07-31-2013, 04:15 PM
To be honest, just about everything about that impression is wrong. I'm sure you've put a lot of work into it and the result would make a great costume BUT you're headed down a deadend as far as reenactment goes. I do understand your budget is limited and this fact alone should make you ask yourself one question. What are you trying to accomplish?
You see, a good-looking high-ranking officer is an impression that is way more expensive than a common soldier. And making lots of equipment out of cheap and wrong materials means you'll have to throw away *everything* when you switch from making costumes to reenactment.
My advice would be this: think long-term. Choose an impression you want to create. Make a list of things you *must* have for that impression (e.g. tunic, belt, shoes, sidearm). Make/buy those items in quality you'll be willing to use two years from now on and in quality common consensus finds good enough. You could begin with, say, a tunic. Use 100% off-white linen (cheaper than wool but period enough), make the tunic wide enough (1 meter minimum in most cases), make it hand-stitched. It can last you a few years and you'll hear next to no complaints about it.
You see, a good-looking high-ranking officer is an impression that is way more expensive than a common soldier. And making lots of equipment out of cheap and wrong materials means you'll have to throw away *everything* when you switch from making costumes to reenactment.
My advice would be this: think long-term. Choose an impression you want to create. Make a list of things you *must* have for that impression (e.g. tunic, belt, shoes, sidearm). Make/buy those items in quality you'll be willing to use two years from now on and in quality common consensus finds good enough. You could begin with, say, a tunic. Use 100% off-white linen (cheaper than wool but period enough), make the tunic wide enough (1 meter minimum in most cases), make it hand-stitched. It can last you a few years and you'll hear next to no complaints about it.
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Martin Žďánský,
a.k.a. Appius Solanius Pertinax
Martin Žďánský,
a.k.a. Appius Solanius Pertinax