02-12-2010

well I ended up mounting the back plates quite significantly too high (if I were to follow the curvature I gave them). they end up needing a mounting much lower than I wanted, but I'm going to try it anyway and see how it looks on. i could have shown you pictures a week ago, but I was upset. anyway, here they are now!

finished vertebrae-on-a-strip-of-bronze:

so you can see a little bit of really bad scrimshaw on these guys. I had to get them damp to be able to scratch lines in with an exacto knife. after that, I piled them all into a bowl full of hot, cheap puerh tea. I decided to add some spices too, and boy I'm glad I did! they don't smell like gross old bones anymore, but instead, smell of cinnamon with a touch of cardimom. the tea stained the bones to an orangy-brown, and illuminated the incised lines rather handsomely. 

the final treatment to the plates (I had to re-treat them on account of forgetting to solder on 6 hooks):

as soon as I figure out my curve and position on the shirt, the two will be married with copper rivets. how sweet!

02-04-2010

sawing bones is rather fun...

I had to saw off the bottoms of all the vertebrae so that they would rest flat when I join them to the strip of bronze with silver tube rivets. I also spent some time shaping the main plate and I think I'm going to leave the two peripheral scapula plates flat.

I'm experimenting with scrimshaw on the bones, hence the pencil marks on the smallest vert. it's actually proving more difficult than I expected, so I may just not do it. either way, I'm still going to dye the bones with tea tomorrow before I rivet them onto the bronze.

spiney!

02-02-2010

okay, so I found the remote for my camera, so I grabbed a few shots of the (99.9%) finished scale shirt. enjoy!

muahahahahahahaha!

01-30-2010

I've been etching the back plates today, and I left my mineral spirits in my studio, which is now locked. so I spent the last half hour scrubbing away the asphaltum with some steel wool and a chunk of sandpaper! I have one piece clean, but it hasn't been blackened yet (I'll do that tomorrow).

this is one of the plates that fit over the scapula and is hinge-riveted to the main spinal plate. you can see a sketch in the last post.

I started with the acid in the shop but it's so weak that after 4 hours, the acid barely bit! therefore, I've been finding creative ways to fit the large plate in my casserole dish... hopefully it comes out alright!

01-26-2010

hi again!

I've gotten the back plates cut out and ready for acid. I spent much of today scratching out the design onto this piece and I think it turned out rather nicely. here's how it started, and a few sketch designs next to it:

I ended up modifying the plans to come up with this:

right now, it's just the bronze with the asphaltum and scratched lines. tomorrow I'm going to make a run to the shop and use their acid bath (my casserole dish is just a tad too small for this one!). after the etching is done, I'll be able to do the shaping. the bones will be riveted with silver tubes onto a strip of bronze one inch wide and 12 inches long (it's basically a ruler, yeah). now... where to get something like that in a hurry... hmm. we'll see!

I wanted to add some lines to the bones to mimic the designs on the bronze but so far, I haven't been able to come up with a usable method. I think I may just have to stick with dipping them in tea and calling it good.

01-21-2010

hello again!

I'm going to continue working on the armour again this weekend. my first sheet of bronze came in so I'm going to start with the floating plates that hook directly to the scale shirt. not only will the plates be etched upon and aged like the zipper stops (which doubled as test pieces for me), but the center unit will be adorned with 6 interlocking deer vertebrae, riveted onto another strip of bronze and then to the plate with silver tube rivets. only 3 of them actually interlock, so I'm going to have to haxxor them to fit.

some of them need a wee bit of cleaning too. I feel the need to treat the bones somehow, and I wanted to put lines on them to mimic the etched lines on the rest of the outfit, but I hear that bones combust when heated (the original thought was to use a wood burning tool). I also don't want to paint lines on because that would be cheesy. *shrugs*

also, I wanted to show you my new spice rack my little brother made me for Christmas. it fits just right, bro! look!

thank you so much, my kitchen is much cleaner now : )

01-18-2010

hey guys! it's been a long break, I know!

but now it's 2010 and we're in the future, where people say "twenty-_____". shnazzy.

I've been very busy, but not on my armour. since I haven't updated in awhile I wanted to at least post some cat pictures. this is Camus, and he is very indifferent.

the Camus does not care.

he sure is cute though. <3

most of what has been keeping me busy lately has been Second Life work. first, I finished the new Dravyn V2. then I had to recolour it in 6 colours (I'm on colour 5 right now). then I had to make some rocks for an SL presentation area in a desert, and then I had to make an alien texture for AI rabbits (it ended up with 6 eyes that blinked from the bottom and 3 pupils in each). here's the Dravyn colours:

so far it's been a record month for sales : ) I also got a new 50mm prime lense over the holidays, hence the better-than-normal image quality for my photos. next time I get my suit on, I'll have to get a photo!

cheers!