Forging On ...

This is (or was) a momentous occasion in my costume quest - I finished my FOTR Aragorn/Strider outfit. And not only that, I had the option of the Bree timepoint (green cloak) or Lothlorien timepoint (gray cloak, plus hunting knife). Plus sword. Plus quiver. Plus bow. I was well and truly stoked.

(I also need to credit the AlleyCatScratch site AGAIN for some wonderful wig links and how to create some incredibly realistic beard stubble using crepe wool.)

I had the occasion to go to a couple of parties for the holidays and also showed up at my friend's doorstep in costume for a LOTR Extended Edition marathon. Needless to say, after folks picked their jaws up from the floor, I was quite the center of attention.

Best of all, everything I had on was comfortable. Not tight. Not hot. Better than jeans and a sweatshirt. Perfect.


One thing that DID cross my mind, while watching the Helm's Deep battle in TTT was ... what would chain maille feel like?

I think that Google and eBay are my best friends (next to Andrea and Garry, of course)

I found a great auction for a maille shirt on eBay and purchased it. Picking it up at the post office, this thing was heavy. However, once I put it on, it didn't feel as bad - still heavier than I thought, but I could get accustomed to it. And I did.

How? Simple. Wear the thing constantly until it didn't feel like I was wearing it. The biggest (and easiest) piece of advice I can give is to wear a belt. This prevents the total weight of the maille from resting on your shoulders. Since it was getting a bit cooler, I wore it under my sweatshirt on the weekends and when I got home from work at night. When I went food shopping. When going to the cleaners. On the eliptical. I had started working out more strenuously anyway for the sword work, but this really seemed to supercharge the exercise regimen. It's wonderful to actually see the results of your workout in the mirror. After about 10 weeks of wearing the maille shirt, it felt more like a thin bulky sweater. When I tried it on with the burgundy shirt and other accouterments, it felt great. (I also noticed that the shirts, coats and tunics were noticeably snugger around the shoulders and chest, and the pants were looser in the waist)


Which also got me thinking - what about Boromir and Gondorian plate armor? From the Weapons and Warfare book, I figured out I'd be wearing a maille shirt, plus a cuirass, pauldrons, vambraces and greaves. Plus a surcoat and a cloak. I didn't think the weight would be too onerous and Andrea could absolutely, positively do the fabric items (which she did).

Now where was I going to get armor?

I'm going to diverge a little here from my usual naming of the place and person. At the time I found the maker, there were some rather dogged minions from NewLine and the actual Tolkien estate that were quite interested in people who were doing replica work and not paying out licensing fees and/or royalties to them. As part of the commission, I agreed to not reveal who did the work - just a "very good friend" whom I will call JJ (and not his initials either!). I would still love to credit him with the stupendous work, but a promise is a promise.

JJ was as responsive as Andrea and just as much a pleasure to work with. I always got my emails and voicemails returned - this commission took the better part of a year since he had a large queue of work in front of him. JJ made a maille and suede undertunic that was composed of maille sleeves and a maille skirt. This wasn't as heavy as I had imagined, since the suede body and suede undersleeves actually supported the maille. I actually had to wear the undertunic to soften up the suede rather than get used to the maille. (After a while, I had to send it back to JJ since it got a bit too snug around the chest and -- I swear to God -- my arms grew about 1.5" longer. He altered the suede body and added some additional rows of maille on the sleeves.)

What really was shocking was the weight of the armor. It was ... LIGHT. JJ used 18ga steel for the items and thanks to his meticulous measurements all throughout the process ("Hi, it's JJ. Could you do me a favor and just double-check this measurement for me?") the armor literally slid on. Once buckled up, there was a little loss of movement, around the arms, but nothing to speak of. The armor DOES get a bit warm in the summer, so I usually wear it in the spring, fall and winter.

If you look at the picture above, everything that Boromir is wearing I have. Thanks to JJ and (again) Andrea.

Here are some pictures of the armor: