wow, Julien, that looks fantastic. Interesting how much could be achieved with relatively simple tools.
And it´s a great inspiration too:)

Impressive work on the leather: beautiful design beautifully executed. :D :cool:

Alright,things are taking shape (pun intended).
I had originally done the two side on a single piece of leather. but when folding it on the it guard, both sides where not exactly matching and I was bothered by that. So I cut the shape in half, kept the piece I preferred and draw it reverse on a new piece of leather so that both would match (when in doubt, do what Albion does - have a look at the Ljubljana Sword making off on their facebook page to see what I mean). I added some quick decoration (dots and lines), worked on creating some basic volume/shaping - then sewed both pieces on the guard.

Now I have to experiment with soaking the leather in collagen, to harden the leather. Once this is done, I'll have to work quickly to sew the bottom part of the grip to it and clean up the edges of the pattern. Then dye to match the grip, clean the fittings again, peen the sword and done.

Julien, I absolutely love it. Thanks for sharing the progress!

I actually kind of like the way it looks with a different color rain guard, especially with the way it's assembled, with the partial wrap from the grip coming over the crossguard. I could imagine it with the laces dyed to match the grip and a scabbard with similar highlights. I mean it could be any color but it looks like a good possible design for a two-tone. That may not be a historically accurate thing to do though.

Red was the color I had in my head. :)

Hi Julien,

Great work.

Dye the leather before the collagen as it won't take the dye well after is hardens off, but of course do an experiment.

Tod

It's looking great! That grip! Can't wait to see the finished piece.

I'm excited to see what direction you decide to go with this. It's looking marvelous!

Great, somebody will have red fingers at the office tomorrow...remind me to wear latex gloves next time :)
But it was worth it. I complicated the task and went two tones as promised - I don't regret it as I like the outcome. Pretty horrible to do though, it took 4 or 5 passes on the brown areas with diluted dye to match the brown of the grip, not to mention that a single mistake would have ruined it all. Then onto the red, then another brown pass to sharpen the contrast. I will let it dry thoroughly tonight, then I will decorate the overlap / harden with gelatin, and glue or sew the overlap (haven't made up my mind on that yet. I will enhance the red with red polish cream too, I've used that trick on red scabbards in the past and it works like a charm after buffing it. An I will likely do another brown pass tomorrow too. Let me know what you think - I can still dye it all black!

I think it looks great! Nice execution! I'm glad to see you went through with it. The other enhancements you mentioned will probably make it even better.

I really like the contrast of the red and brown. It helps add accent to the details and provide something pleasing to the eye. The shape of the handle, tool work on the leather, and color contrast come together to make this piece stunning overall. I admire your work Julien!

Great - finally managed to mess this up, and I have only my own stupidity to blame for it. Was almost there really - but thought appropriate to dye the inside of the shape dark brown...and bang, my beautiful red turned to murky oxblood in places because the dark brown dye sweated through the leather. I'm going to forget this project for a while as I feel ready to finish up this rain guard with a sledge hammer right now...

Noooo! You might change your mind after you live with it for a few days. Even if you decide to start over, you can use the piece for a toy sword or something.

:) One side is almost intact, reminding me how good it looked before I messed up...And I'm not ready to go single tone now. Making a brand new shape would take me about an hour, but I'm stubborn. Damn it, I'm going full fieblings paint now,problem is that I applied shoe wax on it already and this might turn really nasty. Oh well, at this point, ain't got much to loose. Disgusted!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JVQTI6Q/ref=twister_B00JVQTHX0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I feel your pain. I've scrapped a few projects. I'm contemplating rebuilding my most recent sword.

Bummer! I have faith that you can do it again. But yeah, might be a good idea to take a break from it until you feel inspired and come at it again with a clear mind. Slowly but surely.

In case you are wondering what not to do when dying leather, here it is! :) Remember this is a porous material...Left side was mostly spared, right is where the damage got worse. Of course I could settle for oxblood, but then the contrast with brown would be lessened so there is no point. Let's see what that fieblings paint will do but at this point I'm not too optimistic.