Well, it has been over a month since my last post, but Open Shop keeps happening every week.  Here are a few highlights:

 Wyllow has been sewing up the corset for her new Elizabethan outfit.

 Marita returned to open shop after a long abscence to get help with a weaving project.

 Daniel has an armour plan.  It is good to have a plan.  I find that a head-to-toe plan for a kit and how it will be made/acquired really helps folks stay on track and get out on the field in a nice kit they can wear with pride.  See my armour planning article with sample plans at  pages.suddenlink.net/egrim/papers/armour.doc

 Grain'e has new splinted vambraces, used for both cut-and-thrust and armoured fighting.

 Dietrich came by for a visit and showed his sketches for a new late 14th century kit inspired by armour from the collection at Churburg.  See http://www.mallet-argent.com/images/churburg_harness.jpg

 Wolf finished his body armour, meant to be worn under a Mongolian "del".  See http://www.thescorre.org/literature/Mongol_Garb.htm

 Ben is working on some armour of scales interwoven into mail.  He has also nearly completed a gorget of hardened leather with steel re-enforcement in the front.

 One method for doing steel repouse is to work the steel into a pitch backing.  If some of the pitch sticks to the work piece you can just burn it off with a torch.  This really is as much fun as it looks!

 Diedre's Vendel helm is nearly finished!  4 more rivets and then she can pad and strap it.

 For Grain'e we made an aluminum back-of-the-head protector to wear with a mask for cut-and-thrust fighting.

 Fun and cookies!

 Troy is making a coat-of-plates with plates of 18g. stainless.

 Here he is drilling holes in the plates with the drill press before attatching them to the cloth shell with rivets made from roofing nails.

 Wolf is dshing some knees for Grain'e as part of a complicated exchange that I believe involves lasagna.

Grain'e's knees are a perfect fit for her son Peter to wear as a skull cap.

Food!

Open shop on 6/7/2012 started off delicious and just got better from there.

Wyllow made beef rolls and a special Roman juniper pepper sauce with de frutum.  She made two varieties:  with and without mustard.  Deidre also brought a middle-eastern chick-pea dish to share.

I made savory Roman turnips with fish sauce and hing.

Willow also made  African honey apples from another Apicius recipe.

 Gunna made savory toasted cheese (Cheese Goo!) to serve in bread bowls.

 Grain'e made some delicious beer bread.

 Link and Josh worked on knee cops and half gauntlets, while their friend (name forgotten, sorry!) fixed up some old armour pieces.

 Julia consulted with Wyllow on personna development and seems to be headed in a Varangian/Rus/Byzantine direction.  Here are some useful links for would-be Varangians:

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=46922

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/limb_defences/limb_defences.htm 

 Deidra showed us her new underdress and made progress on her helm.

 Evie and Gunna relaxed after much cheese-gooing.

 Wolf finished lacing his body armour.  Now he just needs straps.

And Abby made progress on her gorget!

Open Shop 5-31-2012

 Nora sews her new dress

 Wyllow helps Julia select a time and place for which to dress.

 Abby lays out her gorget plates, marks and punches holes in the leather, and rivets the plates in.

 Frosti cuts out a leather half-gauntlet using my one-piece pattern.

 Link and Josh and Daniel and Frosti all finished their armour plans, so they can start marking out elbow and knee cops on sheet aluminum 5052 alloy pieces.  This stuff is dirt cheap at $1/pound at Metals4U in Pflugerville.  All of the aluminum will be hidden under sleeves or pants when the armour is complete.

 Ben lays out the fabric for his coat of plates while Toner supervises.

 Daniel learns to cut aluminum on a throatless shear.  (Not a Beverley shear but a cheap Chinese imitation.)

 Gunna and Evie practice period cooking.  Come over to Open Shop night...we have cookies!

Link, Daniel, Josh, Ben and Frosti show how much they got cut out tonight.  Wolf has been busily lacing his lamellar.

 Then everyone else gets into the picture too.  At this point Belle had left to take Nora home and Julia had left also.  Counting them and counting the guy (me) taking the picture we had 15 people at Open Shop night.  A new record!

I even found a few minutes to work on the cheek-plate hinges for my helm.  My son took the picture and my wife is "helping" behind me.  Isn't it great to have a supportive family who takes you seriously?  :)

Open Shop 5-24-2012

 

Abby got off to a good start by smoothing the edges of the aluminum plates for her gorget using a belt sander.  Later on she curved and slightly dished the plates using a stump and a hammer.

 

 Diedre has finished the top of her helm and is starting on the back slats.

 

Ben re-strapped his shield and did some planning work for his coat of plates.

 

 Evie and Gunna looked through reference materials and planned Evie's next new outfit.

 Helen is such a pro, she can do applique with her eyes closed!  Not really.  Later she worked on some embroidery why loaning her sewing machine to Jovian...

 ...who sewed some leather pouches.

 Wolf kept after his lamellar lacing project.
 

 Nora helped Belle dye the ends of her hair blue.  We are not sure why and we are afraid to ask.

 Diedre also helped Wyllow with fitting the corset layer of a new Elizabethian outfit.  Sometimes fittings can tickle.  Wyllow very consistently says "Elizabethian" rather than "Elizabethan" while I do the opposite, yet somehow we manage to co-exist.

Artorius looks suave and debonair after a hard evening of helping other people with their projects, while still not getting his own shield re-strapped.