madPete

Put a chisel and hammer in my hand... Best stand back while the chips fly. I'm definitely learning!

The hat is for Glo, I already have one I did in a similar fashion. It had to be stretched cause she has a large head (like me), and removed the liner. I'll put a linen lining in it once we have the shape done. We'll put a braided somethign or other around the outside. But we all need something to keep the sun off our faces... The shellac flakes are a couple years old and tend to bunch up, so I had to mash them with a hammer to get them small enough to go in the can.

when its dark, no one is gonna notice the modern features, just put it in the tent during the day (unlit of course)

I think you will be surprised!

I've done it before, its worked great every time. Here's where I got the information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHma3dpYqRw basically I bought a can of denatured alcohol at homedepot, dumped the shellac flakes into the can (measured per the video). Then you have to let the denatured alcohol break down the shellac for a couples days. Shake it up, transfer to a spray bottle and good to go. You can spray several times depending how stiff you need it. it takes a while to evaporate and dry, so I use rubber bands or whatever I can scrounge to keep its shape while it dries. You have to make sure the wool soaks in the mixture. If it just sits on the surface, you have some other coating on yer hat that needs to be removed!

I found a similar one. In the process of stretching it to a larger size. I removed the inside lining, soaked it in water and put a couple of hat stretchers inside to open it up. Next will be shaping it and spraying with combination of shellac flakes and denatured alcohol to keep its shape

yup - he was in a lot of movies/tv that I saw. he will be missed

This simply a fly I'm creating. It will be treated for waterproofing somehow, havent decided how yet. I have a wedge tent that I made in a similar fashion and its lasted since 2006 when I was playing civil war. The wedge has been waterproofed a number of times. 16 years is a long time for canvas... Needs it about every 5 years or so An Oar tent was added a few years later but thats very similar to the fly here, just sets up differently.

I decided I might need a fly for Massacre Island and other events. So started with a 12X8ish piece of home depot paint tarp (or maybe it was lowes). The whole thing was washed and dried on hi heat to shrink it as much as its going to shrink. This makes the weave tighter. It shrank to about 11x7 approximately. Then cut out some 12X12 inch squares of similar material. to strengthen the areas where the grommets are going. Each piece was either folded over the edge or, on the corners was cut in half. Then raw edges were folded over and stitched thru all three layers. A layer on each side of the material and grommets will be added thru all 3 layers. There will be grommets in each corner, plus one in the middle on each of the long sides (11ft side split in the middle) for 6 total. The idea is a pole with a pin will stick thru far enough on each grommet to also wrap some rope tiedowns on the pin to stake the fly. I've done grommets on my wedge tent and oar tents in a similar fashion, and they've held up well so far. So this weekend I got the reinforcements on each corner and the middle stitched in with doubled linen thread. The next step is to create the grommets (photo shows earlier grommets I've done) Next weekend: grommets and poles

July 8-9. Shore Line Aquatic Park in Long Beach CA. This is looking to be a big event with camping over the weekend and crews from all over. We have a small crew attending with a local group and planning on lots of photos. This event has really morphed over the years. It seemed to have a slow start after taking over after the beloved Ojai Pirate Festival. Became Belmont Pier Invasion for a while and now is in a large seaside park in Long Beach run by Order of Leviathan..

Pyrates are joining back on the forum all the time and many are silent on the forum, so it cant hurt to ask if any are local... It's a bit of a stretch to attend pirate themed ren fairs when you live in another state. Being in Arizona, I have to pick and choose carefully. There are 2 events that are within a 6-7 hour drive for me in California. Almost all the rest require a very long drive or a plane flight. I know Stynky is in the same boat er... ship, so to speak

Stynky, we have a hemp rope that we'll drop from the plane as we fly by...

hobby lobby has square glass bottles, but I didnt see colored. I'm not sure how period looking they really are but you could certainly get sets there

looks like you could play dice with em or fill em with grog!