I know the title seems dull enough to strike a stick of butter and leave it uncleaved.  I am resisting the urge to title it with a cheap pun or two.

PART I: ARMOUR

And, for anyone not keeping track, yes I do switch between the American and British spellings of 'armour'.

After literally months of waiting for parts and mechanical work I have finally made operational a set of Beverly Shears, purchased used (and very neglected) from the Bay of E.  If you know not, Beverly Shears are manual sheet-metal cutting impements that look a bit like an impressionist guillotine, but friendlier.

This may not seem like the most exciting thing in the world, but after making two complete armour pieces by cutting the forms out of sheet metal using a hammer and chisel, a person can begin to appreciate the convenience.  With the Beverlys ("Beverlies"?) I can cut what would take me a number of hours in as many minutes.  Further, the jagged band-saw edge I make with a chisle requires a power sander, followed by careful sandpaper treatment, to make safe to handle.  The much cleaner Beverly cut only requires some time with a file.  All told, I can turn out an armor piece in a couple days rather than as many weeks.

I jest not when I say I am so fond of this thing that, if I had a digital camera, I would post a photo of it.

Thus, my first choice for naming this bog entry was "shear joy".

Having read that, canst thou guess what I have been doing with my time since the shears became operational?  If, good sir, your guess was 'making armor', your guess would be correct.  Unfortunately, no points are awarded for correct response as the question was fairly obvious.

While waiting (since December) for the shears to get serviced I have passed the time building up armor patterns, and now have been trying to work them in steel.  (I hope to sell pieces in stainless for its better maintenance characteristics, but stainess is much harder to work with, and I need to prototype several designs in mild, first to perfect the patterns by seeing what doesn't work and second to gain experinece in working steel.)  I've already made a set of articulated sabatons and riveted them to my greaves (if you don't know, sabatons are foot armor and greaves shin armor).  The sabatons are crude and square, and also far too big for my feet.  I could not sell something so homely and cumbersome.  They look like clown shoes (well, clown combat boots) made from scrap pieces of guttering.  Rather than bemoaning my lack of perfection I view this as a learning experience.  (They do work; they just don't look like much.)

My second choice for naming this bog entry: "don't greave for me".

My current project is to create a gorget (neck armor).  It was all simple and going well until I needed to flare out an edge on a curved plate.  (I know that makes little sense to ehar described rather than to see.  Think making an L where the vertical bit is curved.)  I know this can be done.  I have started to do it myself.  I know it can be done without a buying propane torch.  Somehow.

As far as I am into this, I think I can break down into stages what needs to be done.

1. (done) roll the top edge so the poor soul who wears this thing won't have sheet-metal-edge cutting into his throat.  It now looks like a flat peice of steel with a rolled edge, which is what it is.

2. (done) Shape the piece so it matches edges with what I want it to connect to.  It now looks like an incomplete piece of armour.  And that's what it is.  Interesting, no?

3. (done) Hammer out some sort of flare in the bottom that I can rivet to the lower piece.  It now looks like it had a bad date with an angry lawnmower.

4. (in progress) Hammer out the mangled piece of metal that once was an armor piece, until it looks again like an armor piece, sort of.  It now looks like a piece of armor, sor ot.  More like a patient at the medical ward of a battered armor plates' sheter.  But I've amost lost the blasted fold.

5. (getting there) Hammer out the flare.  Again.

Repeats steps 4 and 5 as necessary.

Possible ending 1. By some miracle it falls into shape.

Possible ending 2. The whole bloody thing falls apart.  Cut it out again and start with step 1.

Possibe ending 3. Break down and clear out my savings account to buy frakking propane torch.

So, now you know why I need more experience in metal-working before moving to stainless.

Fortunately, I have some patterns in mind for things that won't require a lot of intricate work.  (Some ideas of mine should be child's play.)  Once I get a few of those built (just to make sure) I hope to apply to be a vendor at the spring Great Plains Renfest.  I'm a bit nervous about this as I'm afriad that if I wait lone enough to make sure I'l have something viable to sell, then by that time all the vendor slots will be full.

The alternative of course is to fill out the application now, and run some risk that things will fall apart on me and I'll have nothing to sell.  The former course of action means I could lose my spot and get no money, and with the latter my risk is not delivering on my word.  I'd rather be poor than dishonest.  There's no loss of honor in being broke.

PART II: WRITING

Something else interesting has happened.

Let there be background information.  I forget if I've mentioned this, but I have two complete manuscripts.  One is an alternate world renaissance era and the other urban fantasy with religious themes.  I call them 'go away presents' because every time I give one to a person, that person drops off the edge of the planet.  (The first person who volunteered to edit them, the one published author I know, I have not seen in well over a year now.)

Just the other day I finally got one of them back, from the third person I gave a copy to.  (That would be the urban/religious one.)  Is the curse broken or is it too soon to call?

The editing notes I recieved are rather sparse for having waited this long.  (I was hoping for more literary feedback; what I got was largely grammatical.)  Apparently I have a hard time staying in the past tense.  Also, some of my favorite sentences got flagged as choppy where I quite enjoyed breaking up the usual flow into something more staccatto.  (I thought it punctuated the moment.)  In the end, I did make the changes.  What point is there in having an editor if I won't listen to her?

Right now I've been looking at publishers (a process slowed by unreliable internet access).  I haven't sent off queries to any yet, but plan on doing so soon.  One publisher I looked at actually asks writers to have a website and a blog.  Why?  Is a blog not among the most base forms of writing there is, wherein words go straight from my fingers to your face without so much as a hint of editing for grammar, spelling, or content?  I suppose they want to get a feel of the author's writing talent in its raw form, so they can see what they're getting into should they accept a manuscript for professional editing.

Yes, I end sentences with prepositions!  I admit it.  Also, not having a spell checker on this blog suks.

Bid ye farewell.  I need to leave for work.