Clasps, Buttons and Musings

I found some clasps recently in my wanderings in the land of Haberdashery. They're quite nice. We've not really used clasps that much in our cloak designs, mostly favouring buckles, the more subtle hook and eye as well as ties under the arm.

I suspect these won't end up as cloak clasps, at least not until we've sold more of our current stock. I'm liking the idea of them down the front of doublets or being used to lace up dresses.

(They're not photographing very well and there's another brighter one under the cut, but the lighter coloured clasps are completely washed out.)

There aren't as many designs for these colours, but it was still intriguing to find these colours for alloy buttons. Bright copper we've actually used before in the Inventor's Apron Dress, but the others not so much. I do like the pale dull gold. There are generally a lot more options for colours if we ever decided to embrace plastic buttons but the Designer and I both have a dislike for them (though I concede they can be useful when you want a lot of buttons on a thin fabric and the weight of the metal would make the garment sag).

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.

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 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).

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: Dashing Asymmetrical Coat

Apologies to all about the month-long absence. I spent most of it running about the country and failing at Nanowrimo. We've also been plagued by various post-related problems, including late parcels, lost parcels and returned parcels. It's all really rather discouraging.

I had vaguely intended to post this coat on Jane Austen Day but we didn't manage to get the photos (or the coat, for that matter) done in time.


The coat is based on an asymmetrical naval coat that fascinated me at Macau Maritime Museum (photos of the original naval coat under the cut). It's part of a commission for a military uniform; there's a waistcoat, breeches and boot-toppers not pictured. It's made from a dark blue wool, lined in bright red. It features bright gold buttons and some rather subtle black ribbon around the buttonholes.

It's most interesting feature is its odd asymmetry of the folded tail on one side and the exposed lining on the other. The two visible pockets are ornamental, but it does have another two in the lining to compensate.

Meant for a man taller and broader than myself, the coat doesn't exactly fit, but I thought passes for a thigh-slapping sort of look, not unakin to Elizabeth Swann in her bright red British uniform in Curse of the Black Pearl.

Photos of the Maritime Museum exhibit and a few more of the coat under the cut.

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.

Leaves of Lothlorian and some Elven Sketches

Things are quieting down over here with the Costume Mercenary, or rather, we're moving towards a different sort of busy (a somewhat less frantic sort) since production has paused for a couple of months and Foreign Fields (probably a post about the adventure that was soon enough) is behind us. This is when the more languid, (allegedly) creative designing takes place, amid the intermittent photography and trading. I've even got Mandarin Squares: Mandarins and their Insignia on my reading list for the steampunk magistrate commission, so things won't be quite as languid as perhaps I could hope.

Sorting through the big box of button samples (the contents of which has made it into button splurge posts) I've found some nice gold (very matte and yellow gold, actually, the photo doesn't really do it justice) leaf buttons, ivy leaves to be specific. I think they were probably bought meant to go with something elven, especially given the fact that the basic elven trim we use on the Forest Cloak is green with gold ivy leaves.

The design on the red-headed elf (you can tell due to the pointy ears) on the right is a hooded variant of our elven coat, probably in a soft black suede lined with forest green. It's drawn with green knot-buttons and leaf shaped sleeves much like the elven coat. It's worn over a sap green elven tunic and trousers. It's painted for a commission of (funnily enough) a hooded variant of the elven coat.

The colours of the sketches often don't have anything to do with the eventual prototype, but I'm still vaguely trying to keep to the "mossy greens, tree-bark browns, autumn scarlets" of the palette used in Lord of the Rings. Ngila Dickson, the designer who "forged" the elven costumes "from Indian silk brocade", notes that they are meant to "invoke their environment [...] and they're very light on the earth, so we searched for very, very fine layers of fabrics for them."

The design on the left is heavily oriental, influenced by all the elven costumes in Hellboy II: The Golden Army (mostly Nuala's). The colours are meant to be of twilight (somewhat like the silver and lilac robes), but I'm not overly convinced I'm managed to actually convey that with the watercolours. I'm not exactly good enough to convey a vast number of layers, but it would be nice to have more if and when it comes into being.

Perhaps due to the fact that elves are rather androgynous in nature in their elegance and beauty, most sets of elven robes would work on both male and female elves, though the exact cutting can differ somewhat and clothes cut for a feminine shape would work significantly less well on a male body.


In Other News: Finally gotten around to updating the Character Kit website with the tool rolls (£6) and globe watches (£20), last pictured together this post.

Am contemplating combing through Lord of the Rings for first hand quotes on elven clothing. (Of course, LotR elves are not the only elves and certainly not the definitive elves, but they can sometimes seem the Ur-elves of fantasy literature.)

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.

Dragonscales, Cogs and Filigree: Buttons from my Desk

Perhaps it's because I could never quite escape that fact that the Steampunk Coat would never have existed were it not for the cog-and-screw buttons, but at any given point in time, there's usually a dozen or so (significantly more today) buttons on my desk.

It's always a happy coincidence when various symbols meaningful in larp (chaos symbols, aquila, wings, suns...) crop up on buttons and zipper pulls, but sometimes, I'm looking button simply thinking that it should be on something but I'm not sure what. Most of these, in fact, don't end up on a prototype or even a commission. I'm half hoping that that the vaguely drafted plans for generic-but-not-quite shirts, waistcoats and coats will give me an opportunity to use some of the above on cuffs and collars. Also on the drawing board are some high medieval designs, revolve around using rows of buttons as decoration.

Of course, if you like the look of anything, drop me a line.

Commission: Trickster's Tattercoat

The Trickster's Tattercoat was a commission, envisioned by the customer as a "sort of ragged, tattered version of the technicolour dreamcoat" that has been "deliberately made frombright rags, complete with lots of pieces of loose, trailing cloth".

The base coat is made of a dark red linen with black linen accents. In terms of textures and materials, the tatters are made mostly of cotton and linen from an utter rainbow of colours but with a preference for red. The tatters aren't edged and are left to fray, in time to be more ragged than it is now. The coat also has a silver stretch silk lining.

The buttons are mismatched. Each is different in design, covering a range of metals (gunmetal grey to brass to copper). The "bright, flamboyant, theatrical-looking" character this is intended for has something of a magpie mind, so the wide range of shinies bedecking the coat seemed a good idea.

It's made to fit rather a larger man than the model in question, but due to it needing to reach its new owner as soon as possible, this good gentleman was the best we could find. The new owner has kindly promised me pictures from the live roleplay event, which I hope to repost here with permission when I get them.

To commission a similar coat from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £140-50. Email her for more details.

As usual, more photos under the cut, including one of the rejected sketches (with a different collar and a more blue colour scheme) and a close-up of the many mismatched buttons.

The Buttons of Chaos

I confess there isn't some sort of secret Warhammer 40k agenda or quota this blog has to meet (and it is getting excessive), but the Mercenary couldn't not post these buttons with the Symbol of Chaos on them. I don't really have anything concrete, but some cultist robes are taking shape in my mind.

Aquila: Buttons of the Imperium

The picture rather speaks for itself. I was in Sham Shui Po today and found these rather excellent buttons with the Aquila on them. They come in two sizes and two colours (brass and gunmetal). The 3 in the middle of the button is a little odd, but in both live roleplay contexts I can immediately think of (40k and of course, Maelstrom's Freiboden) it can be easily seen as part of regimental insignia of some sort.

Keep a weather eye on the blog, as this is the sort of button we design coats around.

What do you think of the buttons?