So I’m new to this, hopefully coming to E1 2019 (would have been E4 this year if not for a poorly timed stag do I’m going to) and was just looking for some guidance for what’s acceptable from a safety / etiquette perspective.
So, going WM Suaq battlemage. Was looking on Etsy for some small bones as a bit of extra decoration, and I come across a guy selling bundles of animal bones (found in the wild, not killed for their bones) which included things like deer and fox skulls. Struck me as a cool thing to use as a pauldron decoration, and would definitely help differentiate the armour from real armour if I runed up the skull. The only problem is I don’t know whether having real bones is A) socially acceptable (I realise that some people might be sensitive to this kind of stuff) or B) whether it would even be considered safe.
Now I’ve lurked the forum long enough to know that no ones a ref on the internet, and the decision would have to be made on site, but does anyone know of any examples of people who have used bone work at such a scale in their costume in the past?
Further to my question with regards to safety, I was thinking about using wood in some capacity with the mage armour (mostly in the form of bracers and a small chest decoration), does anyone know if there’s been any safety issues with wood in the past? I could see something like the fact it can splinter being a safety factor, but I’m just not experienced enough with LARP in general to know what’s considered dangerous or not.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer my questions!
Actual bones, especially if they have been chemically treated to clean them, can be brittle, and are probably not the best things to use anywhere they may take an impact.
There are people making 3D prints of bones, including some very neat small animal and bird skulls which are probably safer to use for mage armour specifically.
I suspect similar thought would apply to the wood. Small scales or decorations with rounded edges are probably fine, anything that could break or splinter probably best avoided.
Although as you say the only way to be actually sure is to let a PD weapon checker actually get a in person look at it.
Ahh! Cool. I guess I’ll go ahead then if it’s being done already. Worst case scenario is it’s unsuitable for combat and I need just just to take them off. Least I’ll get to walk around camp looking baller.
Well, with combat I’d keep bones on the minimum. You only need to cover a small fraction of your body, the exciting gear happens around the camp where you can just throw it all on. I’ve managed to find most of the bones here and there with a couple of very obscure pieces. What bones have you got and how are you using them for gear, out of curiosity
Haven’t got any yet, was researching before I picked any up. One of the bundles included a small deer skull (roughly 7 inches), some deer jaw bones, some bird skulls and some small assorted odds. I was thinking of using the deer skull as decoration for a pauldron, the jaw bones as framing for a chest piece and the rest of it as general decoration. There was nothing particularly huge I was thinking of, just things to draw the eye. The main point of contention would be the shoulder part, but I plan on removing any protruding parts from it. Hoping to put it together in such a way that it could be easily removed from the pauldron should it be an issue.
Hmm. Well, do you have any images to like use as reference. I know they helped me out a lot. I’d love to see it when it starts getting pieced together.
This is the collection I was looking at. The antler stubs would likely have to be cut off and sanded down to safety.
Not got any examples of the rest of the costume because it’s mostly in my head. Chest piece I was thinking a small wooden plate, roughly 7inches wide, strapped in place, framed by the jawbones. Maybe a necklace with the bird skulls, or use them mounted on the chest piece.
I’ve been using the exact picture myself for shoulder armour ideas. Don’t have an Etsy account so I can’t see the other. Are you new to the magic side of larp/empire? Because I’ve got no clue and a bone mage buddy to help me out sounds like a god send.
Unfortunately my first event won’t be till the first one next year, so new to pretty much everything! Though I think I understand the gist of most of it, just not had the opportunity to consolidate the knowledge through experience.
I’ve had mage armour (a pauldron) carved out of a two by four for a couple of years. It’s quite thick, probably at least as solid as plastic plate is, and I sanded it smooth and put several coats of varnish on to prevent splintering. My original plan was just to cut down and pyrograph some cheap wooden dining bowls and plates.
In terms of bones, real bird skulls will get cracked easily, large animal bones less so.
I made a “dragonbone” shoulder piece out of Multimorph thermoplastic. You can get a 250g bag for £8 which is way more than you need for several mage armour bits. It melts in hot water, and I just rolled it out like pastry and cut it to shape with scissors. You can heat and mould it to shape until you’re happy, and then it’ll easily take acrylic paint and varnish.Don’t use spray paint unless you have the flexible stuff, it will crack as this stuff is flexible (you may be able to get away with a single coat as primer, mine cracked and I went over it with acrylic and flexible marine varnish.). There are some excellent cosplay tutorials on painting bone effects.
