Middle Earth Ranger Forum

So, my name is Mat. I've been following this forum for a while but I've never posted before. I guess I didn't feel like I had anything to contribute until more of my own ranger garb came together. It's far from complete, but enough of it has come together that I figure I can share what I've got so far. This was my first attempt at many things, and I think I kept the cost below $100 (bow included). Let me know what you think.

Welcome to the forums! Love the photos!

Based on PJ's take on Faramir's rangers? Not half bad, Mat! That's a pretty dang impressive getup (plus bow) for less than $100! If this is your starting kit, you're well on your way.
Welcome to the MERF!

That looks really good! The fact that you did all that for under 100 dollars is very impressive. Welcome to the group, and keep up the good work!

Brian

Welcome to the forum, Mat! Kit and grab looks great! I think I like the last pic the best, truly a Ranger in his element! Hoping to see you posting regularly!

Ken

Welcome to the forum! You've clearly put some effort into your garb; quite impressive at your price point. Many of us have spent more than that amount on small parts of our garb by comparison (case in point, I currently possess a 2"x2"x58" chunk of wood that's worth $100...and it's not a bow yet.) Doing this cheaply is impressive; I'm jealous!

A word of caution. Whatever service you are using to host your photos is placing rather inappropriate ads below your pictures when clicked on to show a higher resolution. This is a family-friendly forum...I'd like to request that you use Photobucket or Imageshack, to avoid ads of any kind (they clutter things up anyway). I'm sure it was unintentional, but making some quick changes here would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Props for getting outside in the snow! Great, isn't it?

Very nice- don't worry about 'improving,' etc. at this point. To anyone familiar with the topic, as soon as you see that first photo, you know that this is a Middle-earth Ranger.

Greg wrote:Welcome to the forum! You've clearly put some effort into your garb; quite impressive at your price point. Many of us have spent more than that amount on small parts of our garb by comparison (case in point, I currently possess a 2"x2"x58" chunk of wood that's worth $100...and it's not a bow yet.) Doing this cheaply is impressive; I'm jealous!

A word of caution. Whatever service you are using to host your photos is placing rather inappropriate ads below your pictures when clicked on to show a higher resolution. This is a family-friendly forum...I'd like to request that you use Photobucket or Imageshack, to avoid ads of any kind (they clutter things up anyway). I'm sure it was unintentional, but making some quick changes here would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Props for getting outside in the snow! Great, isn't it?

Greg, you're absolutely right. Honestly, I just googled "image hosting" and picked the first one that showed up. Fixing it now.

And it was bloody freezing! I had the cloak and all, but my poor wife/photographer wasn't all that comfortable. It's always great to be out, though.

Nice job on your kit and Welcome.

Being freezing is half the fun! The trick with trekking in the snow is to be just a tad uncomfortable with your body temperature when you get out of the house/car. Once you get going, you'll warm up...but if you're already warm enough at the start, you'll overheat when you're moving. You won't get too hot, but you WILL find, at journey's end, that you've wet your base layers with sweat, which can vary from uncomfortable to downright dangerous when you set up camp and try to sleep. If you took a solid hike in that gear, I bet you'd have been plenty comfy once you got going (minus maybe your fingers). Just plan ahead, and take extra layers to pile on once you get to camp, so when your body heat calms down, you aren't left under-insulated.

Thanks for fixing that; way to hustle!

Welcome to the forum ! I really admire what you've done on a budget, fits in with the rest of us perfectly.

Welcome!

And yeah, it's amazing you managed to build all that on such a small budget!

I assume the green sleeves and the lone green "tails" under your jerkin are the same garment? A long open-front tunic of some kind?

Welcome to the forum! "Pic heavy" is always an excellent disclaimer for a first post

I love the layered look - it definitely evokes the PJ ranger aesthetic. Any chance we could get a breakdown of the different garments? Keeping it under $100 is quite an achievement, especially with the layers and apparent length of some of the garments! Do you have any tips or tricks you used to make/assemble your soft kit on a budget?

Happy to get so much feedback so quickly! A great community is what I'm seeing.

Elleth wrote:I assume the green sleeves and the lone green "tails" under your jerkin are the same garment? A long open-front tunic of some kind?

You are absolutely right. Bit difficult to see in these photos, I suppose (more will come). I'm not really sure what to call the garment, as it is both tunic and coat-like.

Taurinor wrote:Any chance we could get a breakdown of the different garments? Keeping it under $100 is quite an achievement, especially with the layers and apparent length of some of the garments! Do you have any tips or tricks you used to make/assemble your soft kit on a budget?

I'll get some more pictures up soon to show the different layers so you can see what's going on. Main inspiration was definitely Faramir's rangers (I intend to make the tabard as well), with plenty of weird in-the-moment customization.

As far as keeping to a budget, that was my main concern all along. I'm not one with much money, so I make do with making things myself. The cloth pieces are sewn from linen, the jerkin is a higher-end upholstery vinyl (much more believable than costume vinyl). The vambrace and arm guard are made from scrap leather (Joann's and Michael's have scrap bags of off-cuts for both soft and hard leather, $4 with a coupon, and plenty of leftovers). The base layer shirt (which you can only see at the elbows) is just grey sweater. The bow is actually an old fiberglass bow from the 70s which I've painted darker to make more discreet. Its a very good bow, and I was fortunate enough to buy it from someone who didn't know what they had for the low, low price of $5.

The kit is low cost and low authenticity, but it gives me something to wear while I slowly replace the pieces throughout the years.

Well I think you've done a heck of a job right out of the gate! Much of what you have done here reminds me of my own first few garb iterations, as well as a few others around here. I'm actually working on a movie-version Ithilien ranger costume myself, right at this moment, as well. Budget is often a big concern, but I think many/most of us on this forum strongly believe a person can create an authentic looking (and even functioning) kit without breaking the bank - hence the URL (budgetauthenticity.org).

In any case, I think we'll all agree that one never really has a "final" version of one's kit; it's always evolving, upgrading, and growing with us. But the most important part is just putting something together that will work, and building from there - and then getting out there in it.