I want to make some kit for an Urizin battle mage, but i don’t have much in the way of cash… So i was wondering if you guys have seen any cool/clever bits of kit in the field for an Urizin battle mage that probably didn’t cost much. id be willing to make things for my kit, but my enthusiasm far outweighs my skill.
on that topic, does any one know how to make a safe and decent looking wizard staff/rod?
Making Larp safe weapons that will be safe to use and pass weapons check is not simple or cheap, you are far better buying one.
My mage armour is leather, but then I’m Highborn, not sure what is best option for Urizen. Seem some made out of carved thin foam, something like a carrymat.
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2nd about cheep and safe home made LARP weapons. They do not exist unless you make weapons regularly anyway.
I would suggest looking at the staffs and just buying one. There are some that are cheaper but you are still looking at approx £75 for one.
As for armour, you have much more flexibility. Cloth is fine, as long as it is decorated appropriately. Something like a rune’d half cloak, with a jewelled head band. Some Bracers that keep to the same idea. Also consider making something called a Linothorax. Its roman armour made from linen. You could substitute the material, but properly decorated could look like a mage armour.
http://www.uwgb.edu/aldreteg/Linothorax.html
This seams to have some of the best instructions on how to make it,
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Concur on making weapons. Save up over winter, keep an eye on the Facebook kit trading groups for a second-hand staff. Invest your money in the weapon and your time and enthusiasm in the rest 
For mage armour, consider quilted or heavy cloth or painted leather(ette). You can get fake pleather/coloured vinyl quite cheaply by the meter from eBay in all kinds of colours and textures. To my mind the key things if you’re planning a set from scratch are the embellishment and the overall colour scheme. Having elements (runes, borders, designs, trim) repeated over the different pieces really helps pull things together and make them look finished.
I find half an hour or so with paper and coloured pencils sketching ideas really helps to firm up ideas and see what looks good. You don’t have to be an artist: google ‘croquis’. They’re the line drawings of bodies fashion designers use to sketch up ideas on and there are tons of them free on the web, so you can print off a bunch and doodle up your thoughts on them.
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I’m considering making myself some mage armour based on the following things:
Waist: a decorated belt/ sash based loosely on an Obi rather than hard leather
Wrists: Vambraces of interwoven runed ribbons.
Head: a circlet of some kind.
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A wide cloth belt / sash thing, like, a good handspan wide or more, with protective symbols (constellation or rune as per your characterisation), vambraces of the same material with matching or complementary symbols, and a headband which while you’ve got the material might as well be made of the same stuff (just, y’know, don’t put a rising sun in the middle ^^) - there’s your mage armour.
As for weapon - making your own safe, functional staff is not cheap unless you can exploit economies of scale, and it won’t look good. My advice is buy or borrow one.
aside from painting exotic colors and runes, any suggestions to make metal armour look more 'mage armourish"?
would something like this be considered upper pectoral after i painted A BUNCH of runes, hearth magic and astronomancy symbols on it?
Possibly not, straight answer would be email PD. Most mage armour covering pectoral is about the same coverage as a gorget. However if it doesn’t work as a pectoral you could perhaps adapt it into a circlet?
Mage armour has Gorget as separate and distinct from Pectoral, and the flavour text for a Sunfire Pectoral describes it as a large medallion. Specifically it’s a reference to the rapper Flavor Flav and the clock he wears as a pendant.
FWIW, mine’s a large bird skull painted with a Way symbol and runes. That jewellery looks as large as Mage Armour stuff I’ve seen, if you take a look at it on the bust shown on the site
so, would you say gorget or pectoral?
Probably pectoral, as it’s talismantic bling, not a ceremonial piece or armour.