Designing / Augmenting clothes--best practices?

[Timotheos]

Hi, I've tired myself out about complaining about the state of medieval sets, so I grabbed a book on 15th century fashions and will make my own medievals.

I'm going to need to tweak hats (and customize some completely--15th century women often wore their hair bundled inside the hat, something Playmobil doesn't indigenously support, and I would need to fit the hat to the hair-less head piece).  I'm guessing Milliput is the best tool for hats.

Upper class men often wore knee-length tunics.  Paper is an option, but I'm concerned about quality.  I guess, after painted (and glued?), the paper will look good?  Milliput is another option, which maybe if done correctly won't impair the klickie's ability to sit?  I was wondering about rubber hose, cut and stretched over the clickie's torso?

My hope is to design these clothes and still have a poseable clickie.  Though, I suspect that the more elaborate the customization, one eventually must concede the clickie is a show-piece and no longer fully-functional?

I painted a couple of clickies a few months back in acrylic, but made the mistake of not taking them apart (those clickies can no longer posed without tearing the paint).  I'd like a custom that is relatively rugged / functional, but again maybe that isn't possible after moving away from the factory-produced finishes.

-Tim

[Martin Milner]

Good luck to you Tim, I'll be interested to see what you come up with.

I think any finish added/painted on is going to chip and damage quickly if the figures are played with.

I'm tackling the same problem, on a smaller scale, of creating some non-military medievals, but I'm sticking to Playmobil parts. Hopefully I can locate stuff on eBay or through DS that will help. As we both know, it's not the figures but the clothing such as hats & coats that cause the problem.

It's a shame so many figures are sold on eBay without their original hats. The spares order I'm currently waiting on will contain a lot of hats & helmets, and my next one will as well.

[Timotheos]

It's a shame so many figures are sold on eBay without their original hats. The spares order I'm currently waiting on will contain a lot of hats & helmets, and my next one will as well.

Hi Martin, if you can spare the trouble, I'd enjoy seeing a photo of your finished products, or even just the spare parts for ideas on suitable medieval accessories.

In the customs section I'm posting Tims Poor Man Customs with some quickie medievals I made with Geobra parts.

[Martin Milner]

Hi Martin, if you can spare the trouble, I'd enjoy seeing a photo of your finished products, or even just the spare parts for ideas on suitable medieval accessories.

In the customs section I'm posting Tims Poor Man Customs with some quickie medievals I made with Geobra parts.

Will do Tim, no trouble, it'll be a pleasure to share.

I'm waiting on a spare parts order at the moment, and probably a couple more weeks to go unfortunately. My current spares order is mostly for weapons, shields, bows, crossbows & helmets, to turn a bunch of eBay-sourced klickies into men-at-arms, but I'm building a new spares order including "hopefully" suitable hats, if they're in stock.

I've got a couple of lots of "bits" coming from an eBayer, which look to include a few good items of headgear for my medieval ladies.

I should warn you I tend to throw the odd anachronistic figure into my pictures for laughs.   

[Timotheos]

I should warn you I tend to throw the odd anachronistic figure into my pictures for laughs.   

I need to lighten up anyway.

Actually, I read somewhere recently that medieval beer was much flatter than modern beer, and the luxuriant heads Playmobil provides may actually be anachronisms.

I'm not giving up my beer foam, though. 

[cachalote]

 
i hope you don't mind this sugestion...
the 15th century is already considered as a renaissance period in many european countries.
to stay medieval, maybe you could consider going back a century or two.
good-luck tim.
 

[Timotheos]

Call me renaissance, then.  1350 - 1500 is my interest area.

-Tim

[cachalote]

 i can see we share this common interest, tim.
although in the playmo-world i am an exclusive pirate's fan, in real life (if my academic life can be called that way) i am mainly interested in the transition between the middle ages and the "modern" times (1350-1550).
at the end of the week i am going to see shakespeare's richard ii play.
if they have some nice costumes i will try to get some photos for you.
it will be nice to see the results of your experiences.
good-luck again.
 

[Timotheos]

Hi Cachalote

I would very much enjoy seeing your photos.

I'm not a professional academic (but am more like an irritating amateur), but I enjoy reading about that period (mid 1300s to 1600 or so).  The bulk of what I have read centers around England, due to the limitation of what is available in English.  Allison Weir has written some lovely histories on the figures involved in the War of the Roses and a biography on Queen Elizabeth.  I've also read a biography of Sir Thomas More recently that I really enjoyed (he's my hero, even if he would've probably sent me to the chopping block).  And, Barbara Tuchmann's "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century" paints a bright portrait of domestic life and politics in both France and England. 

Last week I finished a biography on Mehmed II ([EDIT] the III), the turk who conquered Constantinople.  As for the renaissance, Italian painting and sculpture interested him (he decorated his harem with paintings), but Persian poetry and dialogs about the Quran were his main passion.

Also interesting (to me), I've read some surveys about the evolution of weapons from 1200s to 1600s. 

If you have any book recommendations, please tell me.  I can read French enough to probably work my way through a book (I read Asterix comics, though the vocabulary is alot simpler).

-Tim

[Martin Milner]

Allison Weir has written some lovely histories on the figures involved in the War of the Roses and a biography on Queen Elizabeth.

-Tim

I've read a couple of books about The Princes in the Tower (Richard III's nephews) and the one I favour (can't recall the author at present) is somewhat scathing about Weir's selective use of sources, evidence and her conclusions. Not to suggest all her books are rubbish of course!

It's probably fair to say that History is written by the victors, and the Tudor slant on the events at the end of the 15th Century are not unbiased. Put another way Richard III was innocent! (probably)