Scutum Tegimen

[Doc]

Does anyone have good reconstruction pictures or better yet a good "how to" drawing or explanation on how to make the tegimen since I have poor black and white photos that I cannot use since the details are so small.

I was able to get the goat leather thanks to those who replied to my post about goat leather vendors in the US. Thus any help would be appreciated for a reconstruction.

Thanks in advance

[M. Demetrius]

http://florentius.com/scutumcover.htm

That might help you get started, Doc. :wink: Hope that helps.

[Doc]

Demetrius,

Thanks for the info. This does help signficantly.

However, I have a few questions:

1) Is a slit necessary for the bubble part of the tegimen where the umbo is.
2) How are those straps applied to the tegimen surface.
3) Was the tegimen made of two pieces of leather or more
4) Was the leather used in the originals goat skin or calfskin

Thanks

[jvrjenivs]

According to Van Driel-Murray, most tergimen were made out of goat leather. As goat skins are typically smaller then calfskins you've to do it in parts, most of the time (but if you can find goat leather that covers the whole thing, I'm sure the Romans would have made it out of one piece).

With the 'straps' you mention at #2 you mean those coming from (behind) the tabulum? I think those both are stitched on. As there's less force acting on those, I don't suppose they've to be secured heavily.

Additionally to the great tutorial of Jared, posted above, also Matt had made a good text on those (as always)
[url:xg2tyulf]http://www.larp.com/legioxx/scucvr.html[/url] Here also the 'umbo' part is described very well.

[M. Demetrius]

1) Is a slit necessary for the bubble part of the tegimen where the umbo is.

That is probably necessary, as the cover is supposed to fit smoothly over the boss. It might be possible to wet and stretch the cover over the boss (if it's vegetable tanned leather), so that it retains that shape when it is dry, but it is fairly unlikely that deep of a "bubble" can be forced into leather easily, while cutting a wedge-ish piece from a circle of leather begins that dished shape with no stretching.

I'd suggest using a piece of felt to get the pattern shape correct first, then trace and cut the leather. Don't forget to add in the seam allowance!

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Is the wedge straight sided, or are the sides slightly curved, so that it achieves a domed
shape after you stich it?

[Matthew Amt]

While it would certainly be possible to stretch a simple circle of leather into a dome (especially since the cover isn't held tightly to the face, so the dome need not be the full depth of the boss), apparently all surviving ones are made from a cone and then shaped. Just cut out a 3/4 circle a little larger in diameter than what the finished item needs to be, and stitch those straight edges together to form the cone. Then soak and shape over your boss--I always try to find a bowl or something a little larger than the boss to place over the leather and weight it down. It will look a little odd at first! Kind of a dome with, um, a nipple... But that goes away with enough use and abuse.

Valete,

Matthew

[Doc]

Thanks all for the replies. They are exactly what I was looking for.

Well, off to sewing.

[M. Demetrius]

So, if a person who weaves is a weaver, and a person who drives is a driver, and a person who sings is a singer, is a person who sews a sewer? Hmm. Smells funny to me.

[Matthew Amt]

So, if a person who weaves is a weaver, and a person who drives is a driver, and a person who sings is a singer, is a person who sews a sewer? Hmm. Smells funny to me.

And they let you be a moderator? Slap! Slap! Anyway, why do we drive on parkways, and park on driveways?

Doc, someday one of my guys will make a shield cover and we'll actually get some photos of the process to add to the Legio XX site! But hopefully between what's already there and Lee's tutorial, you should get the gist of it. Oh, there's also my Leatherworking Hints page,

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/leather.html

Shows tools and stitches, etc. Yell if you have more questions!

Valete,

Matthew

[Doc]

Matt,

Thanks for the reply and help. You are correct, I did get a good idea on how to do it.

However, I have a few questions

1) Those straps that hang on the front, are they sewn under the ansata?
2) Do those staps hang loosely or are they sewn onto the main body
3) Is the buldge for the umbo one piece including the decorative border OR is the buldge sewn onto the main body first and then the decorative border is place
around the base of the buldge where it meets the main tegimen body and sewn into place?
4) Why use felt for a contrast on the ansata and not dyed leather. Is there evidence for this two tone?

Thanks

[jvrjenivs]

2) Do those staps hang loosely or are they sewn onto the main body

As you can use these straps for folding your Tegimen I would suggest they hand loosely. They are indeed attached to the ansata or from a different piece attached under the ansata.

3) Is the buldge for the umbo one piece including the decorative border OR is the buldge sewn onto the main body first and then the decorative border is place around the base of the buldge where it meets the main tegimen body and sewn into place?

I would go for the second option, as that would give a much better result.

[Matthew Amt]

1) Those straps that hang on the front, are they sewn under the ansata?

Probably under the edge of it, yeah. (Though knowing the Romans, they probably had a hinge somewhere...)

2) Do those staps hang loosely or are they sewn onto the main body

Loose, as Jurjen says.

3) Is the buldge for the umbo one piece including the decorative border OR is the buldge sewn onto the main body first and then the decorative border is place around the base of the buldge where it meets the main tegimen body and sewn into place?

Right, again as Jurjen said, the dome is sewn flat to the body and the dagged ring goes over it. In fact one line of stitching can go through the inner edge of the dagged ring *and* secure the flange of the dome to the body, then one more line of stitching goes around the outer edge of the ring.

4) Why use felt for a contrast on the ansata and not dyed leather. Is there evidence for this two tone?

I had some red wool, so that's what I used! I don't recall exactly what evidence there is for a contrasting background, but I think there is some. Also, I think my friend Tom first made his cover (the dark one in that top photo on my Shield Cover page) with red leather behind his tabula, and all the oil made it almost the same color as the rest of the leather. So it hardly showed up. He swapped it for red wool, and it shows up much better. Actually, my cover REALLY needs another good coat of oil!

Strictly speaking, if you just use leather of a different color for the decorated tabula (and/or whatever other parts), they will probably contrast some with the body anyway, without the need for a colored backing. I think Van Driel-Murray suggested the possibility that some decorations were done with tawed leather, which would be white or off-white, and not as resistant to rot as regular tanned leather, hence covers with stitching but no surviving decorations. I'm not sure about that, because I find that stitching on leather things is always rotting away, so the decorations could simply have fallen off. Not to mention that some decorative parts (of regular tanned leather) *have* been found. But there are options. Someone else on RAT suggested recently that the whole darn cover could have been dyed, and here we all are just making them brown. Pretty exciting idea! Almost TOO exciting. But intriguing nonetheless.

Vale,

Matthew

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Certainly enough leather dye around to make some interesting combinations.

[Doc]

Matt,

I have found that using various dye dilutions can give a variety of color to leather. For example, I diluted my oxblood color dye with an equal volume of isopropanol and brushed it on to veg tanned leather. I then took a second volume of the same dye and did a 60% dilution with isopropanol.

When I proceeded to oil both parts the two different red colors remained quite distinct. I would think that a larger dilution will give a lighter red that when oiled would not blend so easily into the oiled main body of the tegimen. It is true however that if a color like oxblood is left without dilution oiling it would make it dark enough that a contrast would not be obvious.

The reason I mention "obvious" is because in direct sunlight the oxblood color will give off a red hue no matter how dark it is.