Easy VA Signature Castile Belt Redux
Oct 22, 2008 2:17:30 GMT
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2008 2:17:30 GMT
I got the Signature Castile a couple weeks ago and found that the belt lacking the overall character of the sword in general. Originally, I just paired the Castile with one of my other belts, but then I reconsidered and decided to use the original belt to do something with. I did what I saw as a quick easy fix to improve the look of the belt and add a little bit of personal customization. My goal was to be completed in one hour from the start.
The first thing I did was give the belt some texture. I only know how to do this two ways: ballpeen round or nail hammer crescent. Laying the belt onto the concrete, I tapped away with the edge of a nail hammer until I got the texture I wanted. It's pretty hard to screw up, though you don't want to clip the edges if you can avoid it.
Secondly, I gave the buckle a few file marks to match the basic appearance of the filing on the edge of the crossguard. I gave the resulting notches a thin coat of flat black model paint, let it dry, then used steel wool to brush off the excess leaving the marks nice and discernable in the buckle. I also did this with the rivets to age them a little.
Next, I punched the length of the belt with 1" evenly spaced rows of holes. I did this from about 2" from the frog the whole length until the first belt notch. I then used some inexpensive craft store red latigo lace to hand-stitch through the holes. It's a little difficult to explain how to do this exactly, just know that you will need approximately 5 times the length you are planning on stitching. If you are lacing 10" of belt, then you need 50" of lace. This is a little more than you really need, but its better to have two much than too less.
Last, I added to gothic cross conches on either side of the frog and set them with the supplied Chicago screws.
Below is the result. The time took around 2 hours and cost $7.00 (2 conches and 8 yds of red leather lace). I personally will like wearing it more like this than in its plain Jane state; I am sure this will do fine until I eventually have a nicer belt crafted.
The first thing I did was give the belt some texture. I only know how to do this two ways: ballpeen round or nail hammer crescent. Laying the belt onto the concrete, I tapped away with the edge of a nail hammer until I got the texture I wanted. It's pretty hard to screw up, though you don't want to clip the edges if you can avoid it.
Secondly, I gave the buckle a few file marks to match the basic appearance of the filing on the edge of the crossguard. I gave the resulting notches a thin coat of flat black model paint, let it dry, then used steel wool to brush off the excess leaving the marks nice and discernable in the buckle. I also did this with the rivets to age them a little.
Next, I punched the length of the belt with 1" evenly spaced rows of holes. I did this from about 2" from the frog the whole length until the first belt notch. I then used some inexpensive craft store red latigo lace to hand-stitch through the holes. It's a little difficult to explain how to do this exactly, just know that you will need approximately 5 times the length you are planning on stitching. If you are lacing 10" of belt, then you need 50" of lace. This is a little more than you really need, but its better to have two much than too less.
Last, I added to gothic cross conches on either side of the frog and set them with the supplied Chicago screws.
Below is the result. The time took around 2 hours and cost $7.00 (2 conches and 8 yds of red leather lace). I personally will like wearing it more like this than in its plain Jane state; I am sure this will do fine until I eventually have a nicer belt crafted.