As a person who has done ...some... leather work, your save turned out super well. Brilliant job! Keep in mind you have two steps that can drastically change the appearance of the armor before its done: staining and burnishing/sealing. During either of these you can add "weathering" and "deliberate wear or shading" across all the pieces to very, very effectively hide the damage. Use a mixture of brown, red/chestnut and black stains and practice on samples that are hardened, first. Have faith. Not ruined. Just... tested against the fires of Mount Doom.
My thoughts exactly. He handled the save well and, some of my raw leatherwork looks like a disaster, but once it’s all sanded, dyed, burnished, weathered, shoe-polished, buffed, brushed and worn in, it looks gorgeous and badass! That little hiccup will only be noticeable by you, will fit in perfectly with the look of well-worn battle armor, and will make a fun and interesting story to share/show with others when they’re asking you how you made such a cool breastplate.
Down the road that darkened "overcooked" leather may turn out to be unusably brittle. You can try to mitigate that by using products like mink oil or leather balm now, just keep an eye on it. If it cracks there's pretty much nothing you can do other than remove and replace it. Next time try just soaking the leather in water you can just stand to keep your hand in, then lay it over a form made of wood or wire in the final shape you want. Making the form is a PITA but once done you can use it to make other pieces. You can use a mannequin torso too if you can find one shaped enough like you to make comfortable armor- just add some holes for airflow.
As someone that has dabbled in "Making" and messing about in new hobbies I can tell you this sort of thing happens, and learning to roll with those punches is part of the deal. The reason that buying something like that from someone that makes it look easy is that they have made these mistakes and have learned how to not do them. Looks to me like you did a fantastic job getting it corrected, had you not made a video about it, I'd have thought the only issue was the scorch marks. If that is the worst you end up with after you finish the project, lean into it. Make it a place some sneaky caster hit you with a fire spell in the back, or the only remains of a place you narrowly dodged a fireball hucked in your direction. I've spoken to some folks that have made custom Mando kit from Star Wars. You slip with a drill or hold a heat gun too close and mess something up, it just becomes battle damage. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it all turns out!
To err is human. Plus you learned what not to do going forward, and what you can do to salvage something so no big deal. Looking forward to the final product.
Making mistakes is the correct way of learning (tho not very cost-effective :P) great work fixing it, and now it even has an interesting story attached to it!
I found an interesting article a while back that said there was various ways of boiling /hardening leather for various cases and one idea that made the most sense was that japaning was used. Now that has nothing to do with the country but of a process that was the same used on tools before WW2 to protect them from rust.
No one ever said that a "Living Adventure" would be easy or lacking in frustrations. How you choose to confront and correct said frustration(s) is what is important and , of course, ever ERROR is an opportunity to learn and improve going forward. So, as you requested; Good Luck and Best Wishes with the remaining operations on the vest.
Got that right, thank you brother. The nice thing is that I get to share my mistakes so hopefully other people can avoid them and know what not to do :)
The flaws in production add authenticity. Armorers and leather workers, did not have an electric range with electronic thermostats and computer control boards. They also had the advantage of having a carved piece of wood the size of a person's chest, that they could use as a solid frame for holding the shape, and they could add pieces/shims, to adjust the shape for different people Since they were making many sets of these. Yours is a one off by someone that has never made one. Turned out damn good, considering that.
I know I am late to this, however ... perhaps next time you might take a minute to determine that your oven is clean enough to do the heating without getting your product dirty and make sure that whatever you are going to heat will actually fit into the oven. Others who do this suggest a 200 degree oven for twenty minutes... then there is this ... much armor originally was made from several pieces and attached with various methods. Would it not have been much easier to have made your piece in smaller segments and attached together later? Stitching works fine and if you have done other leather work you know that proper stitching with a thicker thread will hold up fine for what you are doing. Thanks for sharing and being honest about your results. It was all helpful. Keep at it. Oh, one more thing ... there are leather stiffener products available that will make your leather firm enough to make it able to stand on it's own, but not rock hard. Again thanks.
You edited all those together very well! I hope u got some rest afterwards---in that last clip you looked absolutely exhausted. I already watched the final reveal video---very cool!
Thank you for the tip on the oven I was just about to do that very thing. So ultimately you just saved my project. Plus I'm totally with you on the hundreds of hours you work on a project. But you love doing every minute I bet, and that's what's important.
honestly, that is amazing for a first time piece of armor, don't worry about it, if you dye it darker the difference in color will be hardly visible, and easily covered up by a quiver ;)
I did a similar thing with a different project. The fact you were able to salvage it is no small feat. Would highly recommend wax hardening, because once you get the technique down, the final product turns out great and consistent. (In my experience at least) Just make sure your leather is dry before putting it in the oven with that technique or you'll run into the same issues. Good luck!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think it looks "ugly". And years from now I would guess you will look at the armor and appreciate the experience this "adds-character marking" for what it is...experience. That being said, for the future, I wonder if it would work better to place a silicone mat on the pan before placing the armor on it. Silicone won't heat like the pan. I have a silicone trivet mat that is honeycombed that would allow the heat to still reach the armor. But it wouldn't leave any marks and would most likely insure even heating
Very good job on the recovery, and as others have said, once it's finished with stains and such the damage will be hidden. There's a saying I heard a long ago - "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want". You certainly gained experience in leather-working thru this mishap.
That actually looks amazing for how you said it came out of the heat. Great job with your emergency fixes. I also love that your go-to fixing tool (and something apparently readily available in every part of your home, is a lacrosse ball XD
Oh, I was so sad to see you make that mistake when you baked the leather armor. I felt your anguish. I’ve made similar mistakes when crafting. I hope it worked out OK.
Looks good man. You got it back into shape. Thats a big deal. You can color it later to cover up the color issues or leave it for weathering or battle damage. Say a rabid fire breathing goblin bit you
One thing you might try is multiple layers of thin leather with rabbit hide glue between for the main plates. When it dries, it becomes a sort of leather-plywood composite; very hard, can stop a sword thrust if you do it right and it's a bit easier to mold before it dries. You can also warm it back up to soften the glue and allow for tooling and reshaping. Since the heat _softens_ it instead of hardening, molding it to fit your torso will likely be a lot easier, as well. As always, love the video :)
Ok. Im probably way too late but I do this technique all the time. "Bake" each piece before you put it together. Do it at 200 max. More like 180 for a bit longer amd keep watching it as you go.
For future efforts, maybe look for a piece of scrap plywood or a pine off cut to make a support, drill some holes around 3/4 - 1 inch (20-25mm) to let the air circulate thru it too. If that back strip is over cooked it may crumble in a few months with use. If it does (or you decide you might like the look) you can put in a new spine piece, and run a strip/layer of overlapping scales over the back to hide any nastyness. Depending on your woodworking skills you could make a two piece mold from wood and shape scales to have a ridge in the center, like some fantasy artists interpretation of dragon scales - soak, leave wet in a plastic bag overnight, then take out, clamp in the mold till nearly dry (may take a while depending on how humid your work space is) then take out of the mold & force dry
Quick thinking on your part, Kramer! You literally *saved* it, and that is extremely impressive. Thank you for sharing this also, because learning what to avoid doing is equally important when crafting. And, the armor is looking good. Can't wait to see how it all turns out....and I hope you do a sort of explanation video of the full process you followed to create it when you finish. ♥
If you have to start from the top again I would recommend saddle skirting as your leather. It's already pretty tough and I use it for making SCA armour.
In the future, don't let any leather touch metal in the oven. You can stuff the leather with a pillow as it lays on a folded towel. The fabric won't catch fire if the oven temperature is low.
I feel for you. So much. You and I hare watched the same Weaver Leathercraft teaching videos with Mr. Dorset. Yet neither of us has ever found a leathercraft master to study under, to mentor us, to tell us "Good GO! NO! Don't put that piece in there sideways, you will loose hundreds of hours of your time if you try it that way! " and be able to STOP us when we are about to do such things.I watched you put it in that oven and I gasped! I said, "I don't think that.... I don't think that is going to go well."
@@LivingAnachronism You are welcome. And btw that "Good GO! NO!" should have been "Good GOD!". Also, am now watching Skill Tree's #3 LARPing video with you in it. I should have known there was a connection. Nice.
As a leather wroker I feel your pain nothing worse than taking a project and thinking it's all gone but have heart it's an experiance the main thing is the leather isn't cracked and the damage is mainly cosmetic a bit of dye some rubbing alcohol and you'll make a feature out of the piece. As other commenters said wax hardening is a harder technique to learn than water hardening but well worth it in the long run when using wax make sure the leather is compleatly dry before you add any form of heat treatment as any mosture will damage your work beyond repair I have made this mistake far to many times (I generaly use paraffin wax for this type of project but beeswax or a blend is fine too). Water hardening is still a good method and far more forgiving if time isn't an issue then there is no need to heat or 'bake' the leather just let it completly dry in its finished shape then wetten agian litteraly rinse and repeat.
A really nice piece of armour, shame about the accident, but you seem to have dealt with it pretty well, and if it still looks a little scorched/burned, tell folks it was a near miss from a dragon!!
Well, the front looks good so my suggestion would be to put a nice dark oil or stain of some sort on the whole piece and then add an animal pelt (coyote or fox or something) to the back to cover the blemished/warped areas. I have no idea if this is supported in the Witcher, but since they are monster slayers it makes since to me that they might wear trophies of their kills. If you are following the games, then the swords will be the most visible thing on your back anyways. Overall, I think it looks really good and I cant wait to see the final product.
Do you think perhaps a cooling rack would have been okay? The pot inside shaping while baking probably was the real culprit about it baking being on a cookie sheet, being ironed between the two metal surfaces. Maybe the cooling rack would help avoid what happened because of air circulation 👀 I hope that made sense, I'm a bit toasty rn 🔥💨 Bonus idea 🤩 Fill a little water into the pot you stuffed the leather with, this will ensure the surface of the metal does not exceed boiling point at 212°F, this should allow the stream to cook off the back of your vest while the pot doesn't reach a burn point. Tightly foil the pot to decrease any steam it'll try to put off towards the inside of your garment. This has however(!) made me realize the extra weight of water might imprint the pattern of your cooking rack which kind just turns back around to looking like you grilled your leather. I'm sure the smallest amount of water should last long enough, maybe just use a second piece of leather that's been watered-- good way to measure the least amount of water that would be on the surface area the pot covers. Or weigh the leather that covers the bottom of the pan, and after zeroing the scale out just weigh the leather again after it's dipped in water = smallest number of ounces of water you can get away with inside the pot. And don't use that piece of leather to help minimize weight of the pot. ✌🏻😂
The only way to cover it is to make the whole thing dark. It's not a failure now you are just making a very dark brown leather chest piece. Dye the leather in stages to increasingly darker shade till you are satisfied.
It would help immensely. I have one, but it is a female bust, so that is obviously going to result in some forms that I don't want as part of the armor ;)
my advice is to take a blowtorch or lighter and extend the singe to make it more circular, and consider it part of the weathering on the armor. after all, what is armor if you haven't worn it into a few dragon fights?
Man. Getting into leather crafting sounds like something I'd enjoy, only to start getting frustrated with it and giving it up. Sort of like art. I try and then get extremely ticked off stop bothering with it.
@@Victor-dm4qv For now I've found great success with a heat lamp, so I'll see if I can build something to make that even more efficient. Lot's of things I am saving for at the moment so a leather oven, is on the back burner, no pun intended
Happy to see an early video. But it's too bad that it's under these circumstances 😕 Is staining the leather, to as close to the burnt color as possible, a possibility? Or were you wanting a natural color?
I will be staining it, that is the next step after I have the back shaped properly. Luckily, even though the back is sewed to the front, it isn't glued and so the chest and back plates can be independently replaced if they get damaged in the future.
Keep at it, mate! I'm sure you'll come up with something beautiful. I am new to your channel, but am loving everything I've seen. Your beginner costuming video got me what I think is a pretty decent first costume for Ren Fest this coming Sunday! Also, cool to hear you mention Weaver Leathercraft. I watch their stuff, too. Chuck is amazing.
i heard you can use acetone to soften leather, and it evaporates quickly. heard it while talking to an old sca guy about making armor. hope that helps, someday somehow. I think it will look great when its done.
maybe the local sca warbands in connecticut have some tips. a lot of them probably have workshops too. they have FB groups you can join and you can shoot a question they love to help. at least the ones in cali do😁👍
If memory serves, Geralt's armor is black so the discoloration should be readily concealed by the dye. The real question is how to harden leather in an oven (I am familiar with the video on Weaver Leather that you watched)? My best guess is you have to create a form that can withstand the heat and use cord to secure it to the form. I am going to be trying that out myself (hopefully next month) and see how it turns out. Good to know about the oven racks though. Can you tell me what the thickness of the base leather was compared to the outer plates?
Most of the armor is 2 layers, 1 or 4-5 oz and on of 6-7 oz. at the thickest part right in the center of the chest plate it is 3 layers, 1 of 4-5 and 2 of the 6-7 oz. I've had great success today using a heat lamp so I can monitor the leather while it cures. I did a test run in the oven with some smaller pieces, and those turned out fine, but I think for larger pieces a normal kitchen might not be the way.
@@LivingAnachronism I am glad to hear that you have had success with a heat lamp. I am wondering if the problem isn't the layers and having them dry at different rates?
@@MacAttack001 I think that is probably part of it. I'm also not working with leather that is all the same quality, some of it is scrap, just based on what I had and could afford, so some of the pieces soaked up way more water and were less easy to form than the other pieces.
Gambeson was a custom piece made by a member of my family. Medieval collectibles has some more budget friendly gambesons that still have the length and detachable sleaves.
@@LivingAnachronism On the offhand that your family member decides to start and Etsy let me know! Theirs are nice but lack the sleek look of yours but thanks for the info. Love the content.
@@traveling47 The possibility of etsy stores linked with the channel exists in the future, maybe not for the cloth items, but we will see what the future holds. There will be an update for this when the time comes
I do hope you’re able to salvage that and make something usable out of it, because that’s a lot of time and money spent on that leather and the labor and we’re in shaping it that will come to naught if you’re not able to salvage it. 😦
I'm planning to bake a leather halberd head to use it for training and sparring and seeing your mistake it makes me wonder what surface do you recommend for resting a large piece of leather. What do you recommend?
Greetings sir memes alot. Some other viewers have said use tin foil. Or a wooden mold or board. It might be worth it to try your chosen method with a piece of scrap, just in case. I also had great success with a heat lamp, so I was able to monitor and turn the armor as it is cooking.
On the bright side, you have a head start on detailing if you ever had any intention of weathering the leather and making it look not brand-new. Never knew I'd ever hear "grilled my armor" out loud. Like, ever.
We like to have some firsts on the channel. It's got some other scuffs at this point too from the curing process, so I might antique them and just have a battle hardened piece, rather than a perfect brand new one. Builds character.
Probably not with this one, but it something I'd like to do in the future once I have the resources to do it properly: Full chest and backplate once I am confident it is actually made correctly as not to scew the results, a dummy that will retain the shape of the armor so it doesn't collapse etc.
![On Leather Hardening... [using Boiling Water/Heat-gun/Oven]](/img/n.gif)
As a person who has done ...some... leather work, your save turned out super well. Brilliant job! Keep in mind you have two steps that can drastically change the appearance of the armor before its done: staining and burnishing/sealing. During either of these you can add "weathering" and "deliberate wear or shading" across all the pieces to very, very effectively hide the damage. Use a mixture of brown, red/chestnut and black stains and practice on samples that are hardened, first. Have faith. Not ruined. Just... tested against the fires of Mount Doom.
My thoughts exactly. He handled the save well and, some of my raw leatherwork looks like a disaster, but once it’s all sanded, dyed, burnished, weathered, shoe-polished, buffed, brushed and worn in, it looks gorgeous and badass! That little hiccup will only be noticeable by you, will fit in perfectly with the look of well-worn battle armor, and will make a fun and interesting story to share/show with others when they’re asking you how you made such a cool breastplate.
That's why armor maker was a very skilled and highly paid profession.
Honestly you did a pretty good job salvaging it. After you dye it you might not even notice too much or you can just say it adds character lol.
Down the road that darkened "overcooked" leather may turn out to be unusably brittle. You can try to mitigate that by using products like mink oil or leather balm now, just keep an eye on it. If it cracks there's pretty much nothing you can do other than remove and replace it.
Next time try just soaking the leather in water you can just stand to keep your hand in, then lay it over a form made of wood or wire in the final shape you want. Making the form is a PITA but once done you can use it to make other pieces. You can use a mannequin torso too if you can find one shaped enough like you to make comfortable armor- just add some holes for airflow.
you now have a different story for the armor. the fact you found a solution shows your level of craftmanship.
The burns give it character.
As someone that has dabbled in "Making" and messing about in new hobbies I can tell you this sort of thing happens, and learning to roll with those punches is part of the deal. The reason that buying something like that from someone that makes it look easy is that they have made these mistakes and have learned how to not do them. Looks to me like you did a fantastic job getting it corrected, had you not made a video about it, I'd have thought the only issue was the scorch marks.
If that is the worst you end up with after you finish the project, lean into it. Make it a place some sneaky caster hit you with a fire spell in the back, or the only remains of a place you narrowly dodged a fireball hucked in your direction.
I've spoken to some folks that have made custom Mando kit from Star Wars. You slip with a drill or hold a heat gun too close and mess something up, it just becomes battle damage.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it all turns out!
Excellent idea! I'm planning on weaving the scorch marks and spinal damage into the history or my Witcher persona.
Yup. The term "hiding your crimes" in a project sometimes means "hiding" them in plain sight by embracing them.
@Jon Anderson The great fire breather known as "General Electric Stove-top Oven"
To err is human. Plus you learned what not to do going forward, and what you can do to salvage something so no big deal. Looking forward to the final product.
Good luck! Hope to see it again, or 2.0 if you have to.
Trial and error. Is a good teacher, but I have found that simply watching an expert work while you ask questions is the best teacher.
Making mistakes is the correct way of learning (tho not very cost-effective :P) great work fixing it, and now it even has an interesting story attached to it!
Nice save! You can look at a hot air gun for heating and drying small areas of your work
I found an interesting article a while back that said there was various ways of boiling /hardening leather for various cases and one idea that made the most sense was that japaning was used. Now that has nothing to do with the country but of a process that was the same used on tools before WW2 to protect them from rust.
I know you are not painting it. But the old carpenter tale is paint hides all scratches. Nice quick thinking. I hope it turns out well
I would suggest staining the entire thing to hide the burn marks.
That's the plan. Will be interesting to see if the stain actually takes in the burned parts or not
No one ever said that a "Living Adventure" would be easy or lacking in frustrations. How you choose to confront and correct said frustration(s) is what is important and , of course, ever ERROR is an opportunity to learn and improve going forward. So, as you requested; Good Luck and Best Wishes with the remaining operations on the vest.
Got that right, thank you brother. The nice thing is that I get to share my mistakes so hopefully other people can avoid them and know what not to do :)
The flaws in production add authenticity. Armorers and leather workers, did not have an electric range with electronic thermostats and computer control boards. They also had the advantage of having a carved piece of wood the size of a person's chest, that they could use as a solid frame for holding the shape, and they could add pieces/shims, to adjust the shape for different people
Since they were making many sets of these. Yours is a one off by someone that has never made one. Turned out damn good, considering that.
It's probably disappointing to you but it's not a loss you did a good job fixing it and to me it looks like it was hit by fire that's kinda cool.👏
I know I am late to this, however ... perhaps next time you might take a minute to determine that your oven is clean enough to do the heating without getting your product dirty and make sure that whatever you are going to heat will actually fit into the oven. Others who do this suggest a 200 degree oven for twenty minutes... then there is this ... much armor originally was made from several pieces and attached with various methods. Would it not have been much easier to have made your piece in smaller segments and attached together later? Stitching works fine and if you have done other leather work you know that proper stitching with a thicker thread will hold up fine for what you are doing. Thanks for sharing and being honest about your results. It was all helpful. Keep at it. Oh, one more thing ... there are leather stiffener products available that will make your leather firm enough to make it able to stand on it's own, but not rock hard. Again thanks.
Thanks for sharing the mistakes as well as the successes. It's so important for learning
You edited all those together very well! I hope u got some rest afterwards---in that last clip you looked absolutely exhausted. I already watched the final reveal video---very cool!
Oh I was exhausted haha!
Thank you for the tip on the oven I was just about to do that very thing. So ultimately you just saved my project.
Plus I'm totally with you on the hundreds of hours you work on a project.
But you love doing every minute I bet, and that's what's important.
honestly, that is amazing for a first time piece of armor, don't worry about it, if you dye it darker the difference in color will be hardly visible, and easily covered up by a quiver ;)
I did a similar thing with a different project. The fact you were able to salvage it is no small feat. Would highly recommend wax hardening, because once you get the technique down, the final product turns out great and consistent. (In my experience at least) Just make sure your leather is dry before putting it in the oven with that technique or you'll run into the same issues. Good luck!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think it looks "ugly". And years from now I would guess you will look at the armor and appreciate the experience this "adds-character marking" for what it is...experience.
That being said, for the future, I wonder if it would work better to place a silicone mat on the pan before placing the armor on it. Silicone won't heat like the pan. I have a silicone trivet mat that is honeycombed that would allow the heat to still reach the armor. But it wouldn't leave any marks and would most likely insure even heating
Very good job on the recovery, and as others have said, once it's finished with stains and such the damage will be hidden. There's a saying I heard a long ago - "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want". You certainly gained experience in leather-working thru this mishap.
That actually looks amazing for how you said it came out of the heat. Great job with your emergency fixes. I also love that your go-to fixing tool (and something apparently readily available in every part of your home, is a lacrosse ball XD
Oh, I was so sad to see you make that mistake when you baked the leather armor. I felt your anguish. I’ve made similar mistakes when crafting. I hope it worked out OK.
Oh no!
... but what a fantastic save!
Looks good man. You got it back into shape. Thats a big deal. You can color it later to cover up the color issues or leave it for weathering or battle damage. Say a rabid fire breathing goblin bit you
One thing you might try is multiple layers of thin leather with rabbit hide glue between for the main plates. When it dries, it becomes a sort of leather-plywood composite; very hard, can stop a sword thrust if you do it right and it's a bit easier to mold before it dries. You can also warm it back up to soften the glue and allow for tooling and reshaping.
Since the heat _softens_ it instead of hardening, molding it to fit your torso will likely be a lot easier, as well.
As always, love the video :)
great tip, thank you
Ok. Im probably way too late but I do this technique all the time. "Bake" each piece before you put it together. Do it at 200 max. More like 180 for a bit longer amd keep watching it as you go.
It's ok, we all know you fought a dragon and won no need to be humble
It turned out really nice actually, much better than anything I could do. 👏
Good luck with your armor!
For future efforts, maybe look for a piece of scrap plywood or a pine off cut to make a support, drill some holes around 3/4 - 1 inch (20-25mm) to let the air circulate thru it too. If that back strip is over cooked it may crumble in a few months with use. If it does (or you decide you might like the look) you can put in a new spine piece, and run a strip/layer of overlapping scales over the back to hide any nastyness. Depending on your woodworking skills you could make a two piece mold from wood and shape scales to have a ridge in the center, like some fantasy artists interpretation of dragon scales - soak, leave wet in a plastic bag overnight, then take out, clamp in the mold till nearly dry (may take a while depending on how humid your work space is) then take out of the mold & force dry
Quick thinking on your part, Kramer! You literally *saved* it, and that is extremely impressive.
Thank you for sharing this also, because learning what to avoid doing is equally important when crafting. And, the armor is looking good. Can't wait to see how it all turns out....and I hope you do a sort of explanation video of the full process you followed to create it when you finish. ♥
👍 thanks for your adventures 😊
If you have to start from the top again I would recommend saddle skirting as your leather. It's already pretty tough and I use it for making SCA armour.
In the future, don't let any leather touch metal in the oven.
You can stuff the leather with a pillow as it lays on a folded towel.
The fabric won't catch fire if the oven temperature is low.
I feel for you. So much. You and I hare watched the same Weaver Leathercraft teaching videos with Mr. Dorset. Yet neither of us has ever found a leathercraft master to study under, to mentor us, to tell us "Good GO! NO! Don't put that piece in there sideways, you will loose hundreds of hours of your time if you try it that way! " and be able to STOP us when we are about to do such things.I watched you put it in that oven and I gasped! I said, "I don't think that.... I don't think that is going to go well."
Again, I am so sorry.
Failure is a good teacher, and I was able to save it, but thank you for you condolences :)
@@LivingAnachronism You are welcome. And btw that "Good GO! NO!" should have been "Good GOD!".
Also, am now watching Skill Tree's #3 LARPing video with you in it. I should have known there was a connection. Nice.
Good luck I hope you can make it work
As a leather wroker I feel your pain nothing worse than taking a project and thinking it's all gone but have heart it's an experiance the main thing is the leather isn't cracked and the damage is mainly cosmetic a bit of dye some rubbing alcohol and you'll make a feature out of the piece. As other commenters said wax hardening is a harder technique to learn than water hardening but well worth it in the long run when using wax make sure the leather is compleatly dry before you add any form of heat treatment as any mosture will damage your work beyond repair I have made this mistake far to many times (I generaly use paraffin wax for this type of project but beeswax or a blend is fine too). Water hardening is still a good method and far more forgiving if time isn't an issue then there is no need to heat or 'bake' the leather just let it completly dry in its finished shape then wetten agian litteraly rinse and repeat.
A lot of cosplay and armor making stuff is in my recommended recently. I am very tempted to try my hand at it, though starting simple.
A really nice piece of armour, shame about the accident, but you seem to have dealt with it pretty well, and if it still looks a little scorched/burned, tell folks it was a near miss from a dragon!!
Maybe you can work the darkness into a design like some folks do with covering old tattoos. Good luck 🤞
Well, the front looks good so my suggestion would be to put a nice dark oil or stain of some sort on the whole piece and then add an animal pelt (coyote or fox or something) to the back to cover the blemished/warped areas. I have no idea if this is supported in the Witcher, but since they are monster slayers it makes since to me that they might wear trophies of their kills. If you are following the games, then the swords will be the most visible thing on your back anyways. Overall, I think it looks really good and I cant wait to see the final product.
Good save. Remember to breath.
Do you think perhaps a cooling rack would have been okay? The pot inside shaping while baking probably was the real culprit about it baking being on a cookie sheet, being ironed between the two metal surfaces.
Maybe the cooling rack would help avoid what happened because of air circulation 👀 I hope that made sense, I'm a bit toasty rn 🔥💨
Bonus idea 🤩
Fill a little water into the pot you stuffed the leather with, this will ensure the surface of the metal does not exceed boiling point at 212°F, this should allow the stream to cook off the back of your vest while the pot doesn't reach a burn point. Tightly foil the pot to decrease any steam it'll try to put off towards the inside of your garment.
This has however(!) made me realize the extra weight of water might imprint the pattern of your cooking rack which kind just turns back around to looking like you grilled your leather. I'm sure the smallest amount of water should last long enough, maybe just use a second piece of leather that's been watered-- good way to measure the least amount of water that would be on the surface area the pot covers.
Or weigh the leather that covers the bottom of the pan, and after zeroing the scale out just weigh the leather again after it's dipped in water = smallest number of ounces of water you can get away with inside the pot. And don't use that piece of leather to help minimize weight of the pot.
✌🏻😂
I usually bake the leather at 180 Fahrenheit.
The only way to cover it is to make the whole thing dark. It's not a failure now you are just making a very dark brown leather chest piece. Dye the leather in stages to increasingly darker shade till you are satisfied.
Fingers crossed man🤞🏻
That looks cool... sorry your pissed off hope it gets better
Would a tailor's mannequin help for the initial problem of getting it the right shape without it being on your body?
Just what I was thinking as he was mentioning it.
Yeah he can even try to make or get one that's his body shape so he'll have an exact replica of himself to fit things.
It would help immensely. I have one, but it is a female bust, so that is obviously going to result in some forms that I don't want as part of the armor ;)
if you try this again, I suggest 185 degrees rather than 200+
my advice is to take a blowtorch or lighter and extend the singe to make it more circular, and consider it part of the weathering on the armor.
after all, what is armor if you haven't worn it into a few dragon fights?
Try murphys oil soap it will help repair the leather and keep reworking it is the best bet
Will do
Love this
We love you dude
Man. Getting into leather crafting sounds like something I'd enjoy, only to start getting frustrated with it and giving it up. Sort of like art. I try and then get extremely ticked off stop bothering with it.
It's very rewarding, and now I know what mistake I will never make again
@@LivingAnachronism Are you going to save up for something that will make the cooking process easier?
@@Victor-dm4qv For now I've found great success with a heat lamp, so I'll see if I can build something to make that even more efficient. Lot's of things I am saving for at the moment so a leather oven, is on the back burner, no pun intended
hang the leather and keep the cookie sheet on the bottom rack to help defuse the heat
also stain it a darker color and alot of that coloring will disapear...
I suggest a form(like a dress form)for next time.
Happy to see an early video. But it's too bad that it's under these circumstances 😕
Is staining the leather, to as close to the burnt color as possible, a possibility? Or were you wanting a natural color?
I will be staining it, that is the next step after I have the back shaped properly. Luckily, even though the back is sewed to the front, it isn't glued and so the chest and back plates can be independently replaced if they get damaged in the future.
Keep at it, mate! I'm sure you'll come up with something beautiful. I am new to your channel, but am loving everything I've seen. Your beginner costuming video got me what I think is a pretty decent first costume for Ren Fest this coming Sunday! Also, cool to hear you mention Weaver Leathercraft. I watch their stuff, too. Chuck is amazing.
I think it's a great job- I would personally rivet a few plates of Stainless Steel over the burned areas and nobody would know the difference.
Those eyes say it all 2:50
Adam Savage : " You will always end up building something three times before getting it right"
"paraphrasing"
An adventurer huh. I was an adventurer too, until I took a fireball to the spine...
I don't know if you can dye dried leather but if you can you probably could match it to that burn color?
This armor went into battle before it was even done.
i heard you can use acetone to soften leather, and it evaporates quickly. heard it while talking to an old sca guy about making armor. hope that helps, someday somehow. I think it will look great when its done.
just dont soak it for too long or it will degrade the quality.
maybe the local sca warbands in connecticut have some tips. a lot of them probably have workshops too. they have FB groups you can join and you can shoot a question they love to help. at least the ones in cali do😁👍
If memory serves, Geralt's armor is black so the discoloration should be readily concealed by the dye. The real question is how to harden leather in an oven (I am familiar with the video on Weaver Leather that you watched)? My best guess is you have to create a form that can withstand the heat and use cord to secure it to the form. I am going to be trying that out myself (hopefully next month) and see how it turns out. Good to know about the oven racks though. Can you tell me what the thickness of the base leather was compared to the outer plates?
Most of the armor is 2 layers, 1 or 4-5 oz and on of 6-7 oz. at the thickest part right in the center of the chest plate it is 3 layers, 1 of 4-5 and 2 of the 6-7 oz. I've had great success today using a heat lamp so I can monitor the leather while it cures. I did a test run in the oven with some smaller pieces, and those turned out fine, but I think for larger pieces a normal kitchen might not be the way.
@@LivingAnachronism I am glad to hear that you have had success with a heat lamp. I am wondering if the problem isn't the layers and having them dry at different rates?
@@MacAttack001 I think that is probably part of it. I'm also not working with leather that is all the same quality, some of it is scrap, just based on what I had and could afford, so some of the pieces soaked up way more water and were less easy to form than the other pieces.
Great video. This is on my list of things to try and tackle this winter season. Love the gambeson. Any chance you remember where you go it?
Gambeson was a custom piece made by a member of my family. Medieval collectibles has some more budget friendly gambesons that still have the length and detachable sleaves.
@@LivingAnachronism On the offhand that your family member decides to start and Etsy let me know! Theirs are nice but lack the sleek look of yours but thanks for the info. Love the content.
@@traveling47 The possibility of etsy stores linked with the channel exists in the future, maybe not for the cloth items, but we will see what the future holds. There will be an update for this when the time comes
I do hope you’re able to salvage that and make something usable out of it, because that’s a lot of time and money spent on that leather and the labor and we’re in shaping it that will come to naught if you’re not able to salvage it. 😦
The Grill would have left Grill Marks. So 6 of one, half dozen of another. Both will have damaged it one way or another.
Does putting it on the rack while baking add grill marks?
I'm sorry but the idea off grilled leather armour turning up in video games and media etc broke me. I can't wait to see the finished project
Grilled armor will be a cosmetic skin we can get via microtransactions
I'm planning to bake a leather halberd head to use it for training and sparring and seeing your mistake it makes me wonder what surface do you recommend for resting a large piece of leather. What do you recommend?
Greetings sir memes alot. Some other viewers have said use tin foil. Or a wooden mold or board. It might be worth it to try your chosen method with a piece of scrap, just in case. I also had great success with a heat lamp, so I was able to monitor and turn the armor as it is cooking.
On the bright side, you have a head start on detailing if you ever had any intention of weathering the leather and making it look not brand-new. Never knew I'd ever hear "grilled my armor" out loud. Like, ever.
We like to have some firsts on the channel. It's got some other scuffs at this point too from the curing process, so I might antique them and just have a battle hardened piece, rather than a perfect brand new one. Builds character.
Next time try putting the rack at the very top and with some wire and wood cross braces hang it for curing.
wouldn't it be better to bake every segment separately and after that riveting/sewing it together? Instead of baking it whole
I want to see it painted... painted black. Black as night, Black as coal!
This may be a Rolling Stones reference
So I know you probably don’t want to damage the armour but I’d love to see weapons tests against this
Even just a leather plate
Probably not with this one, but it something I'd like to do in the future once I have the resources to do it properly: Full chest and backplate once I am confident it is actually made correctly as not to scew the results, a dummy that will retain the shape of the armor so it doesn't collapse etc.
@@LivingAnachronism
Wonder if making a wire frame maybe wrapped in cloth or something shaped like a body would help with shape
@@lucasky1394 If I plan on make a whole bunch it would be a lot easier than trying to form them to myself!
Why didn't you at least put on this version for us to see?
Building suspense ;) also I'm still reworking the damage because it didn't quite fit still
boiling leather in oil was a method to harden it for armour
I prefer cloth armour...
Yikes That was almost an expensive disaster.
Not a fix but a "for next time" - clean at least the oven rack if not the whole oven
why does it sound like someone shouting machicolations in the distance?
It's possible Shad was filming across the ocean, and his battle cry was so loud it echoed into the United States
Or learn to work metal.
Big oof my guy sorry I got no answers for you leatherwork at this level is beyond my knowledge.