From what I've read, it appears that CoP/brigandines commonly had 'tinned' plates. This doesn't look to be an option for me, so I'm looking for some sort of alternative, historical if possible. Would simple painting of the plates be terribly incorrect?

The shell is progressing nicely, thanks to my dear mother (who is a fine seamstress, and has kept this project alive), and is nearly ready for dying. My slim research has determined that 14th century dyes were not of terrific quality or variety (more opinions welcome, please) and 'earth tones' were most common historically. I'm leaning towards a brown, but the quality of the shell has me thinking I should consider a more 'noble' color, perhaps a blue? Are there any surviving examples of colored linen from the era?

Cole,

try the Firestryker forum and use the search engine to look for brigandine. Also try this site.

http://www.eskimo.com/~cwn/

As far as tinning the plates, I think that was mainly used for brigandine plates. Historically, a lot of armor was blued, blackened or painted, the alternative being to clean and oil it everyday. I think painting the plates would be fine. My two pence.

Andrew

Options for finishes

If you used vegtable tanned leather and are going to wear it in rain, you may want to consider a natural oil wax finish. It will darken to a medium boot brown color if you brush melted 50%/ 50% parafin wax/Neats Foot oil onto it, and be reasonably water resistant. You can buy the wax at grocery stores or Wal Mart, the oil at a Tractor Supply type store. This will cause it to shrink slightly, and stiffen it some. You might want to put it on for a couple of hours after coating. Ideally you would dip it (before sewing straps on) into a warm (150 degrees F) vat of the stuff, but I suspect you will not want to pay for that kind of quantity and go through that much trouble. These oils are flammable, and should be melted using a pot inside another pot of hot water if you try this on a kitchen burner. This will not corrode the plates, and will leave it feeling a little oily after it dries for a couple of days. You can buff excess wax coating off with a rag.

Several leather suppliers offer brush on dyes that are either acrylic (water based) or oil/aniline based that simulate an antique looking brown. You should be able to mail order an adequate amount for less than $20.

Hope these are useful ideas to someone.

Thanks very much for the help gentlemen, it is much appreciated. I had not seen the tinning tutorial before, very interesting (though still out of my reach at this point, I suspect). The Firestryker boards are very informative and deep, I believe that is where I read about dyes commonly being 'earth tones'.