Gallery of past work

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Gallery of past work

This gallery is not a comprehensive album of my work but it is a good representation of what I make.

Please click on any of the photos for a description of the item.

Contact me if interested in any items similar to these on the "As the Crow flies" page.

Armor

This is a picture of what I call the Legolas style spaulder. I've made quite a few sets of these and they have evolved over time. I made these quite a while ago. I like this picture because it shows how they sit on the shoulder. These were submerged in a vat of near boiling bees wax then formed. The wax permeates the leather and makes it more stiff and dense.

This is what the Legolas style shoulders look like on the underside. They are suspended from three softer leather straps. This makes the piece quite flexible and it can compress on itself. It is a very comfortable piece of armor.

This is a set of my "Gothic" style spaulders. This photo shows how they set on the shoulders. They are made in a similar style to my "Legolas" style but with more shapely plates. The top plate is riveted to the biggest plate, then the lower plates are suspended from inner strapping.

This shows construction of the underside of the "Gothic" style spaulder, all of my shoulder armor is submerged in near boiling bees wax to harden it.

This shows a gorget, it buckles in the back and is oil treated. This one has an attached collar and leather roping. The rings are there to attach a cape to. I made this to go with a scaled torso armor (pictured elsewhere).

This is a gorget with no collar and a pair of matching "Gothic" shoulders with besagews (the little disk shaped pieces). This whole piece has a hammered finish, I use this finish in alot of my work to add some texture.

This is a set of plain black leather 3/4 legs, they are made of a single thigh piece and a molded leather knee. Constructed of 12-14 ounce vegetable tanned saddle leather. These are a simple and good looking pair of legs. I can also use steel knees for something like this.

This is a set of plain black leather shaped greaves (shin guards) and forearm bracers. Made as a set for a customer. Everything is water hardened. I shaped the leg pieces by wrapping putting the leather on my legs when it was wet, I then wrapped my leg with a towel, plastic wrap and finally tape to make what looked like a cast. I wore it for an hour and the leather stayed the shape of my leg.

This is a pair of my "Gothic" style shoulders in brown with no texture, this is about the simplest these turn out. I really like how the brown shoulders turn out, there always seems to be variation between the plate color and you can see the inconsistencies in the leather. The bees waxing process brings this out.

This is a set of plain black "Gothic" spaulders with detachable besagews.

This breast plate is made entirely of leather! It is modeled after the 7 piece Churburg armor. 7 plates of thick saddle leather riveted to strips of leather at the joints. I gave the piece a nice border and hammer finished it. I painted the whole thing with metallic silver paint then put an antique wash over it. The dark antique wash settled in the depressions through the piece giving a very cool effect. Most everybody that sees the photo thinks it is metal, it was pretty convincing up close too.

Here is a photo of an archer's buckler shield. I like these, they can be made very plain or quite decorative. I've included several photos of different bucklers. These have a 14 gauge steel boss and a ring of thick leather, they range from 10-12 inches in diameter.

This was a commission armor. I made these arm pieces upper and lower for a customer who had the elbows already. I also made a set of legs and a gorget to match. I don't think I would have ever made blue armor on my own and it turned out quite nice when it was all said and done.

Here is a pair of "legolas" style spaulders in black. Plain outer border, ivy median border and a hammer finished interior. It has arming tabs at the top and straps and buckles at the bottom. These are bees wax submerged.

"Gothic" shoulders with an ivy border and a smooth interior. Nice and relatively simple. These have been bees wax dipped.

This is a pair of all leather studded arms. I even made the elbows out of leather. This was a light weight pair that were commissioned for LARP (costume) purposes.

Studded leather legs with mild steel knees. Nice looking and relatively simple armor with alot of little rivets.

"Legolas" style spaulders with every other lame studded. These are bees wax hardened.

This is a fancier "legolas" style spaulder. You'll notice this one has 7 lames instead of the usual 6 and has basket weaving tooled into every other lame. Turned out great with lots of great texture. I love the way brown leather has variety in the color after being wax dipped.

One of my all time favorite ideas and creations. This is my version of a ringmail vest. Made of 5 ounce leather backing and covered with about 90 solid cast brass rings, I consider this a masterpiece of mine. I have made 4 to date. They are expensive and turn out beautiful, this is always an eye-catcher when I wear it to an event.

This is a detail shot of some of the tooling I do on the ringmail vest, it is a good depiction of the roped edging and, rivet work and tooling that goes into the leather. Little details are what set my work apart from the rest.

This is a new set of bracers and they are really cool. There are metal splints through out the whole piece. This allows me to shape the bracers so they will stay in a ergonomic form.

This is a new set of bracers and they are really cool. There are metal splints through out the whole piece. This allows me to shape the bracers so they will stay in a ergonomic form.

This is one of my personal arms, you can see these are the bracers from two pictures ago. I can wear them by themselves or as a part of this arm harness. This is a really good example of how I like to make armor. I find metal pieces I like then create the leather bits to go with the steel. All and all I end up with a piece that I think is more interesting to look at than something that is all made out of one material.

This is an old pair of legs I made a while back and they turned out great. They were incredibly time-consuming. These were my first pair of splinted legs, The reddish leather splints were sewn down to a soft leather backing then I inserted 16 gauge steel splinting between the two layers. Everything was then stitched down by hand. You could wear these with or without the matching lower legs.

Another pretty set of "legolas" style spaulders.

This is some close up detail of the work that goes into my armor.

Beautiful "legolas" armor that has a different median border than the armor in pic 30. See how the leather is slightly lighter on the edges, I really like this modulation throughout the piece. It is caused by how much heat the piece gets when it goes into the hot bees wax.

A close up of picture 32, the detail is beautiful.

"Gothic" style armor with some scaling tooled into it.

Details, details, details....people really do notice. Check out how thick the top plate is it is 14 ounce leather or about 1/4" thick and bees wax submerged as well.

Another pretty example of my "Gothic" shoulders.

Another detail close-up, look how clean this is! It's hard to believe I do this all with handtools sometimes. The beveled edges really help to clean-up a piece.

Hmmm, an old project for me. I purchased the metal placard, dressed it up with rivets and installed the leather upper. In the picture it looks pretty good, but I've had years of practice since this picture was taken and can see where I would do it different now.

This was my first attempt at some shoulder and neck armor. This turned out okay but it is alot rougher than the work I do now.

One of my first tries at the "Gothic" style shoulders, it may be hard to tell but you can see my progress by comparing this piece to the ones in photos 34-37, those are way cleaner. These were still nice and it illustrates my skill improvement with practice.

This is another older "Gothic" style shoulder.

This is a pair of shoulders complete with a matching gorget. Turned out to be a pretty nice looking piece. I don't usually paint the border a different color.

This was a custom commission with a hand tooled design on the gorget and jumbo sized shoulder armor. You can see this piece was not bees wax hardened as it has a flatter, less curvy shape to the pieces.

Archery Bracers

I've made literally hundreds of bracers, you can mix and match just about any elements you see in my photos for a custom design of your own. Pictured below are $50 limited edition bracers, I've tried to include a variety of my work to show some of the seemingly endless possibilities.

Studded brown base leather, cross stitch natural sinew, ivy border, blue median border and a celtic knot with yellow spots.

Studded pebble black base, natural cross stitched sinew, ivy border, blue median border and a blue dragon with yellow spots motif.

Pebble black base, natural cross stitched sinew, ivy border, black median border with a black and yellow butterfly and spots motif.

Old pebble brown base (discontinued), green box stitch, celtic braid border, black median border, wolf head motif at bottom and mule deer with spots and acorns in the interior. This was a custom design by a customer.

Waxy mahogany base, natural cross stitching, an ivy border a green median border and a celtic knot motif with green spots.

Studded pebble black base, green cross stitching, ivy border, black inner border and a green dragon with green spots motif.

Studded pebble black base, green cross stitching, celtic braid border, black median, skull and cross bones with green spots motif.

Studded waxy pebble brown base, black box stitch, ivy border, yellow median, sun with spots and flowers motif.

Russet base, green cross stitching, celtic braid border, black median, green and textured rays with a celtic knot main stamp.

Pebble black base, green cross stitch, celtic braid border, black median border, green dragon with green spots.

Red reptile base (heavy texture!), black box stitch, celtic braid border, black median, red dragon with tooled scales motif.

Pebble black base, green box stitch, celtic braid border, black median border, hand carved green arrow motif.

Pebble black base, green cross stitch, celtic braid border, black median, hand carved sword motif.

Pebble black base, black box stitch, celtic braid border, black median, tooled blue and textured rays with painted moon interior.

Studded work boot base, black box stitch, celtic braid border, orange median, tooled smooth and textured rays with a painted sun motif.

Pebble black base, blue box stitch, celtic braid border, lt. blue median, white pegasus on golden stars motif.

Pebble black base, red box stitch, celtic braid border, black median, red and textured rays with a white skull and crossbones motif.

Custom job, she wanted alot of colors!

Studded cranberry reptile, natural cross stitch, celtic braid border, black median, gold aztec coin motif with green spots.

Custom job for a woman who had a hyper flexy elbow and was getting string strike on her bicep.

Dark brown base, green cross stitching, celtic braid border, black median, tooled green and textured rays with a celtic knot motif. Eyelet and lace closure on forearm and straps and buckles on the bicep. This is about a $100 project and I need measurements for them.

Brown buffalo base, natural box stitch, ivy border, yellow median, painted sun with flowers and spots motif.

Brown buffalo base, red box stitch, ivy border, red median, red dragon with scales motif.

Studded pebble black base, red whip stitch, celtic braid border, black median, skull and crossbones with red spots motif.

Pebble brown base (discontinued), natural cross stitch, ivy border, green median, sunflower with flowers and spots motif.

Flat black base, green box stitch, ivy border, green median, hand painted moon with hand carved ivy design motif.

Pebble black base, black box stitch, celtic braid border, black median, painted moon on silver stars interior.

Studded pebble black base, natural cross stitch, celtic braid border, black median, gold aztec coin with black spots motif.

Black reptile base, green cross stitch, celtic braid border, black median, green dragon with tooled scales motif.

Brown reptile base (discontinued), black box stitch, celtic braid border, black median, 15th century sword motif.

Customer's design

Work boot base, black box stitch, celtic braid border, night and day coming together interior.

Pebble black base, natural box stitch, celtic braid border, gold median, tooled silver and textured rays with a gold cross motif.

Pebble black base, natural box stitch, celtic braid border, lt. blue median, tooled gold and textured rays with a white pegasus motif.

Pebble black base, black box stitch, celtic braid border, black median, hand carved sword motif.

Pebble black base, black box stitch, celtic braid border, blue median, painted moon on gold stars motif.

Brown buzzard base, green cross stitch, celtic braid border, black median, green arrow on textured interior.

Accoutrements

In general the bits and pieces that are essential to Medieval / Renaissance faire costuming that do not fit nicely into my other main categories.

This is an example of a quiver I made to go with a matching bracer. I make soft tube quivers as the norm. This one has a tooled leather strap, bottom and the ring that holds the mouth of the quiver open. This one is based on my standard design and has a tooled strap.

This quiver would cost $250

This was a set of hip quivers and bracers I made for a customer, this is a good example of me leather gear with a contiguous motif.

This is a view of a matching bracer and quiver set for a customer, he wanted his bracer and quiver to have the green dragon motif. This turned out really cool. This particular quiver also has a three point strap (side strap) in addition to the main strap for a somewhat more stable affair. The quiver won't slide down your back as readily with this kind of set up.

The quiver here would be $300 and the bracer is $50

Another view of the previous green dragon quiver and bracer from picture 3.

This was a custom quiver, very similar to my standard quivers in most ways. Notice this one has a tooled leather "cup" at the bottom of the quiver. The customer asked me to carve his name in runes on the cup. He sent me the art work and it turned out cool.

This quiver would cost $300

I'm trying to come up with something more affordable, that is not quite so time consuming to make.

This was a cool little project based on the Errol Flynn Robin Hood. I took the basic shape of that quiver and did some modification to it. The little shield patch is actually a pocket.

Every now and again someone with some money will pay me to make something that challenges my skill. This was a quiver made in the style of Legolas' from Lord of the Rings. It has a 3 point strap set up, a double knive sheath incorporated into the quiver. The peacock is hand tooled and painted. This turned out great! I was in a rush to get it to the customer and did not get to photograph it properly.

This quiver would cost $450

Another view of the Legolas quiver.

This is a view of a quiver I made to match a bracer, I believe this is another view of the quiver pictured in photo #1.

Another, somewhat more simple quiver with a black tube.

This was a really pretty project, quiver and matching bracer I did for a little girl, it turned out beautiful! I think it was one of my prettiest sets to date. The tooling on the strap, top, bottom and bracer all matched.

This is another view of the quiver from photo 12.

Another view of the quiver set from photo 12.

Close-up photo of the bottom of the quiver from photo 12.

Here is an old style belt pouch of mine, I have changed the design but could still make a pouch like this.

This is a belt pouch I made on a commission for a customer who liked my personal pouch. This one was about 8 inches accross and 2 inches deep. It has tooled leather trim work and belt loops with a rabbit fur flap interior. It turned out really nice. I find pouches to be more time consuming than you might think! This is my old design, I have a new pattern that I like better but could still make something like this.

This was a pouch I did on commission from the customers own art and description. This is probably the most intensive hand carving exercise I have taken on, and it turned out great. the emblem on the front is probably about 5 1/2 inches accross and depicts a pair of Orca whales in an Alaskan style. The pouch itself turned out nice too, it was the design of the customer.

A pouch like this would cost $150

This is my new pouch design. I really like it alot compared to the old design. It is about 7 inches across, 6 inches tall and 2 inches deep. It has belt loops on the back. I could put the belt loops up high to give the pouch a drop if that were desired.

simple but turned out cool, little dagger frog.

This was a cool little project I made for a friend. It is a flint lock pistol frog for his wife when she is in pirate garb.

This is just one of those big belts with a fancy ring. Made of one piece of leather and one fancy ring held on with solid rivets. Again, there is a variety of things I can do with these, from plain to fancy. This is a very sturdy belt and is about two inches wide. Can be in black or brown.

These belts start at about $60

This is a sword belt based on a basic design I like. It has a sword holder built right into it. Belts can really help out the look of your outfit, and I can do a ton of different things with them. They can be very plain or have lots of tooling. I use solid rivets, very sturdy hardware and good 8-12 ounce leather for most of my belt making. Usually they come in either black or brown.

Belts usually start at $75.00

Arrows

I make lots and lots of arrows, these are perfect for re-enactment and for shooting. I participate in English Longbow tourney shooting while in period attire for show. I needed arrows that looked period and shot consistently, while abiding safety rules necessary for shooting around an audience. So using modern equipment I make arrows for this purpose, they are beautiful, artfully crafted pieces that perform as good as any wooden arrow you can find. They have cedar shafting, hand carved nocks, hand shaped fletching and the fletchings are tied to the shaft....you will never throw a fletch with my arrows and if you are shooting traditional longbow off your hand you will never get a fletch cut, the front of my fletches are tied and covered with the sinew.

Crossbow bolts with black fletch.

Crossbow bolts with white fletch and brass points.

Crossbow bolts with blue/yellow fletching and brass points.

Four black fletches with a broad shield cut.

Traditional barred index, white hen feathers with a "narnia" cut.

Grey index feather and white hen feathers with a "narnia" cut.

four black fletches with a "straight shield" cut, red sinew wrap.

Yellow barred index feather and yellow hen feathers with a "legolas" cut.

Traditional barred index feather, grey hen feathers with a "straight shield" cut.

Green barred index feather, grey hen feathers with a "curved shield" cut.

Three black feathers with a "legolas" cut.

Two tone green shafting, traditional barred index feather, white hen feathers with a "narnia" cut.

Some different feather cuts, from left to right: Asian, Medieval, and Elipse.

Grey index feather and black hen feathers.

Traditional barred index feather, yellow hen feathers with a medieval cut.

All white feathers, the index feather has a splice of red feather cut into it, medieval cut.

Red barred index feather, black hen feathers, medieval cut.

Two tone green shafting, all yellow feathers the index feather has a black splice, medieval cut.

Two tone red shafting, black feathers, the index feather has a red splice, medieval cut.

All three feathers are spliced red and black the index feather is red barred. Two tone green shaft and medieval cut fletching.

Three white feathers, medieval cut. Very traditional looking.

Three traditional barred feathers, the index feather has a small splice of green at the end. Medieval cut, natural sinew wrap, two tone black shaft.

6 fletch grey with a medieval cut on natural cedar shafting.

Blue barred index feather, black hen feathers, blue wrap and a medieval cut.

Two tone green shaft, red barred index feather, red hen feathers and a medieval cut.

Two tone green shaft, natural sinew wrap, traditional barred index feather, black hen feathers with a medieval cut.

Two tone green shaft, natural sinew, traditional barred index feather, grey hen feathers with a medieval cut.

Natural sinew wrap, traditional barred index feather, black hen feathers and a medieval cut.

Natural sinew wrap, traditional barred index feather, grey hen feathers and a medieval cut.

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