#seVIIn design

[chaosdoverspike]

Crafting tends to branch outward in different directions throughout the year; leatherwork was promptly derailed by acquiring an old hunting truck & attempting to armor it in time for Wasteland Weekend ‘17! The results were...mostly successful, but I’m already wanting to do much, more more with the concept...

[chaosdoverspike]

Brown Plated Gauntlets MK??

Had to knock out a last-minute commission before hitting the road to showcase at Illuxcon 10 in Reading PA last week. Despite the condensed timeframe, I think the last pair I craft turn out to be the best ones to date. Rolling the edges has been the finishing touch on the base design & I’m looking to experiment with new borders & patterns...hopefully the holidays will see an overdue prototype phase...

Also, the Etsy store has been repopulated with some very nice books...

[chaosdoverspike]

Elder Futhark Emblems

A new item appears! Taken from the symbols found on our Elder Futhark rune bags, these have been engraved into the same Alderwood as the rune sets themselves. Sawtooth backings are optional, if you care to hang them up, lay them flat, place them wherever they’re needed.

The Etsy listing can be found here. This is sort of a preorder; I’ve got one set all ready to go, but if interest takes hold, I’ll be building up stock to sell on demand...

[chaosdoverspike]

[Reaffirmation and reiteration]

It’s been a longterm fact that this account has languished through sporadic bouts of activity, never quite managing to achieve any stable theme or measure of content. Lately though, I’ve been pursuing two avenues more regularly; sketching and leatherwork. Or crafting in general. The former tends to provide framework for the latter, and it’s the crafting that I’d like to focus in on more here. 

Selling on Etsy has been largely successful, and that sort of feedback has been a real motivator, but there’s not enough room there to covey everything in six photos. I want to start showcasing armorcraft; Gauntlets and bracers have been a solid foundation, but I’m looking towards expanding that into fuller sets and different themes. 

And of course, there’s all the wasteland items that I generally build on the fly with no real documentation...

With that said, I’ve already gone through my gallery and removed a lot of random reblogs and old content. There’s already a fair amount of history here involving Syndactyl Art & seVIIn design, and I think that I’ve finally found a consistent direction to showcase here.

Actual, articulated content is soon to follow!

[chaosdoverspike]

Oh yeah, social media. I should probably be leveraging this outlet to showcase that I’ve been working on things and stuff.

Construction of the workshop nears completion, a local convention looms at month’s end, and I’ve been knocking out several custom commissions while trying to build up an adequate stock.

Green seems to be a recent theme, the full gauntlet sets listed above being an example of a standard design, and a Celtic knotwork tooling. I’m still working up to some special one-off designs, while simultaneously figuring out a basket-weave-like style. As always, you can check these out online at; http://tinyurl.com/l3yl5uu and http://tinyurl.com/m2bwysf

[chaosdoverspike]

Currently working on a pair of commissions before flying out to Reno for a convention next week. I’m trying to be mindful of shooting photos as I go, because the theme of one is meant to be “blue dragon mage”, which is definitely one of the most custom styles I’ve done yet.

More to follow...

[chaosdoverspike]

Wasteland Companions

In a greater sense, I’ve been meshing the ongoing leatherwork with scavenged materials in order to create wasteland armor that is equal parts mil-spec and street samurai. My wife and I attend #Wastelandweekend out in California, and have been revising our characters with each passing year...

[chaosdoverspike]

Experimentation

Due to a backorder on hardware, I have to wait a few weeks before I can create a full run of gauntlets and post them online for purchase. While this is an initial disappointment, there is some benefit to waiting...

My standing knowledge of leatherworking is an amalgamation of others’ experience, both in person and online. While I’m fairly set on my choice of materials, I’ve taken in a lot of differing opinions on technique. Leather is organic & malleable, and any approach to prepping, tooling, dyeing, hardening, and finishing can produce different results. I’ve already made 6 pieces for product photography, and while everything has come out consistent, I’ve been going over the process in my head each time.

That said, I’m putting all of these random scraps and older versions to use. When in doubt, experiment and create your own firsthand knowledge. I’m running a series of tests on dyeing and forming/hardening, and the order of steps to achieve the right balance.

Right now they’re not very photogenic, and the results are mostly still in mind than on paper. But in the future I hope to have a few dedicated leatherworking entries in here that deal with the overarcing process of learning leatherwork. As I’ve seen firsthand, resources can be difficult to come by...

[chaosdoverspike]

Gauntlets MK9

Nearly two years since cutting crude shapes out of fun foam, and here we are. I finalized and produced the first pair last night, for my wife and wasteland companion, who is currently wearing them at #Havencon!

Much like the first prototypes worn at #Wastelandweekend, she likes to line the insides with rabbit pelt. These are also medium brown burnished with gold, an uncommon color. I have yet to figure out just how custom to offer these, as opposed to premade pairs. Probably a little of both. And what to properly name them. I need to make at least 3 more pairs to show the different colors, sizes, and hardware available, and then open them up for sales on Etsy...

[chaosdoverspike]

Zhur Gauntlets MK6.8

March got a little quiet in terms of posting; sketching fell by the wayside in light of some larger projects, namely designing a small leatherworking workshop for the backyard. Also, resurrecting this project from the Stygian bowels of the cold garage. I quickly tooled a design into the plates to see just how much is actually visible with the overlap, and how well everything lines up. Eventually I’d like to emboss the designs, but for now tooling will work just fine.

It’s -nearly- done, and I’m already trying to design a proper guard for the thumb knuckle at the last minute, before heading out to get the engraver serviced and (hopefully) produce a few sets of these.

Stay tuned for some final designs, and maybe even a finished set for sale online!

[chaosdoverspike]

Mundus Vult Decipi

With the approach of a local illustration convention, the respective studios of Bonepile and seVIIn decided to create some slick, adhesive-backed merch. This one is a redesign of a very limited hardcover run sometime in 2014? Taking from the Illuminati theme, I decided to fully make it my own with a phrase I’ve kept in the back of my mind for a while now...

[chaosdoverspike]

seVIIn Bag

I also recently converted an old gasmask bag into something to transport my supplies. Last week I had drawn on a stencil of my personal logo, which I think syncs up well with the bag’s aesthetic. Still debating on the inner pocket...

[chaosdoverspike]

Chaos (Mast)Heads

In an attempt to conceptualize a wood engraving project, I decided to try to study some viking-themed mastheads and their side-on carving. 

Nothing too significant in itself, though I made the discovery that actually utilizing perspective lines and vanishing points lends a great deal of depth and accuracy to a given object. I’ve been trying to actively use them from this point forward...

[chaosdoverspike]

Zhur Gauntlets

This particular project has been sitting on my desk for a few months now. At this point I think that I’ve worked out all of the functional aspects and have only to design a tiling pattern to complete the aesthetic.

The original hangup was experimenting with cuirboil techniques to make the leather more rigid. As we’re currently developing a technique for embossing, this might just circumvent that process, as hand-tooling commonly reinforces a given piece by soaking and compression.

[chaosdoverspike]

Some real graphics from the game are finally on display, and some actual platforming as well.

*Dusts off his dashboard* Hello there...quite a few quiet months have rolled by as I chip away at tileset graphics for a small game called Forkits. Gibmaker is creating an engine for scratch, and here is a short demo of the platforming mechanics for your viewing pleasure. You can see more at http://rpgmaker.net/games/5940/ as we develop and share more content...

[chaosdoverspike]

Luminiferous Aether

Working a little alchemy into an annual project...