empire: For the Glory of Dawn

These photos were taken at the St Giles' Medieval Fair. They were celebrating their nine hundred year anniversary. The backdrop of historically accurate tents and tat was borrowed from the awesome Dunholm Living History, who had pitched up (we've also caught them in the back of some of these shots; simply imagine them to be yeomen).

We wondered why a knighting would be happening in front of these tents, but our theory is that it's an emergency dubbing. Perhaps due to some glorious deed recently performed by The Shoddy Knight. It doesn't quite have the dignity of Leighton's The Accolade. 

The linen underdress worn by the Valkyrie with the angel blue brocade gown was hand-dyed (in my kitchen out of tupperware) some years ago to be worn (along with the incredibly ornate cloak) as part of a costume for a character based on the Lady of the Lake. There are some lovely concept sketches for that outfit in its more Lady of the Lake incarnation which I will scan when they are unearthed.

The particoloured surcoat worn by The Shoddy Knight was also made for the same event (Durham University Treasure Trap's Midsummer). It was designed for the leader of the Knights of the Swan after the swan on the original tabard was declared too ducklike.

The shield is sold as the Footman's Shield on Character Kit and the sword is named the Excalibur (two lenghts, 31" and 38"). The tooled sword frog is the work of our inimitable leatherworker. The chainmail is borrowed and knitted by a friend of ours over thousands upon thousands of hours of daytime television during his first year at university. It is somewhat legendary as he had apparently slept in it (not comfortably).

The two dresses have appeared on the blog before with their own writeups. The red velvet one can be found under Deep Red Elven Gown and the blue brocade one (worn with a different underdress) can be found under Angel Blue Gown.

Other gowns on the blog that could pass for Dawn include: The Ten-Gore Cotehardie (concept sketches of which is here), Winged Doublet (though leaning to League) and Kirtle (though not linen for Dawn since the rumpled look is more Marches).

To commission blue ensemble in similar materials from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £160. A red velvet dress would cost in the region of £150 in stretch velvet and £180 in silk velvet. A surcoat would cost £40 plain and £60 for an embroidered version, though it can vary wildly depending on the complexity of the design. The tooled sword frog as ornate as the one worn by The Shoddy Knight would cost in the region of £30-40.

More photos of Dawn's Glory 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!

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.

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.

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: 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.

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.

Prototype: Double-Breasted Waistcoat

A long fully-lined double-breasted waistcoat made of black faux suede with a standing collar metal buttons. It's a versatile little garment that can be worn in a number of ways (see under the cut for most of the options). 

The Designer was rather taken with the potential versatility a double-breasted waistcoat and after some thought, we decided to run up a prototype. It's much more of an everyday garment than, say, the georgian-esque riding gown or the more recent brocade waistcoat. The cloud-swirl buttons are really the only interesting detail.

The model complained about the lack of pockets, so perhaps next prototype will feature some. 

To commission a similar waistcoat from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £30-35.

More photos of the double-breasted waistcoat under the cut.

Prototype: A Simple Reversible Cloak

The basic cloak was originally meant to go with the feathered mantle as a sort of detachable cloak (and hence could be washed independently of it - we've not tried throwing the valshams into the washing machine, but it seems a dubious idea), but when that fell through as an idea we had the prototype of a rather nice reversible cloak on our hands.

It's simpler and shorter than the other reversible cloak we've done, which was black-brown with a wide trim. The wool is a cut above that which we normally use, long-haired and very soft.

The corset is the model's own and the full circle skirt is also from the Mercenary (£20, black faux silk, fully lined). Also present in the photos are some fall front breeches, which will be appearing in a post of their own shortly.

To commission a similar cloak from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £70-80. The prototype of the reversible cloak is available from Character Kit for £65.

More photos of the reversible cloak under the cut.

Elizabeth Bennet's Brown Linen Jumper Dress

This is almost (but not quite) Elizabeth Bennet's Brown Jumper Dress from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film and quite possibly the closest we've come to attempting a replica.

The dress is well documented on the internet and there are more than a few pages dedicated to it. Pride and Prejudice Costume Study has a page on it. Costumersguide has in addition a photobucket archive of images and Period Movie Review also has a page of screencaptures.

Perhaps with all that going in, there appears to be little excuse to deviate, but as always, we did. The intention was a comfortable dress as opposed to a direct replica of the ensemble worn when Elizabeth first met Wickham. The jumper dress is made from a soft brown linen and the blouse, a white linen (as opposed to white muslin cotton). We went for a drawstring at the waist instead of a split skirt on a whim, which is a decision I'm almost regretting for reasons of accuracy. We have three coconut buttons (instead of four) and the tasselled gold/brown paisley shawl is hardly an exact match for the flowered one.


Despite all the differences I'm still rather pleased with the result and it is a very comfortable dress (so much so I ended up spending Moon Festival in it).

It's only after the shoot that I realised that we have no photos of the sleeves unrolled, but they do and they're not that exciting.

To commission a similar ensemble (in linen or cotton) from the Costume Mercenary would cost £50. Separately, the shirt would cost £20 and the dress £40.

More photos of the Brown Jumper Dress under the cut.

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.

Gambesons, Robes and a Brown Steampunk Coat: Recent Commissions

It's been a while since the last post and it seems rather anticlimactic to begin with a post of things on hangers. Especially as almost nothing ever looks good on hangers. But there you go. Here are photos of many costumes on hangers.

Ever since the Steampunk Coat first appeared on a hanger at the Unconventional Market, I've been asked if it came in brown. After some confusion over the colour correction on the professionally done photos, I received an order for the coat in black and brown. Some explanation and an order later, the black and brown Steampunk Coat came into existence. It shares the same red-and-gold trim as the red coats and has brass fittings.

More photos of recent commissions under the cut.