NJ ren faire

[Sir Ulrich]

Is anyone here going to it?
http://www.njrenfaire.com/Home.html
I am going this weekend on Saturday but I am not sure if I am gonna go on sunday because it's gonna rain on sunday or maybe I will go on sunday in a different kit than I will saturday.

[Bernarr]

Bah, if I wasn't working I would have gone, it's only about an hour from me. Maybe next year. I did hit the Smithville one though, thats right around the corner from me, literally.

[Sir Ulrich]

I went and actually met and talked to a lot of people there.


Full kit with ill fitting kettle helm.

I really wanna trim down the coif, it's too excessive and I could use the "square" design coif which was popular in the 13th century. Besides I could use the excess trimmings to construct a ventail.

Met this dude and we had a long convo about maille and traveling to europe.

Overall I had a pretty good time, again I stripped my kit down slowly as the day went on due to everything being too ill fitted and overall the heat did not bug me, but again the weight did. A guy told me at the faire that you gotta bulk out the maille and let it hang OVER the second belt and it will weigh it to your hips instead, initially this worked but the belt stretched and it all weighed down on my shoulders again. I have better luck with non period belts, these period belts are hard to get used to putting on seriously. I cant stand how they dont go on tight enough. Hard enough to find a belt that will fit me plus I got NO padding on my belly being extremely lean and thin my maille all literally HANGS down my shoulders, prolly would of been worse with a bigger size hauberk.
Of course the food there was really good, they had an italian chicken place there and the chicken was SOAKED in herbs and whatnot very good quality food from there rather than the usual "chicken fingers" you see everywhere else. Also everyone liked my kit, cept some LARP nerds who said "oh I'll just shoot you with a crossbow and kill you" dunno if they were joking but it was kinda rude to say to a knight in all honesty. I had tons of people ask for my photo looking forward to people posting some photos of me on the facebook page.
Did learn one lesson though, do NOT try to force a helmet on tight when it's got a coif on, the rings dug into my forehead and made me bleed >< time to get a helm that will fit over the coif.

[Joshua Santana]

Sounds like you had fun Sir Ulrich.  Yes be careful concerning the mail coif.  Period belts are tricky indeed which is why you need a custom made period belt. 

[Sir Wolf]

sweet.

do us a favor, lay out your sword belt on the floor and take a picture of it.

[Sir Edward]

Yeah, the mail often will slide back down under the belt, so sometimes you need to hike it back up again occasionally. It'll be less likely to do that if the belt is super tight, but it's a bit of a judgment call as to where you want your discomfort. Of course, having it tailored to you reduces these problems, as we've discussed before.

[Sir Matthew]

A couple of guys I reenact with went down Sat., but I opted to go check out a Rev War event in Lancaster instead. A couple of us have been toying with doing F&I or Rev War so we wanted to go see what their events are like and get some contacts, which we successfully did. Now it's time to save up some money to pay for a kit for that. I WILL NOT be going any further FORWARD in time, at least for now  . A couple of us were going to come down Sun., but we were all just too tired from being out in the sun all day Sat., either down there or at the Rev War event. Even not in kit, it was HOT. Sorry I missed seeing you.

[Sir William]

Sir Ulrich, your kit's come a long way, eh?  Definitely go with a padded coif as opposed to just a linen one to pad your head from the weight of the coif and of course, any helm you decide to wear over top of that.

Nevermind the LARP nerds, it was sheer envy that made them say what they did as what you wore was head and shoulders above anything they might've been wearing.  Besides, when they miss, they're screwed.

[Sir Wolf]

now is this faire different than the nj Renaissance faire kingdom?

[Sir James A]

I can't quite tell from the pictures, but it looks like you have a simple "D ring" belt? The best way to keep the belt tight and from letting the mail slide and flop too much is to use a buckling belt (the style with holes in it). You can still use the D ring sword belt, since that won't be doing any "work" with the mail. It sounds like you've got the right idea, just need to tweak the gear a bit - I've personally never had any success with the D ring belts staying as tight as I want either (in soft kit).

And ignore the LARP archers. You went, you had fun, they're irrelevant.

(These are nice simple belts - http://www.revivalclothing.com/talbotspremiumsimplethinleatherbelt.aspx)

[Sir Brian]

Also everyone liked my kit, cept some LARP nerds who said "oh I'll just shoot you with a crossbow and kill you"

I don’t know, if those LARP nerds said that to me I would have probably replied in my most derisive tone:
“Or you could just throw a balled up sock at me and yell LIGHTNING BOLT.” 

[Sir William]

Or you could also have said that you were wearing the hauberk of righteousness, +50 against projectile weapons as it was sprinkled with a mixture of holy water and the tears of a virgin.  LARPers...lol

[Sir Ulrich]

Managed to snag a few, professional pics of my kit
http://photos.mercerspace.com/Other/Renaissance-Faire-Bordentown/23494122_3rPr8L#!i=1899013309&k=XH5DzRR&lb=1&s=O
http://photos.mercerspace.com/Other/Renaissance-Faire-Bordentown/23494122_3rPr8L#!i=1899013212&k=CQ8WNm2&lb=1&s=O
Those have to be the best pics of my kit I ever had, so detailed and they capture my face better than most cheap cams.

The belts I got DO have holes and are rather similar, it's just the leather isn't broken in yet so I cant really tie it that tight, I got them at viking leathercrafts and am rather satisfied with them. They were tight initially then they got loose for some reason, guess I need to punch another hole into them and use them even tighter.

Also I always get in arguments with LARP teens, for some reason I dont get very well along with LARP teenagers that much, they act like they know everything cause of D&D when I myself am rather self educated via various things I read on maille. I always enjoy making snide and witty comebacks to what they gotta say. Most of them dont know anything about the real medieval age to be honest, they know what they saw on video games and thats about it.

[Sir William]

Well we all know D&D equates to historical accuracy!  I always thought LARPers were laid back people; they're re-enacting fantasies, surely they aren't taking themselves too seriously? 

[Sir James A]

Those pics did turn out great, very nice. Video games as a reference or teacher is a terrible idea - point them towards a book or other proper publication, and tell them what they're saying wrong. Or send them over here. We'll straighten them out.