RomanArmyTalk

Hi All,

After some time on the forum and being inspired by the legends like Zephyrides, PygmyHippo, Feinman or Giannis among many others, I have decided to give it a go myself and make my very own spolas, and with a bit of luck and time, eventually build up a whole panoply.

I will be working mainly with 3 and 5mm veg-tanned leather, leather cord and brass/steel scales as well as some brass 'extras'.

I am attaching 2 very raw sketches of what I'm more or less going for with some changes to come as the project develops.

I also have 1:1 designs drawn out on cardstock, I will use them to trace the designs out on the leather.

I'm currently still waiting for the metal scales to arrive but should start cutting out the first layer of leather soon.
More updates to follow, thanks for looking!

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Wooo! Looking forward to seeing your progress!

Nice. Suggest you use rawhide or semi-cured leather, not vege-tanned leather, and if you are working with hide this thin, you will need 2-3 layers on the chest. Looking forward to seeing how this turn out.

(07-22-2021, 10:31 PM)Dan Howard Wrote: [ -> ]Nice. Suggest you use rawhide or semi-cured leather, not vege-tanned leather, and if you are working with hide this thin, you will need 2-3 layers on the chest. Looking forward to seeing how this turn out.

 Yes, very valid point, unfortunately those kinds of leather are very inaccessible where I live so I decided to go with veg tan. I will use this project as a learning experience and will follow up with a more 'historically accurate' version. 
I recently got your book and really looking forward to exploring it in detail

Would be nice to see you make a pattern in a cheap material (paper/cardboard) and try it on and share. Helped me a lot to get comments and adjust/cut out new patterns until satisfied.

Keep up the great work on this spolas!

(08-18-2021, 03:15 PM)Daniel S. Wrote: [ -> ]Would be nice to see you make a pattern in a cheap material (paper/cardboard) and try it on and share. Helped me a lot to get comments and adjust/cut out new patterns until satisfied.

Thats a good idea! I have most of the pieces cut out so would just have to stick them together with tape and try on.