Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

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Iodo
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Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Iodo »

It's made from thick 100% boiled wool upholstery fabric and apart from being heavy, it's almost totally windproof. I haven't been out in it much yet but when I do I'll post some pictures, I'll be interested to see how it fares in the rain.

Image

It's just shorter than knee length, which in my mind, is the optimum length for a cloak (as long as I can get away with while still being able to walk up steep slopes/stairs without tripping over) The pattern is almost exactly the same as Greg's Bocksten cloak, the only differences being that I've made the half-circle into an octagon centred on the middle of the neck-hole, which is patterned to form a square when the shoulder seam is sewn.

Image

The trim is the same linen as my summer tunic and the embroidery is (yet again) inspired by the WETA book's:

Image

This projects been far to long in the making, with college work getting in the way of everything it feels good to finally get something finished :mrgreen:
Last edited by Iodo on Tue May 07, 2019 6:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Elleth
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Elleth »

Oh my word.... that is AWESOME!!!!

I love love love love it!!
(that neck must have taken quite a bit of finagling to figure out the angles)
I do very much love how you combine the WETA-ness with real world useful things.

And your kit as a whole is coming together incredibly well!
It's making quite the ensemble already. :mrgreen:


I'm quite curious to hear your experience over the seasons as to how boiled wool compares in the wearing to a thick wool broadcloth.
I've been meaning to try lodenwool in some capacity at some point - it sounds like an interesting fabric.
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Iodo
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Iodo »

Elleth wrote:Oh my word.... that is AWESOME!!!!

I love love love love it!!
(that neck must have taken quite a bit of finagling to figure out the angles)
I do very much love how you combine the WETA-ness with real world useful things.

And your kit as a whole is coming together incredibly well!
It's making quite the ensemble already. :mrgreen:


I'm quite curious to hear your experience over the seasons as to how boiled wool compares in the wearing to a thick wool broadcloth.
I've been meaning to try lodenwool in some capacity at some point - it sounds like an interesting fabric.
Thank you so much for such good comments :P

Designing the neck-line wasn't as bad as you might think, If I'd tried to do it with trial and error it probably would have been but, luckily, I didn't. Geometry is one of the only parts of math I've ever been good at. After working out all the angles and length's I cut it in cheap curtain backing fabric (which I use for all my patterns) to check it would work, and it did. The same goes for the angles on the linen trim.


Boiled wool 'v' Broadcloth
That's a difficult question to answer but I'll try :mrgreen:

The green waistcoat thing in the first image (made from an army blanket) is essentially boiled wool and the black tunic is a wool broadcloth of very similar thickness to the waistcoat so that will give me some point of comparison.

Wet weather:
If I'm out in rain (wearing both) my arms will get wet quite quickly, water seems to soak through the tunic fast where as the waist coat will keep rain out for about two hours (same goes for my old cloak, I'm hoping pure boiled wool will preform better) Conclusion: boiled wool is more waterproof than broadcloth.

Windy weather:
Wearing my new cloak a few days ago in quite high winds I couldn't feel anything through it at all, where as with two layers of broadcloth (the tunic and brown surcoat) I still feel the wind chill however the green waistcoat will cut out most of that. Conclusion: boiled wool is more windproof than broadcloth.

Note: The brown surcoat is technically tweed but it's an old weave and is quite similar to broadcloth

Cold weather:
Cold still weather is definitely the decider, what I've found is that (if it's not windy) broadcloth will keep me warmer, possibly because it's less dense so there's more trapped air and more insulation, Broadcloth also breaths better. These two reasons are why I've stuck with broadcloth under layers for warmth and boiled wool outer layers for water/windproofness (and when it's raining to much I use my oilcloth cloak which doesn't get heaver when it's wet).

(however for a totally fair comparison of warmth I'd have to make a boiled wool tunic of similar thickness to the broadcloth one)

Hope this is helpful :P


and I'm going to have to ask what lodenwool is? I've never heard of that and a quick google search brought up lots of sites that seem to say slightly different things
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Harper
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Harper »

Nice work! The shorter cape length certainly works better in the wilderness for actually wearing.

Wind is always a concern of mine with wool. Boiled wool does work better against the wind.

I have a coat made of Loden wool with wax canvas over the shoulders. It is warmer than it looks and works well in the rain/wet snow.

Loden wool would work well for a dwarven persona. Orignially it was made in the Alps (Tyrol) from loosely woven thick yarns from mountain sheep--definitely dwarven geography and a logical source of wool for dwarves. The yarn was put through a "wet" finishing process using heat, soap and tension which would both shrink and thicken the wool. It was designed to keep a person both warm and dry through wet winters.

Modern Loden often use different wools and finishing techniques.

All that being said, I still like Alpaca wool the best. It is warmer, lighter and way softer than any wool out there (except Cashmere).

Merry Christmas!
Last edited by Harper on Mon Dec 24, 2018 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Straelbora »

Wonderful piece of work. I'm always amazed at the skill level of fellow Rangers here.
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feti ganga framar því at óvist er at vita
nær verðr á vegum úti geirs um þörf guma
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Iodo
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Iodo »

Thank you both, and Merry Christmas :P

Loden wool sounds very interesting, I'll have to look into it
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
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Peter Remling
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Peter Remling »

I like the whole look a lot. Really impressed with how it came out. It brought to mind something though. With that neckline and the question of how it will feel in high winds, I thought while your torso will be warm your neck won't . I then mused that a scarf of the same material would take care of that issue.

I have a tendency for run on sentences probably because that's how I think so I figured the scarf would not always be needed but would still have to be carried. Let's make the scarf a sash around the waist when it's not being used as a scarf. Well while we're doing that, let's put pockets in the scarf/sash so we can use it as a needs wallet too.

All of that musing took less than 1/2 the time to type the first sentence.

I also talk fast so I have to remember to slow down when talking to people who aren't used to me. :D

Merry Christmas !!
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Iodo
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Iodo »

Peter Remling wrote:I like the whole look a lot. Really impressed with how it came out. It brought to mind something though. With that neckline and the question of how it will feel in high winds, I thought while your torso will be warm your neck won't . I then mused that a scarf of the same material would take care of that issue.

I have a tendency for run on sentences probably because that's how I think so I figured the scarf would not always be needed but would still have to be carried. Let's make the scarf a sash around the waist when it's not being used as a scarf. Well while we're doing that, let's put pockets in the scarf/sash so we can use it as a needs wallet too.

All of that musing took less than 1/2 the time to type the first sentence.

I also talk fast so I have to remember to slow down when talking to people who aren't used to me. :D

Merry Christmas !!
Great idea's, thank you (and Merry Christmas), here's my solution:

https://www.middleearthrangers.org/foru ... =25&t=3345

Although I'm yet to make one that looks dwarven :P
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Elleth
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Elleth »

Iodo - thank you for that breakdown! That's good information.

Harper's already answered more than I knew from my cursory look at loden to date. I'd known it was an older fabric from the Alpine regions known for weather resistance, but I didn't know the formulation had changed. Harper, do you know of anyone making the original stuff?

I'd wondered about a leather shoulder yoke for shedding water over a wool body - it's very cool to hear that's a done thing, and not just a Hollywoodism.
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Greg »

Iodo, this is your best work so far. It's brilliant, and beautiful. Absolutely 100% dwarven in my mind.
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Harper »

Elleth wrote:Harper's already answered more than I knew from my cursory look at loden to date. I'd known it was an older fabric from the Alpine regions known for weather resistance, but I didn't know the formulation had changed. Harper, do you know of anyone making the original stuff?

No personal experience, but i think you can find some here:
https://www.robertwstolz.com/pages/our-weavers-we-love

More on the process (with pictures):
https://www.robertwstolz.com/pages/from ... burg-court
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Iodo
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Iodo »

Greg wrote:Iodo, this is your best work so far. It's brilliant, and beautiful. Absolutely 100% dwarven in my mind.
Thank you :P
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Iodo
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Iodo »

I've been out in some rough weather to give the cloak a good test:

Image

Firstly, sorry for the hat, It was cold and the only dwarven head-wear I have is my oilcloth hood which is NOT warm :P

I wore a woolen scarf at first to keep out the draft but got hot walking up the steep hill at the start and tied it to my belt before I took any photo's, in the first photo (left) I had just reached the top of the steep climb and had it thrown back to keep cool, that works well.

It was so windy on top of the ridge that it was hard to stand up, the cloak still kept me warm, the only problem I had was it billowing out and letting in the cold air, my solution was to tuck it into my belt (the second picture), that worked well but kept coming out so I think I'll add a toggle fastening.

Unfortunately I still don't know how good it is with a pack of some kind or in the rain. I'd hoped to test in in wet weather today but the rain had stopped by the time I got to the woods, I'll have to test that at a later date.
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Peter Remling
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Peter Remling »

Looking good and you might be on to something with the headgear. It's worth investigating.
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Re: Dwarven Bocksten Inspired cloak

Post by Taurinor »

Nice work getting out in the icky weather, and nice pictures, as well!

Couple thoughts about some of of your observations -
Iodo wrote:It was so windy on top of the ridge that it was hard to stand up, the cloak still kept me warm, the only problem I had was it billowing out and letting in the cold air, my solution was to tuck it into my belt (the second picture), that worked well but kept coming out so I think I'll add a toggle fastening.
Have you thought about carrying a pin or penannular brooch? You could use it to pin your cloak the side to keep it closed in the wind or pin it open at the shoulder (the way Greg wears his star in "The Ranger's Cloak" in the WInter 2016-2017 Edge of the Wild). depending on what the weather requires. You'd have to be careful not to angle it in such a way that the brooch would stab you in the arm while you walk, but it could be useful. Penannular brooches also come in a lot of different designs, so you could probably find one with a dwarven flair!
Iodo wrote:Firstly, sorry for the hat, It was cold and the only dwarven head-wear I have is my oilcloth hood which is NOT warm
Get out in your gear, no matter where your gear is at! If you're looking to make a cold weather Dwarf hat, though, you could consider making a conical hat (or "Santa hat") like the ones some Viking reenactors wear (I think it's based on a Birka find) - it looks very much like the hats the dwarves are wearing in this sketch by the Professor.
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