Wee Battle tackle

Sword is 30cm long, shield is 28cm.

I'm heading up to the north lands (of Montreal) tomorrow for a wedding, and will get to meet a good friends wee son for the first time. I have made the young prince some battle tackle for his upcoming 1 year old adventures.

The sword blade is poplar, with Oak hilt. The handle is velvet ribbon. I was inspired by the Rohirrim on this design.  The shield is 3mm birch plywood with poplar handle. the boss is made out of a metal ramekin. Normally I just epoxy them on, but they take some smacking, so this time I riveted it on for extra support.

You can see more projects of wee war gear here.
http://skullandcrown.blogspot.com/2009/12/battle-tackle-elf-style.html

Cheers!

Pokemon Sword and Shield - and Impending Salute!

" I choose you..." 
                  ~ every Pokemon trainer...everrr

 Wee Sword and Board Trainer-

This Pokemon inspired shield and sword are a gift heading to a friend's 1 year old. I am trying to make these a "traditional" gift for my friends' children. This theme was inspired by the mom, who taught her daughter to say "pikachoo" instead of peekaboo!  Gawd but I love a dysfunctional art family!

Sword blade is Cherry with Poplar hilt and pommel.

The writing was my wife's clever inspiration.

On the work bench! Note my cool 1950's (?) pack of needles.
I bought my sewing kit 20 years ago from an estate sale.

Off to Salute! 

I'm scrambling to get everything in order before I leave for Salute in a few days- all the gifts I am bringing, orders I'm muling, and you know, things like underwear... I was hoping to run  a big Wooden Wars game there, but apparently the show was booked for games like a half year in advance, with 23 "stand by" games in the wings before I came calling. Maybe next year then!

My big goal for Salute really is to find someone over the pond with whom I can work and license my models- as shipping costs over to the U.K. and Europe are really crippling.  So if you know anyone...

I'll be over at Simon Miller's " To the Bravest" game as well as playing games with the Warlords, so if you happen by, I'd love to meet you face to face. I'm bringing wooden soldiers to pass out- so look me up! (I'm the one on the left of the picture)
Cheers
Thomas

Form wee shield wall!

One of the my real joys in having artistic abilities at all, ( besides having reason to chat up the cute art chicks back in college) is to make toys! Let's face it, all our soldiers are just cool toys! Now, I am, alas, not the lost Perry Triplet, but It does make me happy to see others play with toys I have made.

Another passion of mine is sword fighting and martial arts- something I have been doing for over 30 years, and like art, has literally saved my life more than once. Combining two of my favorite things begat my sword and shield project, which I have been doing for about 5 years now.( see http://skullandcrown.blogspot.com/2009/12/battle-tackle-elf-style.html  for earlier pieces).

 No child should be left unarmed!

Gifts for the soon to be born Sparkes Child. Shield Totally inspired by "How to Train Your Dragon" movie!

 Master Connor's war gear. He likes wolves.

 Young Logan's Battle tackle: he's fond of Dragons and the colors red and yellow.

the shields are made of plywood, with a metal "ramekin" dish hammered a bit into a boss, which is J.B. cold welded on (it's like an awesome epoxy). the back handle is just 1x1inch pine.

The sword blades, in this case, are all made of poplar, with the first sword having red oak hilt, and the others walnut. most of the swords are made from reclaimed wood. the handles are wrapped in velvet ribbon, felted wool, or leather, depending on what I have at the time

Persephone field testing the gear.

A proud papa moment-  Nolan coaches Persephone on prpoer shield technique!

Connor and Lizzie ready for action!

Forming shield wall. Logan was watching a dinosaur movie, and, like Achilles,
 could not be persuaded to join in battle.

I can promise you more wooden toys on the horizon.