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.

Commission: Ten-Gore Cotehardie

The dress is made of a beautifully light real silk in forest green and a wine brocade. Its cut mimics that of the Ten-Gore Dress (found at Herjolfsnes, Greenland). It fastens down the front with golden ivy leaf buttons, which also decorate the inner brocade sleeve. The green-and-ivy trim is the same as that on the Forest Cloaks. The tie at the waist has dangling off it two larger ivy leaves.

Of course, the concept sketch for this banquet gown was on the blog a few weeks ago. This is essentially a mash-up of the two concept sketches. As mentioned before, the false sleeves were part of the plan to make the dress lighter so that that she wouldn't overheat during the many rounds of céilidh.

We never quite managed to corner Vicki for photos of her banquet dress beyond a few snaps at the candlelit banqueting hall, but Richard Hornby has very kindly lent me his photos of her in the garden. The entire process took a total of twenty minutes and we have all since learnt that taking photos of green dresses in front of green backgrounds is a poor idea. Incidentally, these photos have been colour-tweaked.

To commission a similar gown in real silk and brocade would cost in the region of £100-110. It would, of course, be cheaper in less extravagant materials.

A few more photos of the cotehardie under the cut.

Commission: Zevran's Leather Armour

Another commission with strong influences from Dragon Age: Origins, though this time the light leather armour for a Zevran Arainai cosplay. It's also done by Julie Knox, she of the Morrigan's Goatskin Skirt, the Oriet armour and the Monster Pauldrons.

Due to the person who commissioned this not wanting it any more, you can purchase this very set of armour for £180. Aside from looking like Zevran, it may be useful for Profound Decision's Odyssey: the Great Game.

Making something that was never designed to exist in the physical realm functional and wearable was quite a challenge for Julie. Rendering human-looking elbows and knees is quite tricky, even for the highly complex graphics departments of today.

After a lot of squinting, we realised that the armour (and many of the other models in Dragon Age) was designed to purposefully obscure the joints with thick "padding" so as to no need to accurately render elbows and knees. However, such padding on human joints would make them uncomfortable, if not highly awkward to move.

Very few of the characters in Dragon Age bother wearing anything under the armour and again, this made doing the photos rather awkward. Again leather on skin isn't exactly very comfortable. In the end, we used the basic eyelet shirt under it and our model got to keep his trousers.

We didn't really have any conveniently blonde, long-haired men around, though the Designer did suggest that all we really needed to complete the Dragon Age look was to splatter our model with a bottle of fake blood.

As always, the swords are from Character Kit. They're a little small, strictly speaking, to be swords from Dragon Age, but the perspective seems to make up for it a little.

This very set of armour (roughly a men's size medium, drop us an email) is available for £180.

More photos of the Zevran leather armour 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.

Concept Sketches: A Mostly Medieval Banquet Dress

For all the dresses on the blog, we don't often commissions for them and certainly not to design them froms scratch. Perhaps it's due to their inherent lack of practicality (and frequently very character-specific nature, for those in larp and believe in the curse*) . So I was rather pleased when I was asked to do a banquet dress.

For those who don't live around here, Durham University Treasure Trap hosts anual banquets for current members past and present (and friends!). It's a weekend of dancing and drinking, feasting and fighting (the tournament for weaponsmaster is traditionally held the day after the banquet).

The dress was supposed to be light (as despite being held in Feburary, the hall is almost always very warm) and easy to dance in. It was also to be green.

I was intent on using these golden ivy leaf buttons (and we ended up buying the supplier out of them, which is very inconvenient for any future designs hinging on them), which seemed to dictate at least a touch of the elven.

A meander through costume books later (for all their faults, John Peacock's books are good for that sort of spirited, illustrated gallop through western costume history), we had settled on the high middle ages and sketching happened (the results of which illustrate this post).

Of course, there are also the green dagged sleeves.*

Hopefully there will photos of the lovely woman in her own dress next weekend.

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* In live roleplay, it commonly believed that you will have doomed your character the moment you buy them character-specific kit. They will likely die within an event and you will never be able to wear that gorgeous frockcoat/ dress/ shirt/ armour/ jewellry ever again.

* The Designer has been teasing me for some time about the fact that the only character in my alleged novel who had any physical description (clothing or otherwise) was wearing green dagged sleeves. I have, apparently, an obsession.

Commission: Dashing Asymmetrical Naval Uniform

The coat of the uniform has appeared in the post entitled Dashing Asymmetrical Military Coat, though somewhat less dashingly worn in those set of rather hurried indoor photos. In the same post can be found the photos of the replica uniform (Soldier of the Portuguese War Fleet, c. 1761, taken at the Macau Maritime Museum) that this outfit was based off. Almost all the design decisions were made based on extensive squinting at the replica uniform rather than further research (which was for the most part incredibly fruitless).

The coat, waistcoat, breeches and gaiters are all made from the same soft dark blue wool. The coat has two inside pockets and is lined in faux silk and red wool. The mock-braiding is for the most part unremarkable, but the ensemble does features almost a hundred shiny gold buttons. The high-collared frilly shirt worn under it all is in white linen.

It does appear we have yet to perfect what we're doing with the gaiters, (having conducted further research, I can now say that they're supposed to be buttoned to the bottom of the breeches). We may be seeing a new incarnation of them in the near-ish future.

The sword is an Eldritch and the pistol is the same replica derringer we've been using in just about every shoot since the beginning of the blog. The photos were taken next to Cadbury's chocolate factory in Bournville ("Bourn" for the river and "ville" for the fashion for naming things in the French fashion).

To commission an ensemble in similar materials from the Mercenary, including coat, shirt, breeches, waistcoat and gaiters, would cost in the region of  £180. The coat by itself would cost in the region of £100.

More photos of the dashing asymmetrical naval uniform under the cut.

Commission: Dark Blue Triple-Caped Greatcoat

This voluminous coat is made from a dark blue wool-linen blend and is lined in a bright red faux silk. It is double-breasted and triple-caped, with deep red-braiding-trimmed cuffs and brass buttons.

The Designer and I had joked of coats with four shoulder capes, but it does seem that with a wool coat, three is the limit. It is already rather heavy around the shoulders. The capes are also lined in red so as one moves, the flashes of brilliant red can be seen. As the Proprietor put it, it is good to own kit that looks best when a bit messy.

Greatcoats were apparently also known as cape coats or watchcoats, the latter presumably from them being worn on watch, especially in winter. For all it's faults as a book, there's a rather evocative passage about watchcoats in Moby Dick:

To be sure, in cold weather you may carry your house aloft with you, in the shape of a watch-coat; but properly speaking the thickest watch-coat is no more of a house than the unclad body; for as the soul is glued inside of its fleshy tabernacle, and cannot freely move about in it, nor even move out of it, without running great risk of perishing (like an ignorant pilgrim crossing the snowy Alps in winter); so a watch-coat is not so much of a house as it is a mere envelope, or additional skin encasing you. You cannot put a shelf or chest of drawers in your body, and no more can you make a convenience closet of your watch-coat.

Moby Dick, "The Mast-Head", Chapter 35

The dark blue greatcoat is worn with a white linen frilly shirt (£15 from the Mercenary) and a charcoal waistcoat with six pockets and rivet buttons (£35). The felt top hat was from ebay and is rather fine.

To commission a similar watchcoat from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £160.

More photos of the dark blue watchcoat under the cut.

Commission: Red and Blue Dungeonpunk Gambeson

This is very much a recolour of the dungeonpunk gambeson but with less asymmetry. It's made of dark blue faux suede and red linen, with gunmetal grey fastenings.

Much of the fiddliness of the original gambeson is present here. There's the vambraces with dagger loops, large pouches and the basic weaponsloops on the back.

Due to it being a commission, the gambeson doesn't exactly fit the Proprietor very well. It's a tad on the small side on him, but it's a reasonable quick snap of what it looks like for the website. Not all commissions end up photographed, after all, most of it depends entirely on whether or not we have the time and a convenient model at hand (or just a hanger and a white wall).

To commission a similarly fiddly gambeson from the Costume Mercenary would cost in the region of £160.

Tooled Notebooks

Whilst looking for a (belated) Christmas present for a friend, I ended up in conversation with a lovely woman whose surname happened to be a homophone of mine (yet another detail that is not longer hilarious after the fact). Some negotiation later, I had walked away with a number of notebooks with hand-tooled leather covers. They're quite nice and first few of these will be available at Character Kit for £13 each.

I had sourced the embossed leather-cover books (£5 from Character Kit) some time ago for the Proprietor and the various clockwork globe watches. We've no idea if these will sell, but we shall see.

In Other News: The books, along with many other things will be going to the York Science Fiction and Fantasy Society Convention this weekend. Or more specifically, on the Sunday morning. We should also be going (with Character Kit, of course) to the Roundhouse Trading Kit Fair in March.

More photos of the leather notebooks under the cut.

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.

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.

Preview: The Cloth and Dagger

We were down by Durham's cathedral and castle with Femina Necans, who very nicely agreed to appear in her commissioned cassock and various other bits and pieces.

Perhaps the primary frustration with using beautifully imposing buildings like the cathedral and the castle in such photoshoots is that many of their interesting features aren't near human height. We're only just beginning to learn the various tricks of manoeuvring the model into an interesting pose and have an interesting bit of masonry conveniently in the background. I must thank Femina Necans here for her ongoing patience with shuffling in front of the buildings concerned. 

The beautiful horse-hilted dagger seen in the photographs is a Tallows. And the replica cap-firing firearm is from Evenlode Studio.

As usual, I should be posting the photos up in the next week or so as I sift through them. The lengthening nights and early dusks are making the business of taking good photos of people in clothes rather more difficult. The dreary cloud-shrouded day was largely It was two thirty in the afternoon when we took these and the golden rays of the setting sun were already happily bleaching the colour from the shots.

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.

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* 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.

Red Queen Coat: Photos from the Wedding

I've been sent some absolutely lovely photos of the fairy tale themed reception-party that Helen was gracious enough to allow me to share on the blog. The bride is looking appropriately magisterial in the Red Queen Coat. Underneath it she's wearing her ivory wedding dress. I love the collar detail she's added, which gives the coat that little bit more of a Queen of Hearts theme.

Given the threatening poses (and the rather splendid axe), I suspect the words Off With Their Heads were uttered at least once. Which is as it should be.

A few more photos under the cut (including a group shot in which there appears to be more than one visitor from the Lewis Carol canon).

Red Queen Coat

The Red Queen Coat is made of a thick stretch velvet in a deep claret red. It features a giant "evil queen" collar in black brocade (that we're particularly proud of) in a very deep V-neck that almost goes to the waist, heart-shaped knot buttons and drippy "medieval" sleeves (I use that term very loosely here) with are lined in black brocade. It has lacing down the back and it's pulled rather tightly in the photos. The whole design was meant to echo the huge Gothic Coat-Dress, but the stretch velvet isn't nearly as wide and whilst huge and trailing, this dress isn't quite as giant.

It was meant to be worn over an ivory wedding gown as part of a fairy tale themed reception party. I was promised photos in due course (which I hope to be able to share on the blog), but really I'm just looking forward to seeing the little larp-safe axe that was to go with the Red Queen outfit.

This is a rather unideal photo and not even of the finished coat (in the end, we took the third pair of buttons off). The coat-dress is made for a size 16 and the lacing is pulled back considerably to make it drape on the significantly smaller dress form. But all that aside, I thought to share what has been haunting my deadline nightmares.

To commission a similar coat-dress would cost in the region of £150-170.

Red Velvet Steampunk Tailcoat

The Steampunk Tailcoat is made from a deep red stretch velvet and a red-on-red brocade of a lighter shade. The entire garment is lined in stretch silk. Brocade revers with decorative brass buttons adorn the slit at the back as well as the cuff and lapel.

The design of the coat is almost identical to the other tailcoat, due to both of them being the same commission going slightly wrong in different ways. This was the first, but due to a misunderstanding the wrong type of velvet was used and I have an extra coat on my hands. A second coat was made in time, but the customer consequently changed her mind and a third is now in the works.

The Steampunk Tailcoat would fit a UK size 10-12 and you can purchase this ready-made one at the discounted cost of £75. You can find it here on Character Kit.

The coat is worn with a white linen shirt with little brass four-screw buttons and two rows of ruffles. It is the same shirt that was worn under the Steampunk Apron Dress.

There's probably a lesson here about doing photos at the end of the day when the light is fading and both model and photographer are tired. That only a handful of a hundred and fifty are fit for the blog is probably a new low.

To commission a similar coat from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £85-90.

A couple more photos of the steampunk tailcoat under the cut.

Commission: The Steampunk Tailcoat

The Steampunk Tailcoat was a commission that went wrong in a variety of ways, including the customer changing their mind about what they wanted afterwards. Long story short, the Costume Mercenary had two dark red tailcoats extra. The cotton velvet one was sold to Gracewing, but the stretch velvet remains (see Red Velvet Tailcoat).

This Steampunk Tailcoat is made from a dark red cotton velvet. The contrast fabric is made from a red-on-red faux silk brocade and the whole garment is lined in red stretch silk. The large cuffs and lapels are decorated with brass buttons.

In the photos, the Tailcoat is worn over the buckle corset top, which unfortunately obscures the brass catches of the Tailcoat.

The stretch velvet version is available at Character Kit for £75. To commission a similar coat from the Mercenary would cost in the region of £85-90.

More photos under the cut.

Revenge of the Steampunk Coat: Green Prototype

Back at Foreign Fields Kit Fair, some months ago, I sold a coat off the Proprietor's back and in return, I promised to get him a new Steampunk Coat. And so it was, he commissioned a Green Steampunk Coat as a prototype.

The Green Steampunk Coat is almost exactly like the Red and the Blue in construction. It shares the same cotton velvet, though this time in a dark forest green with a matching faux silk lining. The gilt-and-sap-green jacquard trim bears a geometric design. The contrast fabric is a brown faux suede and the detailing is in brass. The coat bears the iconic cog-and-screw buttons of the Steampunk line.

The Proprietor firmly believes that no one should ever wear the Steampunk Coat done up due to its innately fiddly nature and its robe-like qualities when done up. He is wearing the coat with a black steampunk shirt (with gunmetal grey buckles) and a utility belt made of the same soft faux suede as the coat (which is in some ways rather unideal for the belt, but that is a different matter).

The Steampunk Coat is currently in stock at Character Kit in Red and Blue. For one in custom colours like this one (or purple, black, brown, etc), email the Costume Mercenary for more details.

More photos under the cut.

Nerd East! A Lengthy Illustrated Ramble about the Event

Nerd East was a lot of fun, and not simply for purely mercenary reasons (it's in the name). The Proprietor and myself were downstairs, which was notably more quiet (especially with Cutting Edge's absence due to an unfortunate van situation).

We happened to be in the room where Durham University Treasure Trap runs its tavern nights. It did briefly feel weird that we were there during the day, that I wasn't covered in green facepaint and there weren't Norscan raiders after my blood. The other thing I can't seem to get used to is people recognising me from the Internet. It's still rather surreal and a little sorry to the lovely people I babbled incoherently at. Though this shouldn't stop you from saying "hi", I really do appreciate it.

There was general amazement at student union bar prices. There was affability and effusiveness from all. All the stalls were full of interesting things and friendly people. This knight from the Fools and Heroes stall had the most brilliant costume and I couldn't stop admiring it. The Designer keeps making noises about going in the near future.

Julie's Monster Claws (available through Character Kit) are unspeakably amazing. The photo on Character Kit simply does not do its sheer size and bulk and monstrosity justice.

We kept talking about doing a troll photoshoot with them to demonstrate their enormity, but until then, we have a photo of Julie with them on. They do make everyone look like they have massive gorilla arms. (Yes, for the eagle-eyed, she's wearing a slightly shorter version of the Red Rose Coat with Aquila buttons.)

I met some lovely players whose live roleplay system organiser who bought two pairs of the claws. They were rather understandably regarding this knowledge with deep suspicion and worries about the mortality of future characters.

There was Cogs and Bones, a new steampunk (well, technically dark gaslamp sci-fi, according to their website) larp that's starting up. It's rather promising and rather ambitious, so go peer at its brassy depths.

No photo can really convey the sheer quantity of weapons that Eldritch showed up with. Suffice to say they were awesome and everyone else appeared to have thought so due to the three empty mailbags at the end of the day. He's apparently been playing NeoSteam and has made some really cool-looking (and wacky) weapons from it.

Cities in Darkness, an independent society running four interlinked Vampire the Requiem games in the North East (Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington) was also present.

To those who were there, what did you make of it?

Afternote: If you would rather your photo doesn't appear here, drop me an email and I'll take it off the post.

More photos under the cut.

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.