Tyler's Monumental Moment

WARRIOR & MAIDEN

Design by Neal Bockhaut & Dale Rae
Crafted by Neal Bockhaut and Dale Rae
Third Place Winner - Original Design
BJDC Convention - Austin, TX
August 2007

Warriors ensemble has several layers: 1) a black satin tunic & pants
(made from the same satin as ladies dress),
2) Long sleeved knitted "chain maille",
3) A sleeveless tunis made of white dragon design silk jacquard/lined
with white china silk and trimmed with black braid,
4) Armor pieces & 5) Long white cape trimmed with black fur.

Cape was made of a white faux suede,
lined in black and trimmed with black fur.

Armor was made using three layers for each separate piece - top layer is real white leather, mid layer is buckram, third layer was a light weight white cotton. All layers were sewn together close to edges with a straight stitch.
Then outer rim of each piece was painted with a black paint
(so the white wouldn't show thru the zig-zag stitching) before edges
were finished off with a zig-zag stitch using black thread.

Each armor piece was decorated with "pearl seeded" studs.
Where the pieces were layered, I stitched them together before
the studs were applied to make it secure.

Chain Maille was knitted on a machine using white/silver metallic nylon crochet thread. I knitted a rectangle for the body and two smaller ones for the sleeves - then sewed them together. I then dyed it grey to get the color I wanted - and trimmed the entire maille piece around the front and hem with a silver metallic trim.

The round decoration on the shoulder pieces was from
the scrapbooking department!

Sword sheath was made from faux leather and
decorated with silver cord and jewelry pieces.

The sword was designed by Neal - first designing it with pencil and paper then creating a model using 3D software.
The 3D file was uploaded and the sword was created using a process known as additive rapid prototyping).
The upper sword shows how it looked when received from the prototype company - the lower one is after it was painted.

Side fabric pieces were made of the silk jacquard trimmed with
black cord - folded over belt. Armor piece hangs from
a strap attached to the belt.

Real Gloves were made of faux leather.

All armor pieces were attached to the body with straps and buckles -
lots of eyelets here!

Skirt, corset and sleeves were made of a dark black heavy weight cotton satin .
Skirt is lined with white china silk, underskirt is the same dragon silk jacquard
as was used on the Warrior's tunic. Underskirt is trimmed with a unique Venice lace (thanks Ebay!) - front of over skirt is trimmed with a narrow Venice lace.

Corset and top of sleeves is trimmed with a white rabbit fur yarn.
A silver/white beaded trim adorns the bottom of the upper sleeve - a tiny black
ruffle trims the lower sleeve (which is lined in white china silk).

Crown made of jewelry pieces with rhinestones glued on. Necklace was from a piece of jewelry that I took apart to resize for Lishe.

Overskirt was bustled up in three places -
center back and sides. Each pleat was decorated with
rhinestone studded, silver jewelry pieces.