Making Pteruges (or at least trying to make Pteruges!)

[AntonivsMarivsCongianocvs]

Joel Boynton asked:

But...1 inch thick?!

What I did was base the width on what Travis said over at his site:

Also, the pteruges on reconstructions are usually broad leather straps, 1.5-2 inches in average width. Now that is about the size they are on the statuary, but the statuary is not on a human scale, it's actually about 120% larger than actual size, meaning that the pteruges actually should be narrower.

Robert Vermaat asked:

What color thread did you sew them with?

I wanted to use a 100% cotton plain yellow but that was nowhere to be found, I found a yellow-gold (I stayed away from the metallic-gold) I think the thread is a cotton/synthetic blend.




Travis Lee Clark said:

Mine look better after wetting and blocking them. They are a lot stiffer and look better.

I was wondering about that however, many of the photos on your site show a real flowing fabric like material, sometimes they even look like then need to be ironed... what is the process of "blocking" them?