Zephaniah W Nash

Sorry if I sounded like I was speaking for you, Chris. I read where you were inspired by Pat and in my brain that translated as using his post completely. My bad...

I worked this hat together a month or so ago, and since we're sharing... It's not really period correct, the crown is fitted oblong rather than round, but it's what I had to work with at the time. I followed these directions, with some variations as I got to 'em. My biggest problem was the felt that is available for sale in most places is too light for a hat. I doubled it, and thought that some ironed-in interfacing would make up for a lot of the floppiness. No luck, the felt didn't stick well to the interfacing, so the hat is somewhat... poofy-looking, up close. Once it was cocked, though, I think it would pass at reasonable distance -- if not, I'm sure someone here will be happy to point it out. All hand-stitched, though, no machine sewing whatsoever. And I might manage a pic of it worn at some point, as well (I tried, it was truly terrible trying to take a picture of myself at arm's distance -- we're way overdue for new costumed pics).

Jacky-- I used the directions in this post here at the Pub. I left the pockets off, as the pic shows, but the pockets are included in the pattern/directions.

It makes for a great sizing tool -- particularly helpful if you're sharing your pants with other folks (long story, don't ask). I did leave the pockets off of mine, this pair was strictly experimental. Next one's with pockets, and more correct materials (used cotton homespun on these, on account of it being very cheap and on-hand). Again, ye've done a fine job, mate!

You beat me by a couple of days. Just finished up a pair myself using the directions Mister Hand posted -- though I followed his example and cheated with the sewing machine a bit. Okay, a lot. And damn that thirteen inch ruler! Comparing mine to yours, though, I'm thinking yours is the better job overall, Chris.

Another point is that the "gang life" is considered to be just that; for life. Getting out of "the life" in general is difficult, and it would be even more difficult to change from one gang to another. Pirates often signed onto a crew for a single cruise, or for cruises lasting until a certain monetary amount of loot is taken (at least if the surviving copies of Ship's Articles were more or less representatives of other sets of articles) before retiring (rarely) or signing onto another crew. This, of course, may not include those pressed into service...

When I started converting the dress shoes, I was going to take pictures step-by-step, but it was too easy to do it... I followed the general directions here, to start. It does give a very few general directions -- most of what I did was do a search online for latchet shoes, find pictures of the ones I liked and cut the shoes to match. They're passable, at least, as can be seen in the thread that pretty much became about 'em here...

Thanks for the comments, these will at least hold me over 'til I can figure exactly which period correct shoes I want to buy, as well as which ones I can afford. Got to do a bit more work on the square-toed shoes, need to run a few stitches along the cuts before they seperate... The deer feet belong to the baby deer we're being foster parents for (her mother lost her during hay season back in the spring). Mostly she's out and about on her own all day (unless I'm trying to take pictures of shoes, of course), and we keep her in a fenced-in yard at night for the moment -- much more to keep neighbor dogs out than her in. We figure she'll be with us another couple or three months before the call of the wild takes her out into the wider world...

Okay, I could've sworn I posted a response earlier, but now it's gone. Must've hit preview without following up with post... Oh well, take two. Thanks for the advice, GoF and Bloody Jack! With that info in mind, and the pdf that GoF posted (though it's a huge file, took ages to download on my aircard), I've worked over my second pair. I'm very happy with how these turned out, partially because of the squared toes, plus what I've learned from the other shoes. Again, please ignore the athletic socks (really gotta get that order in) and the random deer hoof:

Okay, one set is done. A couple of caveats real quick before the pics: This particular pair of shoes was probably not ideal for this project, they have several seams and such that are pretty much just for looks and wouldn't have been there on the period shoes, plus of course they are not straight-lasted. Personally, I think the tongues are a bit short on these, but I will leave that up to those more knowledgeable. Plus, in the worn picture, please ignore the athletic socks -- no stockings at the moment. Other than that, any comments are more than welcome -- this was an experiment, and I may be more wrong than I know. Overall, I think they should be useful (I have another set I'm saving until after any instructive criticism here), since the money I had set aside to buy the recreations suddenly evaporated... Before pic (using the brown shoes on the left for this one): Cut pic: Worn pic: Please let me know what you think, want to get the second pair more correct, if possible.

Could the lack of buckles found be something like recycling...? Metal would have been relatively scarce -- buckles possibly collected to sell or re-work into other items. I've also found a couple of $5 pairs of shoes at Goodwill that should serve for conversion, will share some pics once I get a chance to mutilate 'em. Hopefully, even if nothing will actually serve, I'll learn something from trying it.

Sadly, a lot of what is considered "green," really isn't. And this is not meant as a shot to any person who might take any of these steps, nor is it the final argument, just another point of view. Saving paper to save trees. Sounds good, but paper is made out of fast-growing pine trees grown on tree farms for the purpose of making into paper. It is not "natural" or old-growth forests being turned into paper. So, in this instance, using more paper would lead to having more trees planted and therefore create more trees. Now, the polution created by paper mills is a whole other question (and they are nasty, I've worked at a couple), but saving paper isn't saving the rain forest. Not buying furniture from Ikea may be... Recycling saves energy. At this point, there are many who think that it doesn't. There are claims that it takes more energy (not to mention the money paid to recycler workers) to recycle a plastic bottle than it does to create a new one. This is open to a LOT of debate, but the argument is out there. Basically, I could give a couple of links here, but the mathematics are beyond me, and I'm just stating that the argument is there. A landfill is not wasted, ruined land. Modern landfills are probably more ecologically sound than those used as recently as fifty years ago. That land is still re-usable after that landfill is "full," because it is maintained in such a way that it will not impact the environment for tens or hundreds of thousands of years. Penn and Teller did a great episode on this for their "Bullsh!t" show (their PC spelling). I don't agree with everything on the episode, but they ain't just making it up, either. It's a good primer, but not the final discussion. The argument between carbon fuel use and whether it's causing global warming and whether that warming is bad or not I'll leave to those who know a lot more about the subject than myself -- though I do find it odd that most of those scientists who say it's no big deal actually work for the oil industry (but I'll freely admit they may not take that stance because they work for the oil industry, but work for the oil industry because they have that stance already). Just my thoughts on the matter as a whole, for what they're worth.

I'm looking now for a pair of shoes/boots that can be converted -- from the link posted earlier, it looks like there are several different types of boots or shoes that can be used. It really looks like an old pair of roper-style boots wouldn't be bad at all. I've got the same concern Jill has -- not falling when waving a sword about. Plus that $100-$150 issue, it wouldn't hurt me to wait a bit to spend that money. I'm still planning on getting the recreations, but hopefully something converted will hold me for a bit. Now, just gotta find the boots to convert. Spent a half-day looking about locally with no real luck -- it may give me an excuse to drive back into the big city iffen the military surplus/hunting store doesn't have anything to suit...

I have seen four or five of these, and Bean is very good. Sometimes the movies take some pretty serious... um... artistic license, so you lose a lot of the book, but that's about usual when you're trying to put a novel into an hour-and-a-half of film. Plus, of course, there's that legendary British television budget: the uniforms and weapons are amazingly accurate to the period, but battles that were fought by hundreds if not thousands of men on each side are now fought by a couple dozen guys all-told. Yes, I'm exagerating to make a point, but not by much. And I do still really enjoy the movies...

Re-reading a random selection of the Sharpe's novels by Bernard Cornwell right now, but about to have to start wading through Shakespeare again, I think. Haven't done anything classical in quite a while...

Largely the same frustrations here, but maybe for different reasons. We've been offered a string of shows -- "Pirates; History vs. Hollywood," and it seems a perfect oppurtunity to get a bit more historic (at least one of us, and the other stay more theatrical, to show the difference). What I'm going for at this point, is looking historic, even if my thread-counts aren't correct. As more money is available, I'll get more accurate. At the moment, I'm leaning more toward the Fugawee Concord or Ligonier shoes (though with recent back problems, I'm not sure what the straight-last will do to me) with some of GoF's buckles. The fall-back position is the shoes from Jas Townsend -- all assuming, of course, something else doesn't come along and need that money worse...

My condolences, Silkie -- you're in our thoughts here as well. If there's anything that we can do, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Now there's no need to go getting nasty in this debate, Patrick...

If Tom and Brittany come out against it, I'm all for it -- and vice-versa.

Thanks for the links, Syren -- should keep me busy a day or two. Oddly enough, apart from the Devil Cow or Cattle (whether it's more than one or not) some of the same stories listed for my general area I've heard as ghost-stories for other areas, nowhere near me... Modern mythologies travelling, mayhap. Particularly the one about coming around the corner to see boulders in the road that aren't there, and hearing kids laughter. I know I've heard that story at least twice about other areas...

Dihydrogen Monoxide (dHmO hereafter, for short) is actually one of the more regulated chemicals around -- I hardly go a day or two without hearing about somebody suing somebody else over the stuff. There was a big spill in our area last month that caused a few evacuations, but mostly this stuff is still over-hyped. Sure, it can kill you in seconds if you breathe in too much of it, but that's what those warning labels are for, ain't they...?

Oh, c'mon, you know as well as I do that Dihydrogen Monoxide is only dangerous in large quantities. Moderation is the key...

I'm ashamed of you, Patrick, falling for the Dihydrogen Monoxide hype -- ya know it's all political. Or maybe you're one o' those despicable anti-Dihydrogen Monoxide activists...?

The trailers look very good, but I'll have to re-read the book -- I see lots of things in the advets that I just don't recall from the book. Even a little... I have seen and thoroughly enjoyed the Neverwhere miniseries -- though, as usual, the book was better. I've heard now and then rumors of Good Omens and/or Sandman being made into movies or miniseries. Can't remember where exactly I heard it (somehwere on the 'net, I'm sure) but it never seems to materialize...

I'm all good with the running water my ownself. Call me a wuss if you will, but the lack of running water is great for camping, when you're camping for the sake of camping. Other times, I like to do those silly little modern things like brushing my teeth, washing my hands before I stick contacts into or out of my eyes, etc. Plus, generally speaking, other participants much prefer it when I can shower, for some reason.