My Late Roman Belt

[Primvs Pavlvs]

After doing some research, and asking many questions of very patient members of the board (thanks)

I finally produced my first late Roman belt. The leather is 8oz veg tan leather that has been stained with walnut hull dye that I made myself, and edged with green milk paint that I purchased from Milkpaint.com. I sealed the leather with all natural beeswax to prevent any water spotting, and to give the leather some shine.

The stitching was done with 100% cotton thread since I could not find linen in the color I wanted. I do not know if this was ever done on original late Roman belts. However I have seen numerous imperial Roman leather pieces with decorative stitching holes.

The buckle, and the belt tip were purchased from Raymonds Quiet Press.

I changed the buckle from Raymonds design. I removed the intergral rivets that are common on Raymonds products, and drilled holes for small copper rivets. I also removed the bowtie piece from the buckle since I could not find any originals with this.

I made the stiffeners from some brass stock I purchased at the local hobby store. I done some simple stamping to give them some decoration, and to give them character.

Please ignore the tunic I am wearing in the photos. It was my first attempt at a 4th century tunic, and I came up a little short on it. :wink:

Overall I am relatively happy with this belt. The next one I make will be done with a more correct buckle, and possibly more decorative stitching.

[Gaius_Calvus]

Absolutely beautiful work, Paul.

[FAVENTIANVS]

I like it A LOT!

[Virilis]

hock: W-O-W!!!!!! Paul, I thought you were joking when you first talked about this!! Stellar!!

[Titus Martius]

Excellent! Paul, your belt looks great

[TITVS SABATINVS AQVILIVS]

I like it.

Vale,

[Paulus Claudius Damianus]

Une vraie réussite.

[aitor iriarte]

Looks fine, Paul!

I like specially the heart-shaped start/attachment for the strap. 8)
Good idea that of shortening the buckle plate. That way it looks less like a dolphin buckle (There are lots of similar plates with arches, Paul. çthe overall design for Raymond's buckle is correct but it belongs to an slightly earlier, different type of late belt :wink: ) and you could even say that it is an older, re-used fitting!
Good work!

Aitor

[Flavius Promotus]

Superb looking belt!!

[TITVS SABATINVS AQVILIVS]

Aitor wrote:

and you could even say that it is an older, re-used fitting!

Aitor is right! Tell that it was left to you by your grandfather!

I believe that especially in the late period, many items from the past were re-used. Antiques trade had to exist also in the roman empire...

Vale,

[Peroni]

A real beauty Paul! Love the colour combination too.

I know what I'll be copying over the winter! :wink:

Did you use a strap-end fitting at all?

[Robert Vermaat]

Shit that's a wide one! I Like it Paul, very well-made. Congrats!
Well, most has been covered, just one bit of caution about stiffeners: when you carry something on your back, belt stiffeners can be damaging.
I see that you have the buckle on the left side - I wanted to avoid that since the spatha is also on the left hand side.
Tip about the purse: you can tie it around the belt to avoid dangling.

[Chuck Russell]

show off, wheres my belt?

super nice dude. that ick tar you had in the 5 gallon bucket really made the leather look nice!

[Virilis]

Is the fact that late roman soldiers needed stiffeners in their belts the final and conclusive proof that the quality of the late roman troops were not the same as they used to :wink: ?

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Some of you asked what tip I used. I finally got around to uploading the pic of the tip, and of the buckle.

Valerius,

The reason I put the buckle on the left side is because I am right handed and its easier to tighten the belt for me this way.