[project update] A&S

[alysten]

Here are the pics as promised. They were taken with my cell this morning, so they are not the best quality.  But they are good enough for government work.

The Tyger of the East is iconic. People in this kingdom ‘know’ what this figure looks like. One of the most challenging aspects of the project is to translate a 2 dimensional image into a 3 dimensional sculpture. There is a certain amount of guess work involved. The project is now to a point where you can clearly see what the sculpture will be.

The side we 'see':


Flip side:


And here is the fire coat. So far I have gone through about 800 yards of black thread. You can see the padded channels on the front of the coat and the charges which have been attached to the sleeves.

Comments

[estela-dufrayse.livejournal.com]

many questions.....
what's the coat based on, is there a link that you can post to an extant garment of it's kind? is there a book that I can look at?

what are the charges for? is there a documentable reference for them? are they a play on your personal heraldic charge? what did you use to make them?

The stitching looks beautiful from the photograph. I can totally understand the need to not be hand sewing the entire coat! Whoa!

[alysten.livejournal.com]

This has been one of my favorite bits of research.

This coat is based upon a technology used by elite Mamluk knights. It plays on the fears of the enemy. The charges are gunpowder soaked in nafta. They were lit on fire and pointed at the enemy. The combination of fire and sound was a good scare tactic.

Horses, knights, lances and even hand gonnes were laced with these charges. The coats were made of wool, which is a natural fire retardant. Knights and horses were specially trained for this type of work. Knights were not killed in the process so it wasn't a suicide run. They simply cut any bits off and re-charged the garment.

You can see a picture here

St. Petersburgh MS., p. 159, Illustration of the faris (knight) who frightens the horses of the enemy and the two foot soldiers accompanying him. On the right, the foot soldier is carrying a hand-held midfa` (cannon), and on the left the soldier is carrying a sprinkling club. The mounted knight carries a lance to which gunpowder cartridges are attached. The three men and the horse wear also fireproof clothing to which gunpowder cartridges are attached.

“The kings of old times did not engage in war except by stratagem. The Prophet said: war is trickery. This was the practice until the time of Halawun (Hulaku or Hulegu) when the people of Egypt used this trick and defeated the Tatars (Mongols). Horses (of the enemy) dare not face fire and the horse will run away with its rider. The way to do it is to choose a number of cavaliers and furnish their lances from both ends with gunpowder (barud [30]). The cavalier will wear a garment (qarqal) with its front face made of black thick woolen cloth (balas). It is strewn with balls of linen fiber (mushaqq) that have metal wires at their ends so that they are inserted into the garment and the helmet. The horse is also draped with thick woolen cloth (balas). His hands will be smeared with dissolved talc so that he is not burnt by fire. In front of them will be whatever they choose from foot soldiers furnished with sprinkler maces, crackers (sawarikh, explosive charges) and cannon (madafi`). They (the cavalry and the foot soldiers) will take their place in front of the army.”

[alysten.livejournal.com]

there a link that you can post to an extant garment of it's kind

Unfortunately due to the nature of them being set on fire, all we have is written documentation of what they looked like, what they were made of and how they were used. We have to make an educated 'guess'.

[estela-dufrayse.livejournal.com]

wow, really? wild...I'd love to read that.

But if you make them out of wool, do you need to add some sort of accelerant? Wool tends to not burn, but smoulder and go out, which is why gunner's uniforms are made of wool, lining included sometimes. I've seen one after a black powder incident and it was still quite wearable afterwards.

[estela-dufrayse.livejournal.com]

wicked arsed cool!!!!!!!
I love it!

[alysten.livejournal.com]

The crackers were linen and soaked in an accelerate. A medieval version of napalm called "naft". I am still trying to understand/track down that. There are a bunch of different theories of what is actually was. But the talc also protected wearer and garment.

Once A & S is over, the all the fake charges will be replaced with real powder. Then we will set it on fire and see what happens. It should be an awesome sight to see and video tape.