2005-09-26 - 1:05 p.m.

Gloves

It was in interesting but rather rushed weekend. (So, what else is new?)

Friday we went bananas just trying to get everything ready for travelling on Saturday. Plus, Carlos started getting really sick. (Taking him to the doctor today. This is sounding like bronchitis.)

At any rate, we departed Saturday morning to our first stop: Highland Foorde Investiture.

Much to our surprise, the gods of traffic were on our side and we even arrived to the site before 10 a.m., the idea being to attend Investiture Court, say hi to everyone, and then bail out to continue our trip to Pennsylvania and visit Marcellus's parents.

First of all, we forgot the present for our new Cousins. The good news is, they will be at Kingdom Crusades, so we can deliver it there. They seem like very nice people and I am sure they will do a terrific job.

However, due to some last minute problems, Investiture Court had to be re-scheduled for 2:30 p.m., so we had to miss it. (We left at around noon.)

So off we go to Pennsylvania, where we made our second stop of the day: The Leather Factory at Harrisburg.

I had been talking to a very knowledgeable lady named Karen there, and was happy to find her and have her help me in my quest for the perfect period glover's leather.

It was not to be. As she explained to me, finding what I am looking for will be extremely difficult. First of all, tanneries are closing right and left due to the new environmental laws. Rather than spending millions bringing their businesses up to par, they are closing their doors.

Secondly, the best leather used to come from Europe. However, with the Mad Cow Disease scare and other problems, leather exports almost stopped altogether for a while. They have now resumed, but most of their stuff goes to the car and furniture industry. Retailers like them, even nation-wide wholesale retailers like The Leather Factory, are small potatoes compared with those other indurstries. Therefore, they only get the leftovers.

Natural tanning? Who knows. They get what they can and they sell it to me. Since they are getting what they can from various sources, it is hard to tell what method they used. So I go there and try to get whatever resembles the period color, texture, and weight, and hope for the best.

So unless I start tanning my own leather (and even I will not go that far!), I will have to make do with what I can get. In this case it was a nice buff-brown doe kidskin (namely the skin of a small doe), and a cream colored hide of doeskin, lighter than the honey-colored one I used for my Chalice entry. They will make very nice gloves, and it will probably be the closest I can get to the real thing.

As for the gloves I made for Chalice, they are the most comfortable pair I have ever owned. They fit, well, like a glove. Then again, they have been designed to fit my hands.

I will probably use them for fencing. Those puppies are not only comfortable, they also grip a handle like nobody's business. Plus, they look extremely cool.

Now Marcellus wants a pair too. And the more I work on the pattern, the more I expect it to resemble the period ones. I am still experimenting with this thing and my pattern is not perfect yet.

But I am working on it.

Stay tuned.

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