This was a commission project for Chad Evett, a brilliantly talented costumer for whom I’ve done a handful of pieces in the past. I was originally tasked with just building the medallion, but when I finished that he asked if I’d be willing to also make the belt. I already had all the supplies I needed, so I agreed.
For the medallion, I used this illustration (left) as the basis for my reproduction. The cloud and lightning bolt design varies from drawing to drawing, but this was specifically the one Chad wanted to replicate.
I’d be hand-cutting the shapes from .125″ brass plate, and I like to used adhesive vinyl templates when I need to cut precise shapes from metal. So I brought the image into Illustrator and traced it to generate cutting paths for my Silhouette Cameo.
Once the stickers were cut I adhered them to the brass and started cutting them out using a jeweler’s saw on my new bench pin. I tried to stay as close to the pattern as possible, but for the most part I could clean it up later using files and sandpaper. The exception to that was the swirls inside the clouds. I had to be extremely precise when cutting those, since a mistake could make the whole piece unusable.
To clean up and widen the swirls, I threaded thin strips of sandpaper into the cuts and worked my way up through the grits until they were nice and smooth. I cut the base circle slightly wider than the main ring, and left it un-trimmed for the time being.
I drilled and tapped four holes around the perimeter of the base piece to accommodate threaded studs. These would later be used to attach the medallion to the belt. I also drilled four small holes in the base under the cloud and lightning bolt. After soldering the main ring to the base using silver solder, I clamped the cloud and lightning bolt in place and then used the four small holes to solder them to the base as well. I wanted to avoid using the silver solder in visible places, since it will bind with the brass and turn it silvery, which would be undesirable for the finished piece.
Now that everything was attached, I filed down the oversized base piece to match the radius of the main ring, and then sanded and polished everything.
Using the four threaded studs plus a washer and nut for each, I attached the medallion to a scrap of leather for demonstration, and sent off the video, expecting this to be the end of the project. To my surprise, with the deadline for the full costume approaching quickly, Chad requested I build the majority of the belt itself as well, while he would finish off the closure with a corset-type lacing setup.
The most complicated part of the build would be embedding the medallion into the belt so it wouldn’t be just sitting on the surface. I decided to layer leather to achieve the required depth, and attach it all together with contact cement and stitches.
I ended up cutting the circular hole in the main belt slightly undersized, relying on the plasticity of leather to conform to the medallion while leaving no gaps as the belt moved and flexed.
I dyed the edges black, and the rest with Angelus “Coffee” before stitching, and finally applying a finishing coat and buffing.
I’m so proud of how this came out. Brass and leather is probably my favorite aesthetic, so working on this was a dream. I cannot wait to see what the final costume looks like.