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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.

Detail shots of the previous scale dragon tail. There's a bit of laser-engraving on two scales--the name of the character this tail is representing, plus an insignia the commissioner uses. I use the same laser cutters to do this engraving as I use to cut my leather designs.

Also showing some close-up shots of the spade tip. This one was a diamond-shaped tip. It's made of leather, which I laser-cut, stain, and sew together by hand. In between the two exterior layers are more leather pieces shaped to give the final tip a bit of dimensionality and bulk.

You can also see the way in which the spade tip gets attached with three lobster clasps, which means the tips are easily removable. Those last photos were taken before I attached the spikes in.

Here's how I make my chainmail dragon tails. You can see it starting as just a few scales linked together, and growing to be a full piece. Along the way there are some shots of the interior tension supports I put into them to keep the tail from folding flat, and also some detail shots of the belt loop attachment. I use the large sized scales from The Ring Lord, linked together with 16 gauge 5/16" inner diameter rings.

I fairly regularly get people asking for pointers or instructions for these tails, and I give what advice I can, but I've avoided doing something too specific. I prefer to leave the messy details as a learning exercise for the reader. After all, I sure learned a lot about chainmail construction from figuring these out.

But there's a consistent point of confusion for people, which I'll try to clear up. Most people seem to start out thinking of it like a sewing project: they make a big flat triangle of all the scales in the project, then they try to connect it up the back. This is Hard, for a variety of reasons:

Because of the diagonal nature of the scale weave, you can't just join up two symmetric edges--either you have to make the piece asymmetric, or you have to add in the center-most column of scales in between the mirrored edges.

Joining it up like that means the expansions happen along the same seam as you're joining together. Keeping track of all these things is hard, especially because the naked edge of the scale weave is floppy and messy.

It's difficult to get your pliers in there to close up the tip.

You can't really get in to the center of the tube to do anything useful like building the tension supports that I do.

Instead, think of it like a knitting or crocheting project. If you've ever seen someone knit in the round, this may make sense. Basically, I start out with a (tiny) ring of scales, and build rows above that one. So it's a tube the whole time, and I only ever have one edge active. But people tend to stall out on how to build a tube.

Oh, and I guess my weave direction for scales may be different from other people's. All the instructions I've ever seen for weaving scales weave from the top to the bottom, with you looking at the underside of the weave the whole time. This is fine for learning, but I found that I greatly increased my speed by instead weaving from the bottom to the top. I look at and interact with the top edge of the weave, and link each scale down to two below it. After all, it doesn't matter if it's hard to see the rings from previous rows, because they're already there, and I don't need to touch them anymore. Anyway, I could go on about the advantages of weaving in this direction, but it'll just get preachier than I'm already being.

I hope this helps anyone who's thinking of trying their hand at making a scale tail! And for non-maillers, I hope the pictures were fun to scroll past on your feed!

Oh, and here is this tail finished. I made this one a while ago, but kind of forgot about posting the progress shots.

Plague doctor mask assembled! It’s creepy and steampunk! It covers your whole head, with laces up the back. It’s even got a flap of soft leather beneath the laces to protect your hair.

It took many hours of sewing, but I’m quite happy with it. For being my first time making something of quite this magnitude, it was highly successful. Of course, there are a few nearly-invisible tweaks I’d like to make for a second version, but that’s how it goes! I consider that a sign of doing things right! (Many of the adjustments revolve around making it fit better with glasses. It does just barely accommodate mine, but could be better.) I don’t see many people doing full-head hood types of masks, and when they do it’s almost always done with a soft, flexible leather. Stiff vegetable-tanned leather makes it much more challenging.

I decided not to stain it before assembling it. I really like the natural tan color of the leather for this mask. It fits. Now I need to get some photos of it being worn with a costume. Then it’ll go up for sale.

My submission for Magic Meat Week! It’s a Tumblr celebration of fantasy males in empowering outfits of the style that fantasy women get stuck wearing. I made this set of leather armor over the last week. The codpiece I had already designed, I just needed to make a new copy. The shoulder armor (spaulder), arm (bazuband) and thigh (cuisses I think?) are all new designs, though, and were designed and hand-cut this week. It was a busy week of designing, and it was great.

These things will be up for sale on my Etsy shop soon, but I’ll need to CAD up the patterns so I can make more with the laser cutter, and also take some photos with more clothes.

I just finished this set for @magicmeatweek! I was going for a rogue/assassin sort of vibe. This was my first foray into garment-style design, rather than armor-style! It was fun.

The lace-up-the-side hot pants I actually made early in the year. They were laser-cut and hand-stitched together. Man that stitching took a long time. 

The open-front hoodie I just finished this afternoon, squeaking in just before the deadline for Magic Meat Week. I cut it all by hand and riveted the leather together.

I’ll get some nicer photos with a proper non-kitchen background sometime after Thanksgiving. Maybe toss in some extra straps and harnesses. But for now, this will do.

Codpieces! At long last!

I made these over a year ago I think, but hadn’t managed to get photos of them, and hadn’t decided whether to post them up online. But I just figured, screw it. Time to post these. It’s not like I’m planning on running for public office or anything.

Now I’m the guy with multiple codpieces for sale on my Etsy.

One of these is my usual vegetable-tanned leather, with a red stripe and black stitching. The other is the same black motorcycle leather I used for the chaps and the Magic Meat Week costume, with lots of rivets.

Now let’s see if people buy these!

I made a couple more kinky pet rocks! The Y harness one I’d had sitting around for a while, and now it’s joined by one in a bulldog harness and one that’s fully-suited!

I dunno man. I just think these are a lot of fun to make. I should get some photos of them being held so the size is more obvious, then I’ll post them up for sale. I’ll think of more innuendo to slather the description with then.

I’ve still got a few more nice-looking rocks, maybe suggest some more ideas for costumes for pet rocks?

Finally put ears on this dog mask/pup hood! 

This was a prototype/first run at making a mask in this style, with snout in front and buckles in back. It worked out pretty well, and I think the buckle arrangement looks pretty clean. The snout and ears both detach with snaps, which felt like it was a good way to start thinking about modularity. And there’s enough room in the eye area that it fits on over my glasses, which I think is pretty cool. The snout is open at the bottom, which is pretty comfortable, but the snout is deep enough that it doesn’t really expose the chin very much. And the base structure should be able to support different types of snouts.

The only thing I’m a little bit skeptical of is the ears. I wanted to try a minimalist construction, and it seems to work with just 2 points of attachment (which pivot too, being snaps). But the shape is maintained by stress in the curved segment between the snaps, and I’ll have to see how that holds up when the ears get bonked. But if it does need some adjusting, they’re removable, so that’s easy.

The next mask I make with this structure I’m going to adjust how the straps attach to the mask. Here they’re just riveted directly to the mask. Next time I’ll attach D-rings to the mask and attach the straps to those. That’ll let them pivot around that point, rather than needing to be lined up to point in just the right direction. 

Mask was made by hand from 4 oz vegetable-tanned leather, stained black. I’ll finish it with neatsfoot oil, which’ll darken it up a bit more and make the surface a bit more supple. Rivets and snaps are nickel-plated steel.

New mask! It works with glasses! I went for an angular superhero sort of quality to it. For color I tried interference blue paint over the red which ended up feeling very Wonder Woman-esque to me. I’m not really well-versed enough in superheros though to know whose mask this matches best in shape.

Previously I’d tried this design with the bottom portion disconnected, tapering to points on either side of the nose. Which I thought looked cool, but it was impossible to form and get to stay in place while it was drying. So it never worked out. But I’m pretty happy with this modification to the design!

Here, have some photos of a laser cutter in action! This is one of the things that’s keeping my super busy this month. Someone ordered 30 of these horned headbands, to be used in as I understand it a color guard act. So I’m making these as quickly as I can.

The other thing that’s keeping me busy this month is apartment hunting. The place I’m in now is being gutted to become condos as of September, and so I’m having Fun Times with Craigslist.

New photos of my Dark Unicorn mask! This design happened because ever since binge-watching through My Little Pony a year or two ago while weaving chainmail (I need low-investment TV to keep me entertained while working on repetitive tasks), I’d wanted to make something with the hole-riddled aesthetic of the changeling ponies. And I was happy with how this design turned out!

I still kind of want to make a set of bracers and greaves (arm and leg armor) with this motif. Not sure if I’d ever find a chance to wear it to something, or if anyone else would want such a set, but oh well.

Finally posting this canine hood now that I got nice photos of it! When making it I’d had a serious, attentive sort of personality in mind, with the angular snout and the upright ears. But my friend made it look really playful I thought. 

It’s up for sale on my Etsy shop!

This one was sort of a first pass at making this type of mask, so I cut it by hand and kind of worked it out as I went. If there seems to be interest/demand for this, there are some things I’d adjust. But one thing I was thinking ahead for, is the ears and snout are removable, so I could have a variety of styles to snap on and off.

And even if there isn’t that high a demand for this from the people who follow me, the buckle arrangement I worked out here is pretty good as a framework for making a large full-face mask. So I do plan to make other masks with this as a starting point. The next thing I tackle will probably be a dragon, because of course I need to do a dragon.

New codpiece! This one is made from a pre-finished leather I’ve been toying with, it’s super smooth and glossy. Assembled together with rivets, which makes for a nice consistent look.

You can buy it here!

Oh and there’s also the leather jacket I made for myself for Magic Meat Week a couple years ago.

For some reason today feels like a great day to post more photos of my codpieces.

This one’s the ever-popular black version of my overlapping plates codpiece. It’s been my best-selling item this year!

Etsy link

I got a bunch more photos of this design in a gold color, but sorting through photos is hard work and something kinda wore me out on the internet today.

My contribution to @magicmeatmarch this year! It’s a set of armor fit for a light and swift fighter. It protects the important parts while avoiding restrictions on mobility.

I’d been wanting to make a larger breatplate-type item for a while, this felt like a good excuse. I went with the overlapping plates motif that I’ve used in a number of other projects. It’s secured in place with Too Many Buckles along the sides. When it’s all tightened up it has a bit of a corset nature, straightening up your posture. Made it a bit tricky to do the over-the-top twisting-to-show-off-tits-and-butt poses. But I persevered.

The codpiece, bracers and cuisses were older designs, but it’s always good to fit them into matching outfits.

Wait fuck did I get fucking flagged as a porn blog

what the fuck tumblr

seriously?