Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

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Elleth
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Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Elleth »

So like Caedmon, I've been trying over the last few months to do some ground-up ornament design for a Dúnedain impression.

Over the winter I was playing with stars and wings until my eyes bled. Everything I tried looked trite, or Greek, or science-fictiony.
Finally I ended up with a simple design drawing largely from Elvish heraldry.
merf-belt-designprocess-01.jpg
merf-belt-designprocess-01.jpg (68.36 KiB) Viewed 12947 times
It doesn't strictly adhere to the rules: I thought of it rather as a younger sibling's attempt to emulate the grace of the elder. Anyhow, I liked it. :mrgreen:
I then used 123Design to turn it into a leather stamp. I was afraid it might crack under the pressure, so I tried cheap first and ordered it in plastic:
merf-belt-designprocess-02.jpg
merf-belt-designprocess-02.jpg (18.28 KiB) Viewed 12947 times
I assume it wouldn't hold up as well to being struck with a mallet, but slow steady pressure from the arbor press it held up surprisingly well!
merf-belt-buildprocess-01-stamping-design.jpg
merf-belt-buildprocess-01-stamping-design.jpg (209.75 KiB) Viewed 12947 times
Persona: Aerlinneth, Dúnedain of Amon Lendel c. TA 3010.
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Elleth
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Re: Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Elleth »

Leatherworkers will notice that leather is already a darker brown: I wanted to try doing entirely historical processes with this project, so I didn't use any commercial finishes.

Instead that piece of leather has been soaked in a hot (but not boiling!) walnut dye bath: this is what it looks like compared to natural tooling leather:
merf-belt-buildprocess-02-walnut-vs-undyed-unoiled-leather.jpg
merf-belt-buildprocess-02-walnut-vs-undyed-unoiled-leather.jpg (203.41 KiB) Viewed 12945 times
After it dried, I applied a leather finish of 50/50 neatsfoot oil and beeswax. I used the same finish (more or less) on an piece of undyed leather stap recently: this is how they compare when finished:
merf-belt-buildprocess-03-walnut-vs-undyed-oiled-leather.jpg
merf-belt-buildprocess-03-walnut-vs-undyed-oiled-leather.jpg (224.47 KiB) Viewed 12945 times
I purchased a buckle from Lorifactor - I love his pieces and now that he's set up to do business in the US it's actually possible to order his stuff without paying an arm and a leg is shipping and money transfers. Anyhow, I went with a pretty rounded buckle that had vaguely Romano-British lines, which I thought would work well with the overall look I was going for.

I used a standard fastening method of the medieval era, and even added a strap end: but this time did it in leather instead of metal to prevent that click-clackety sound metal mounted belts can have. And besides, it was an easy way to finish up. Here's the finished piece compared to my older reenactment belt made from modern finished leather (also Lorifactor hardware):

merf-belt-buildprocess-04-belt-buckle-and-strapend.jpg
merf-belt-buildprocess-04-belt-buckle-and-strapend.jpg (121.31 KiB) Viewed 12945 times
Also, I'm afraid I was penny-wise/pound-foolish when I ordered the leather for the belt in the first place: I purchased an inexpensive strap of the weight I wanted from a gentleman off eBay, and I think he must have cut it from the belly: it just will not burnish properly. Likewise the leather just squished far too much when I tried to inscribe those lines, so even as they looked at the start, they wander far too much in the finished piece.

I'll be remaking this with a nicer piece of leather at some point: but for the time being, it will do. On to finishing those gosh darn trousers next! :)
Last edited by Elleth on Sun Mar 13, 2016 5:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Persona: Aerlinneth, Dúnedain of Amon Lendel c. TA 3010.
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Elleth
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Re: Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Elleth »

As a final note: after I had the belt stamping done, I went ahead and ordered the stamp in steel. As it happens, the image is much sharper: I'll be using that one next time around:
plastic-vs-steel-stamps.jpg
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Re: Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Udwin »

Hoo, that looks great! I'm really digging it. Can you share your source for custom stamps? After seeing the ones you have, I wonder what kind of leather-stamp could be made from soapstone. Hmm...
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Re: Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Peter Remling »

That is beautiful work.

Thanks for the new source of leather hardware. I've been using Fetteredcockpewters.com for 15 years so new styles are a treat.
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Elleth
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Re: Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Elleth »

Thank you gentlemen!
Can you share your source for custom stamps?
I used Shapeways to have the stamps printed: shapeways.com
I wonder what kind of leather-stamp could be made from soapstone.
Assuming it could withstand the strain of the arbor press, I think that's a fantastic idea! Somewhat more period than having the Shapeway elves print one with their mysterious magical ways. :)
Persona: Aerlinneth, Dúnedain of Amon Lendel c. TA 3010.
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Re: Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Ringulf »

I am very interested in the software and the custom stamp manufacturing. I feel like I am really missing the boat not knowing more about these 3D printers! I have so many designs I would love to make a stamp for. Is it expensive? Can you point the way to getting started? :mrgreen:
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Elleth
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Re: Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Elleth »

Ringulf - sure!

The 3D package I ended up using was 123D Design from Autodesk.

http://www.123dapp.com/design

It's VERY pared down and doesn't have many features at all - BUT it's free, and the UI is pretty quick to pick up.
There's lots of tutorials on youTube.

Basically, I took the design - a vector format image I built in another application (Adobe Illustrator) - and exported it to SVG format.
You CAN generate a flat vector image to work from straight in 123D Design itself - but I know Illustrator, so I didn't bother learning a different horse for that part.

I then extruded the image out in 123D Design into a solid - this part needed a fair amount of cleanup, since the 3D application didn't know which shapes were staying as part of the design and which needed to go. I then added an extruded rounded corner rectangle about an inch square for the base. "Snapped" the two together, and that was that.

I'd like to say it was a quick and easy job, but the application did have a bit of a learning curve. Again - tons of tutorials on youTube. :)

The one thing to keep in mind when designing: some materials have a minimum wall width of just under 1mm: so fine details may not be printable.
Shapeways will kick your model back and not charge your card if they can't print it.

Also you have the option to "scale" the model after it's uploaded, so don't worry about getting it dimensionally perfect in the 3D app. As long as you know what one dimension would be, you can adjust the finished size once it's uploaded.

My stamp was about $10 shipped in plastic, and about $40 shipped in unpolished stainless steel.
The price is based on a minimal setup cost plus extra for each cubic centimeter of material: so while a 1" square leatherstamp didn't break the bank, something like a sword pommel would I imagine get expensive quickly.

That said.. I've a sneaking suspicion I just might have some small bits of jewelry or buckles or suchlike from there eventually. :)
Persona: Aerlinneth, Dúnedain of Amon Lendel c. TA 3010.
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Re: Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Manveruon »

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! I love what you've done here! And I actually quite like the design shown as 3rd from the top in your uppermost image, but I think the final design you've settled upon is perfect. I really wish I had the necessary skills and software to do 3-d renders like that, because there are an absolute TON of various leather stamps, print-blocks, etc. (to say nothing of buckles and other metal items) I would kill to be able to get 3-D printed.

Anyway, the belt itself is absolutely wonderful, and the walnut dye job turned out gorgeous! Yet more inspiration for future projects of my own! Beautiful work!
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Re: Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Manveruon »

Also, I must say, I really like the leather-on-leather strap-end you created! And that Lorifactor site looks fantastic! I will definitely be purchasing from them at some point in the future.
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Re: Making of a Dúnedain belt, v.1.0

Post by Laothain »

I like it. You're right it does have the right air to it. It appears not quite elvish but not manish either but some where in between.
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