Child's Play - Work In Progress

I'll be honest. I made a lot more progress than I thought I would. Here are two small chunks of Tycho's shirt:



The first chunk is part of the neckline. The blue will extend down past the bottom of the arms, and meet up with the large light blue stripe. Sleeves will attach to the angled edges with 45 degree seams.



This second chunk shows off more of how the shirt will look in the end. The lowest blue stripe makes the bottom 'seam' of the shirt with the stripes running horizontally across the torso.

No promises on how often I'll update with this project, but I will take photos whenever I have something awesome to show off.

Quick n Easy

As much as I love doing the Big Projects - shirts, bracers, etc. - my most popular item is my simplest. It's a half-persian 3-in-1 bracelet in aluminum and rubber (16ga 5/16", big surprise). When I was one of the Mischief Makers in college, my roommate and I were browsing online and came across a geeky apparel store that featured the identical weave and materials in a series of bracelets. There were only three color combos, to reflect characters from a certain webcomic. One of those bracelets was called the Ninja Bracelet, and was all black. We liked the look of them so much, we yoinked the idea and called them Pirate Bands.

Not that it was really stealing. It's a common weave, and the products have been out of stock for so long that they've been removed from the website. We didn't just stop at three color combos, either. We tried all kinds of combos, and the bracelets have been a smash hit. Now, I can't wait to get my hands on that glow in the dark stock and explore the possibilities a bit more.

If you're interested, they're not too expensive. $10 for standard colors, $15 for glow in the dark.

Chain Maille for Child's Play Begins!

I'll be updating on this project a LOT over the next couple of months. Today is September 22nd. The shirts must be done and delivered to the Penny Arcade office by December 1st. Maillers, keep your pliers at the ready!

OMG OMG OMG

The Ring Lord now carries GLOW IN THE DARK rubber rings. That's right. My kandi is going to be so freakin awesome.

Who wants some? :D

Brief Glimpse at PAX 2008

Wow. just wow. Not WoW, although there was plenty of that. just. wow. From what I've heard this was one of the most difficult years to run. I only have last year to compare it to, but my feet were definitely telling me how much I'd worked by Sunday night. I loved every minute of it. I only wish I'd had business cards. I think that'll be my next side project to kill spare time. Cards for Knitted Steel. Why? Because I was showing off my best bling at PAX. If you clicked on the link to Kemper in my last post, you'll have seen this picture:



Those are my friends, Kemper and Haikon. Kemper worked in Line Management and Haikon is personal assistant to the Enforcer Prime, PRD. The photo was taken and provided by the lovely PlusOne. Not an Enforcer, YET. Kemper is also my most awesome customer/model. The vest is blue anodized aluminum scales with steel split rings. It weighs in at just over seven pounds, and took me 115 hours to make. My first shirt! His bracers were new for this year. 16g 5/16" blue anodized aluminum and black EPDM. I used a half-persian 3 in 1 sheet 5 weave for this. In retrospect, I should have used the sheet 6 weave. I think that would have prevented the ends from curling. I'm still very happy with the way they came out, and so is he. That combo plus the hat got him so many compliments over the course of the weekend. It's difficult to see in the picture, but Kemper got MC Frontalot to sign the front of the shirt! HOLY CRAP AWESOME! Since the photo was taken he's collected a few more autographs on the back and shoulders.

I had a few other pieces wandering around PAX as well. Like any good convention, we wear our badges proudly on lanyards. Well, before I found out that this year's lanyards were going to be all cool and glow in the dark, I made a few of my own to give out as birthday gifts. I've yet to find photos of the lanyards on their newfound owners, so here's the one I made for myself to use at work:



Stats: 16g 5/16" (again. I had a lot of leftovers from a previous order) half persian 4-in-1, connecting it at the bottom with 3 in 1 sheet 5. I picked up the badge clip in a 12-pack at Office Depot. It is very sturdy and very comfy. The ones I made for friends were all black, and half black half blue. They work pretty well for holding decorative buttons, too.

There were also some bracelets and other goodies of mine wandering around PAX, but the ones I included here were the ones I really care to show. It was an amazing weekend, and I still can't believe that it is over. I wish it wasn't.

Formal Attire

I will admit that I was 100% inspired by the 8-bit necktie when I decided to try some more scale maille work. Kemper's shirt (You can also see his new bracers) had come out beautifully, I had some blue leftover and The Ring Lord was experimenting with a new way of anodizing with the black. Well, how could I pass up an opportunity like this? Once I found a buyer, I was locked in for sure.

This took a LOT of experimenting to get just the right length, dimensions, and shape of the knot. For the neck band I used 16g 5/16" AA rings with rubber spaced evenly throughout for a bit of stretchy comfort. It's attached to the knot permanently on one end, and fixes with a hook on the other. More pics with closer detail can be found at my Flickr.

For Great Justice

I'm just going to throw this out there: I love Penny Arcade. I love the comic, I love the people behind it, I love PAX, and I love the sense of community and family I feel whenever I am around the people I have met through Penny Arcade's influence. That being said, PAX is over, and Child's Play is quickly approaching.

For those not in the know, check out www.childsplaycharity.org. It is a wonderful thing. Each year they have an auction in Seattle that raises oodles of money for sick kids in hospitals. I got to attend last year, and the experience was awe inspiring.

This year I want to contribute more to Child's Play in my own special way, and include the Penny Arcade community as well. I can't do this alone. I need your help.

I want to make two shirts.


Each shirt will weigh in at over 14 pounds, and the materials will cost me about $720 total. There's no way I can foot that alone, and I don't want this to just be my project. I want this to be a community project. When the auction approaches in December, my goal is to give Penny Arcade the Gabe & Tycho shirts along with a certificate that lists the names/handles of everyone who contributed. A copy of the certificate and photos of the shirts will be given to the PA crew for their office. Any excess money donated will go straight to the child's play paypal donation link.

This project can be EPIC with your help. Whaddya say?


MAJOR UPDATE! I can't believe you guys. Really, I was so touched when I checked my paypal account this evening to find that in less than 24 hours, I exceeded my goal. You guys are SUPER AWESOME.

IF you still want to donate, the excess money will be given to Child's Play and your name will still be written on the certificate as a donor to this epic project. I will be ordering the materials on Monday with hopes of getting most of them in a few weeks to begin work. THANK YOU ALL!!!

PAX 2008

My head is still spinning! Believe it or not, I have some updates to make about my maille and PAX. I just need to find photos first...

The event was insane. So much happened, so many people, so full of awesome. I can't describe how amazing it was to see everyone and do it all again. I am absolutely exhausted.

More to come later. This is more of a placeholder for future goodies.