michaelsbagley

I'm going to move some of my comments from the other thread over here to help keep info cohesive and together.... First off the pics of the forge at the Fort, willfully pirated from William Red Wake's photobucket site... And lastly the tools

Post moved to link below Maybe starting a seperate Blacksmith might be worth while rather than hijacking this thread... If anyone who is interested in discussing this would be so kind, please post on the new thread devoted to the topic.... by clicking here

Post moved to new thread... See above deleted post for link

POst moved to new thread... right here

The Loyalist Arms Shoes are now available for order!!!!! Loyalist Arms Shoes link While the web site does not spell this out, the "early" shoe design is based on the shoes found on the Phips ship, the "late" shoes are based off of the "Whydah" shoe... They are available in natural tan or black, and in straight last, or left/right lasted versions... Get your orders in folks! Also, as a reminder the order time for shoes will... The fitting is custom, but in Metric, so it's time for everyone to go out and buy metric measuring devices .... Or for those that live near Ikea stores, they give paper tape measures (with metric and Impreial measure on them) so people can measure the furniture Ikea sells to ensure fit....

Have you tried Reconstructing History? I am fairly certain they are beginning to stop carrying "off the shelf" clothing, but I believe custom work is still an option through them. Kass (the owner and proprietress) knows her stuff and will make you brown linen breeches if you ask for brown linen breeches. Not the cheapest option, but top notch stuff. Good luck in your search whatever you choose.

This isn't anything to do with what I was looking for... But I found it in my searches, and thought it was interesting and worth sharing anyways... Correct period, wrong country... Norwegian Army 1700 - 1720

I have a link to a similar web site that is focussed on dance, that conveniently has sheet music as well. Below is the link, much of it is 15th and 16th century, but most of the "English Country" Dancing music list towards the bottom of the linked page is from the 17th century. The page includes the sheet music in two different formats (I strongly suggest using the PDF versions), and the first link is to midi files to give you a sample of how they should sound. Sheet Music for early music

Hows your project schedule looking for this year Amanjiria? I don't want to twist your arm, but if you have less to do this year, you would be my hero if you did that. If you have other projects that you are focusing on don't worry about it though... I just know there is no way I can learn to play an instrument well enough in time, if at all within this lifetime...

Wasn't there a person or two that were discussing bringing instruments and trying to learn some period tunes for last year's PiP? I seem to recall a thread on that.... Did that materialize, or did the person(s) wind up running out of time? I certainly can't carry a tune to save my life, but I would love it if there was anyone who was coming that would be interested in taking that on...

Help yourself Aminjiria, Jessica was patient enough to let me take the pics to show the stays off, and I posted the pics to share and inspire... So please go nuts! As for the arms, Jessica could probably speak to this better than I could, but we had no trouble to speak of in the fitting of the underarm. But I could see that becoming an issue on someone shorter. Shana mentioned she was vertically challenged, she might have some good insight there... Shana, when you were doing the fitting of your cardboard fitting pattern, did you have to trim a lot from the underarm area?

Awesome work! Can't wait to see the finished stays on you! And tell Captain Grumpypants that he has to be more supportive about your project or the next set of stays you make will be for him. That should get him to stop grumbling...

Ahhh... My apologies if I can across a little too aggressively negative about this. One of my concerns that I did not realize fully or communicate in my knee jerk reaction, was that with this level of plot detail going on, those of us who choose to take an easier going approach to this may run the risk of doing or saying something contrary to the story lines, and inadvertently spoiling a part of the story or another. Like I said in my initial post, I am all for those who are interested in going the extra mile in this manner. While I do not have the propensity or mind set for it, I do really appreciate others who do, and quite enjoy it. I have seen far too many instances where someone's story has been quite accidentally damaged by someone who was not as passionate about that element of the hobby... And it has lead to some ugly frictions.... Keeping it simple and taking it more from an angle of a very simple and basic story with few details affords us lazy folks the security of knowing what is going on and participating to our own style, but allows us the freedom to not cause friction by accidentally stepping on the toes of a more deeply immersed individual.

Uhm, I was curious when the whole Mercury camp thing changed from a re-enactment camp to a semi scripted weekend of drama with a strong historic theme? I am all for those who wish to take the extra effort for complete immersion. All the power to them... But this is somewhat of a vacation for me (and if I am not mistaken many others as well), and to be quite honest that level of acting is VERY exhausting to me.... There isn't a snowballs chance in Hades that I can or will put on that much acting, nor do I feel it is fair to myself (or any others who feel similarly to me) to be designated as "extras" or "canon fodder" to those who feel the need to be the stars of the show. Not trying to be contrary or thumb my nose at anyone, but ambitious (and in my opinion overly ambitious) ideas like this are causing me to serious reconsider going. Or at the very least making me considering joining one of the more relaxed camps if this "complete immersion" thing gets take too far... Or really taken any distance at all. Sorry, I take my re-enacting seriously, but I do like to have fun as well... And remembering that much script and background is just making my head hurt. I also have a hard time justifying in my mind that degree of effort knowing that most of the spectators will visit for a few hours, a few hours ONLY, and only one day or the other... A long running story of any complexity is just not justifiable or seemingly reasonable to me. Efforts would be better spent on creating stories or dramas the length of our target audiences attention span... which in REALISTIC terms is a half an hour to an hour...

Hey GoF, It was Frontier Folk message board I found this little gem on... As someone who is pretty interested in the French side of things, I tend to follow the Nouveau France forum on that board pretty closely... There are two threads about the Justacorps, both are great and have some other good images as well (mostly of re-enactors in their 1680s or 1690s gear).. But the threads are a bit older so they are not easy to find. I tried to look up the threads so I could post direct links to the threads, but the Frontier Folk board seems to be down at this particular moment... I will edit this post and add the links when the forum comes back online to share with those interested. Regards And as promised, here are the two threads about Justacorps from the Frontier Folk forum now that it is back online. Late 17th cenutry Justacorps Speaking of the Justacorps

Mind if I inquire as to the reason you asked the question? Was it because you thought you "oops"ed on a project you are working on? Or did you have another reason for asking? Either way, nothing could be easier... I had a similar moment of terror pretty recently regarding my placement of some button-holes on a jacket I am currently working on...

Assuming the below image (snagged from another forum I am on) has not been reversed or flipped in any way... My guess would be no. At least for the 1680s or 1690s that the below Justacorps is dated as... Off the top of my head I can't think of any other blazing examples of buttonholes seeming to be on the "wrong" side from what today's conventions are, but I haven't really looked into it much either...

Cool images Sterling... Mind if I ask what the sources for them are? I may just have to get over my dislike of mitres in order to do this well... Doing some more web searching, I found the below web pages... Not many images clear enough to be very useful, that and the web page author seems to use a blend of period images, and modern interpretation images... But cool all the same. Battle of Blenheim - 1704 Battle of Ramillies - 1706 Battle of Oudenarde - 1708 Battle of Malplaquet - 1709 The above web site has lots of other really cool info for those folks interested in other time frames... EDIT - I also found the below web site, of a group that does a late 1600s early 1700s Red Coat portrayal based int he UK. Their uniform page seems to have a fair bit of good references and period quotes on it, making it a pretty darn good resource. Lord Orkney's Regiment of Foot web site 2nd Edit (March 17th/08)... I have also found the below google book, which is an online PARTIAL (like all of 5 or 6 pages of the entire book) copy of the Osprey Book - Marlborough's Army: 1702 - 1711

I am leaning towards infantry (foot) or marine, as the little snooping around I have done so far leads me to believe that grenadiers all wore those mitre style hats. And while I know this is not supposed to be about fashion, I would really rather not wear a mitre hat. Another reference I found yesterday from the bookBritish Infantry Uniforms Since 1660 (by: Michael Barthorp) was that blue facings and linings were used by "Royal" units (perhaps exclusively?). So any unit listed as being the "Royal" this, or the "Royal" that, would likely have had blue cuffs etc. Units without Royal, would likely have used other colours. From the same book, there was a vague unsubstantiated reference to all independent companies (barely a step up from militia) using green for linings and facings. As for buttons, I've seen nothing definative yet, but I am starting to get the distinct impression that putting the unit numbers or emblems on the buttons is a later convention. The early 1700's is kind of the cusp where units are just beginning to be changed from being called after the name of the unit's commander to a numbered unit. The numbering process seems to have been finished up by the 1730s or 1740s. Numbered units seem to exist from the beginning of the period (if not earlier), but it still doesn't seem to be a standardized thing just quite yet.

As it so often happens, I was researching one thing, and found something I wasn't looking for... I was at the Toronto Reference Library reading through their copy of British Infantry Uniforms Since 1660 (by: Michael Barthorp), and I found a reference dated to 1710 in which Marlborough ordered that "the Foot be provided with white gaiters, both officers and soldiers". I would wager that is a clear reference to the use of (probably) canvas gaiters from at least that time. (for those who want to, the citation is from page 20)

Actually Foxe that would be great! Overall, I am more interested in creating a generic Red Coat portrayal than trying to portray a specific unit tied to a particular set of dates and single location... I know going this slightly more generic route may slightly detract for being seriously hard core accurate, but I thought it might make for a more diverse usage in re-enacting in different parts of the country. So really any information is good information... From the little I have found surfing around the web, I have found units that were based in various parts of North America or the Caribbean with almost every colour of facings... Although blue, buff, or yellow seem to be the three colours that come up most frequently (with green being a not so distant fourth place), but that is all from potentially unreliable web based information I have found (and going a little from my memory of what I found in the various Osprey books mentioned at various points earlier in this thread).

Bump Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I have looked at this thread.... So yesterday I scored a wicked deal on some good stout brick red wool, and now I am thinking of getting an outfit together for a 17-teens British Red Coat uniform (rank and file soldier, not an officer)... I'm still trying to decide on the colour for the facings, but I would like to try and match my uniform up with anyone out there who is currently doing a Red Coat portrayal, or is considering it.... I am leaning most towards either buff (natural) wool or blue wool for the facings, but I am open to going with what ever flow will get the most Red Coats on the field so the pirates have someone to fight besides themselves (or the occasional group of pirate hunters, who look terribly like pirates anyways ) Anyone out there still interested in this? Or am I setting myself up to be a army of one with this endeavour? Cheers.

I'm no expert... But I have been looking into period firearms a LOT lately, and I haven't seen anything like that. I've seen some clips on the side of a pistol before (think spring metal belt clip). Another option which is a bit of an extrapolation, but I think solid is silk ribbons or straps. Wrap both ends of the silk ribbon around the handle (for a more comfy grip too :angry: ) tie them securely, and leave enough silk to make a pseudo-bandolier style sash. The whydah "Sun King" pistol was found with a length of decorative silk wrapped around the handle, so this might actually be something that was done. You would probably need a good six foot length of stout silk ribbon (at least an inch and a half wide) to do this though.

No, not a tease... I speant nearly an hour on the phone with the guy, we chatted about other things as well... But the topic of conversation did always swing back around to the shoes. While I haven't held anything physical, I am more than confident Blair from Loyalist was on the level.... To contact Loyalist about this... Visit their web site , and look for the email link there. I am uncertain if Blair emailed me from his personal email or his business one, so I am reluctant to just hand over his email. But I do know there are plenty of "Contact Us" links on the loyalist web site. Okay, I even went to the web site and looked the email address up for you.. It is : loyalistarms AT hfx DOT eastlink DOT ca Hope this helps.

When I spoke to Blair at Loyalist (I remembered his name!) He said that he was trying to set up a deal where his shoe manufacturer would distribute the shoes through the same importer that he buys his swords and bayonets through (or something like that). Basically, he was waiting to solidify that deal, AND get a large enough order of swords and/or bayonets built up (he has a minimum order to fulfill). Once he places his next sword/bayonet order, he will be receiving the test model for the shoes, and making the final decision to carry them or not. That said, the shoes are to be a custom order item, and when (if?) they become available, their delivery time may be tied to the minimum orders of swords/bayonets. He also continued to state that on average, he places sword/bayonet orders approximately every three or four months (and of course that can and does change from time to time). I believe shoe orders (when he is ready to take shoe orders) are going to count towards his minimum order for swords and bayonets, but I might be wrong on that. He was guessing his next sword/bayonet order was going to be in March or April. Blair also said, that while he would NOT be taking any pre-orders prior to all the details getting sorted out, he would appreciate the emails of any interested individuals to help him get a good idea of how well this product line would do for him. He seems committed to the idea of keeping all those who email him with serious interest in the loop and aware of what and when things are going to play out.