Making Pteruges (or at least trying to make Pteruges!)

[Marcus Mummius]

[color=darkblue]I am getting the impression there is a certain degree of license here, because where scanning this thread there is a great use of modern materials and sewing machines. Is black hide permissible???

... anything goes apart from leather it would seem D D

Hmmmm!! Maybe they had mail inside 'em or scales.
My main objective is not to spend my time albeit by modern means creating something that is totally wrong. My main concern is to use as best possible the material that reenactors approve of. I am also considering that natural leather or oxblood would have been available.
Black cloth and leather dying was expensive to produce even in the 17th century. I would probably be inclined to concede that black leather in Roman times was a rarity or if it existed at all.
Ill be knocking out black leather thongs at a reasonable price D D

Perhaps real black, black black is hard to do. But a very dark grey, nearly black is very easy to obtain. Just drop some iron filings or steel wool into vineagar, let it sit for some time and you have an excellent dye!

Vale,