A Quandary Over Buckles

A place for pics and tutorials on making Soft Kit (clothing and accessories like buckles and cloak pins).

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Farodel
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Farodel »

WOW GUYS. I was away for about a week and so much has happened. Fantastic contributions. I may try a few of these options to see what works. There's always another piece to use spare buckles on. For now I'll start with that handmade revolution one, because it's the right shape and I think I can trim the belt down to size suitably. Oh, and it's just s'darn cheap.

Manv, if you happen to get one before I do, I implore you to throw some pictures on here! Thank you, everyone.

I also really like the 3d printed one. It seems like it will be the sturdiest option, too. I might start with some plastic shapeways prints so I can check out a few different things. Reeeally liking these Boromir cloak bits.
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Manveruon »

Yeah, I'm super excited about the stuff he's working up with Shapeways. He actually just posted a new Boromir buckle to his Instagram too, which I think might interest you greatly, but it's not uploaded to Shapeways just yet.

I definitely want to get one of those from Handmade Revolution, but I am holding off on that one for a bit. Luckily, Shockbolt did upload a Strider buckle with the strap bar but not the tongue, so I grabbed one of those. Just a waiting game now. Alas, Shapeways takes ages to produce their metal prints.
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Elleth
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Elleth »

Neat - thank you for the demonstration Greg!

I've been sewing too much to get back to the shapeways file, but soon. :)

My cloak hood is about done, and I'm still uncertain how to do the closure in front. Poking around some WETA images for inspiration, I was reminded of something Farodel mentioned -
Random details like that are astonishingly common in the military history of the real world, re-purposing to save in times of war, or to transition in/out of wartime.
Take a look at the fastenings on Faramir's cloak: you can see the're actually BUCKLES, just with no tongue. I think the production team must have just pulled pulled them out of a parts bin from stock Gondorian armor or something, rather than make something custom.

... which I guess is fitting for the characters in the film.
faramir-cloak-buckle.jpg
faramir-cloak-buckle.jpg (84.02 KiB) Viewed 14282 times
re: the Boromir cloak fittings: I read those as rather regal, going by the size. I wouldn't expect someone not of very high social standing to use pieces so big - but that's just my guess. (frankly, film Gondorian stuff is in a weird place: I never know if I'm looking at a generic Gondorian artifact, or a strictly military one. Would a tradesman in Minas Tirith wear a wing- and-star motif, even if he could afford it? )
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Manveruon »

Also of note! I'm pretty sure the buckles used to fasten the cloak in this picture are in fact the exact same design as the buckle on Aragorn's quiver. Which is interesting, and suggests that the quiver may have come from Gondor originally. We know Aragorn traveled extensively and fought for Gondor as a young man, so this would make sense.

Also, where did you find that lovely picture, Elleth?
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Elleth »

why alley cat scratch of course. :)

http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Hum ... Ranger.htm

and they're on Aragorn's quiver you say? That IS interesting. Have an image by any chance?
(effectively the same design is on Boromir's shield strap, but a bit bigger I think)
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Manveruon »

Hah, of course. I clearly haven't perused the Faramir page enough.

Anyway, here's a somewhat decent pic of the buckle on Strider's quiver. There's also another one at the bottom, attaching the strap to the quiver itself in much the same way as Faramir's cloak clasp works (in that it's being used without a tongue).
Aragorn-lotr-lord-of-the-rings-37618609-2430-3591.jpg
Aragorn-lotr-lord-of-the-rings-37618609-2430-3591.jpg (132.41 KiB) Viewed 14278 times
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Manveruon »

...Okay, here's a picture of the other buckle at the bottom of the quiver. Definitely Gondorian.
Aragorn-lotr-lord-of-the-rings-37618597-2673-3299.jpg
Aragorn-lotr-lord-of-the-rings-37618597-2673-3299.jpg (23.89 KiB) Viewed 14277 times
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Ursus »

Really great to see those pics. I've a few weta inspire pieces in the works as well. You could almost theorize that the bow and quiver could be a style common to Gondorian huntsman and that he aquired it on his travels there. Could also be a weta ode to Aragorn being "the greatest huntsman and traveller". I really wish those Strider belt buckles came in bronze.
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Mirimaran »

Aieee! I have never seen the buckle on the back of the quiver! What a great find, and I think it would support that the quiver and bow (which the Weapons and Warfare book says is a cut down Gondorian bow) came from his time there.

Ken
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Elleth »

Just a quick update: my shapeways projects are coming along quite well!

I've adapted my belt buckle to handle a tongue better, and have added a tongue. I've got a "final" buckle coming in steel, as well as a couple test pieces of hardware in bronze and a pile of d-rings, tiny buckles, and a long frame quiver buckle in test plastic.

I'll be making them available in steel, bronze and silver to forum members once I'm satisfied the models and prints are up to snuff.
merf-buckles-progress.jpg
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Kortoso
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Kortoso »

I would love to get that in bronze for a 1 1/2" belt!
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Manveruon »

Awesome! Nice progress!
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Elleth »

Okay, progress!

First, I'm very happy with the belt buckle now. Anyone who wants one, PM me and I'll send you a private link to order one in bronze, brass, steel, etc.*
They also have some "bronze steel" "gold steel" etc which aren't period I'm sure, but are certainly cheaper than ordering in real cast metals.
The one pictured is "matte black steel" - unless you like that pebbly texture, definitely order a "polished" version.
merf-belt-buckle.jpg
merf-belt-buckle.jpg (33.02 KiB) Viewed 13927 times
I'll have that tongue upcoming as a separate model - probably with a baseplate/washer for the buckle - in the very near future.

I'm also making progress on the small buckles and quiver buckles. The small buckles/d-rings I'm happy with, but need to iron out some issues before Shapeways will let me print them in metal.
The quiver buckles look a little chunky, so I'm refining them some more before offering them. (shown in 1.25" and 1.5" test prints)
merf-buckle-dring-samples.jpg
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merf-quiver-buckles.jpg
merf-quiver-buckles.jpg (62.84 KiB) Viewed 13929 times
(Also a good demonstration that simply rescaling a design for a wider strip gets extra chunky: I think every width will need to be designed from scratch to be that size. )

More coming! :)




* once everything is ironed out, I'll move this to the for sale section. I'm not making a penny off them - they're a gift to the community. All I ask is that you not recast any of these pieces for wider distribution.
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Elleth »

UPDATE

My quiver hardware and bedroll/needwallet strap buckle frames are complete in bronze, and they look AWESOME.

Shapeways is still having problems with the tongues I made for the latter, but hopefully the last model I uploaded won't get kicked back. We'll see.

Onward!
merf-buckles-shapeways.jpg
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Re: A Quandary Over Buckles

Post by Manveruon »

OH MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN THOSE ARE BLOODY GORGEOUS! So exciting!
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