MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

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Elleth
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MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Elleth »

I guess it's time to go public with this... I've finally gotten a fair amount of my Shapeways work set up for easy purchase.

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/northern-star-creations
merf-northern-star-storefront-v1.jpg
merf-northern-star-storefront-v1.jpg (48.85 KiB) Viewed 29970 times
I confess I do have a small markup on most of those items in hopes of eventually making back some of my R&D costs, but the lions share of the expense comes from Shapeways itself. Production on demand is still crazy expensive, sadly. In most cases you can use steel rather than cast metals - it's perhaps not as period and might need a little more finishing, but it's a *lot* cheaper.

I can say I've ordered and am using myself:

The small buckles in raw bronze. (VERY happy with the frames, need to use 'em a bit to verify the tongues hold up, but I'm not worried)
Two of the flower stamps in steel (just posted pictures, very happy with those)
Strap Anchor and Connector in raw bronze - very happy with those and you'll be seeing "assembled" pictures in the near future)
"Ranger Swordbelt buckle" in polished nickel steel - happy so far, but I've *not* yet received the tongues-and-backplate model so can't give an honest review yet.

More coming soon!


Also I have a request. I'd like to use this store in part to route traffic back to the forum. While I don't want to suggest there's any kind of official connection - Jack, Peter: would you mind if I added the URL in the store header with a pointer back here?
Persona: Aerlinneth, Dúnedain of Amon Lendel c. TA 3010.
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Manveruon
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Manveruon »

Woo-HOOOOOO!!! GO ELLETH! Super exciting! Thanks for doing this!
Maerondir Perianseron, also called “Mickel,” Halfling Friend - Ranger of the Misty Mountains
Melthrist
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Melthrist »

*screams excitedly*

YES!
A Elbereth Gilthoniel
silivren penna míriel
o menel aglar elenath!
Na-chaered palan-díriel
o galadhremmin ennorath,
Fanuilos, le linnathon
nef aear, sí nef aearon!
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Greg
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Greg »

Came together very nicely. Well done.
Now the sword shall come from under the cloak.
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Elleth
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Elleth »

For what it's worth, Shapeways just redid their pricing structure for cast metals, so I was able to drop the prices for a lot of things. Not as much as I'd like, but every little bit helps. Interestingly, they've tweaked their "multiple pieces" rules, so the small buckles are now actually cheaper to order already cut apart and individually finished. I wish they'd done that *prior* to my getting a dozen of them, but c'est la vie. :)


UPDATE

All steel buckle tongues have been removed.

After some experimentation, we've found the Shapeways production technique just doesn't allow the tongues to be closed properly. Heat the steel nice and glowing, try to bend it, and... it crumbles.


The cast metal versions are still in place.

Looks like my quiver project is now a couple weeks from finishing to... :/
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Greg
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Greg »

A quick update for those considering Elleth's buckles:

I picked up all of these in nickel-steel. They come quite shiny, like a new quarter (or nickel! heh...), but after a day and a half in some diet coke:
IMG_9996.JPG
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They grey first, and then begin to progressively turn a somewhat bronzey color. The photo shows them a fair bit lighter than they actually are. A light dusting with some high-grit sandpaper and just a touch of that shine will start coming back through. Very nicely done, Elleth.

Also, I bent my buckle tongue on cold and it went with no complaints.
Now the sword shall come from under the cloak.
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Manveruon
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Manveruon »

reeeeaaaally need to get my hand on a few of these beauties.
Maerondir Perianseron, also called “Mickel,” Halfling Friend - Ranger of the Misty Mountains
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Elleth
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Elleth »

Also, I bent my buckle tongue on cold and it went with no complaints.
hunh.

AWESOME. I've a test print lying around I'll try that with once my craft room is back in usable order. Presuming I can duplicate your success, I'll re-enable the steel tongued buckles. Cool!


I can't wait to see what you're making. :mrgreen:
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Straelbora
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Straelbora »

Awesome stuff!
Vápnum sínum skala maðr velli á
feti ganga framar því at óvist er at vita
nær verðr á vegum úti geirs um þörf guma
Hávamál
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Greg
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Greg »

Elleth wrote:I can't wait to see what you're making. :mrgreen:
I don't know what you're talking about.
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Manveruon
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Manveruon »

"All right then, keep your secrets." :P
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Greg
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Re: MERF friendly buckles and leather stamps

Post by Greg »

Manveruon wrote:"All right then, keep your secrets." :P
This has GOT to be the most quoted line on this forum.
Now the sword shall come from under the cloak.
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