I Made A Couple Variants On The Ram Horn Mask I Posted Previously. They Turned Out Well, I Think. I Just

I made a couple variants on the ram horn mask I posted previously. They turned out well, I think. I just finished these up yesterday, then let them dry overnight. It was too nasty outside to get particularly good photos of them today, but I grabbed them while going to visit some friends and got a few fun shots.

I intend to put the smaller one up for sale in the next few days (once I get some nicer photos), but the one with the big ram's horns won't fit in any of the shipping boxes I currently have, so that's a bit more problematic.

If these end up being popular I may start stocking a somewhat thicker leather to use for the face part of these masks. The big horns are heavy enough that when you set the mask down, you kind of need to nestle it against something to keep the weight of the horns from bending the mask portion.

Trying out a horned crown concept. Like the horned mask designs I've been toying with, but without interfering with glasses. So people who don't like stuff on their face can be happy.

Also tried making horns with cut-out details. Was going for a spiraling look. I'm not sure it conveys that exactly, but I think it looks good nonetheless.

And, this just barely fits into the shipping boxes I have. Hooray! So in the next couple of days I'll take some better photos and put this up for sale in my Etsy shop.

Just a quick necklace in a weave I haven't used before. Generally I haven't much liked spiral weaves, because the default pattern only looks good when it's kept twisted open. If you just let it hang, it untwists and looks untidy and bad.

But it turns out that if you double all the rings in the pattern, physics makes it hang neatly. The chain as a whole has a nice round spiraling profile.

This weave doesn't work in a ring size that I currently have many colors in. But I like stainless steel. In theory I could start stocking more sizes of colored rings, but for now I'm still happy with what I've got.

I wanted to make a straightforward dice bag out of scales. I made one once before as a commission (the last 4 photos), but it had some specific details that not everyone would have gone for. (The commissioner wanted it to look like a serpent was spiraling around the bag.)

The design is a pretty comfortable size I think. It fits nicely in the hand, it holds about 20 dice, and you can get your hand into it without problems. The normal chainmail dice bag I've sold a few of is a bit smaller, and I feel that size is a bit less satisfying. But any bigger than this and I think it would start feeling like it was maybe too big. So I'm happy with this size.

Rather than pointing down away from the opening, the scales face horizontally and spiral around the pouch. This is to allow it to close more easily; the chainmail weave with the scales in it is easily collapsed in this direction. If it was done with them pointing away from the opening, the bag really wouldn't be able to sinch up properly.

Scales and rings are stainless steel. (The one below has details in bronze.) I plan on making some number more of these to sell at a convention full of LARPers that I'll be vending at in late February. I'll also post them up for sale online shortly, but first I need to take a few more nice photos and set a price.

The completed zeppelin purse I made as a gift for my sister. The purse itself is made of laser-cut leather, stained red, sewn together, and wet-formed to shape. The strap is a chainmail weave in stainless steel.

I'm planning on making another as a late Christmas gift for a friend. I don't know if I'll make more at some point to sell. I got the idea from this other airship bag, so currently I'm not sure how I would feel about that.

Here are some progress shots of the piece being assembled.

Wooden scale maille bracelet I just made. I've been meaning to do this for years, but the arrival of the clear plastic scales finally goaded me into CADing up the dimensions and laser cutting the wood.

This wood is .8 mm thick plywood, so it's actually a good deal stronger than you'd expect. This first batch of scales I just cut quickly out of a scrap piece the laser shop had lying around. The next time I do it I'll be finishing the wood before I cut it, probably using tung oil. It'll deepen the color a bit, draw out the grain, make it a bit more lustrous, and help it avoid getting dirty.

I'm seriously contemplating making something big like a shirt out of wooden scales, and doing stuff like varying the size and shape of the scales along the piece to give it different textures. I may also look into getting veneers of fancy woods to laminate onto the wood before I cut it. (I need plywood because I don't trust planks of hardwoods not to split in the direction of the grain.)

Oh, and you can follow the link at the beginning to find this on my Etsy store!