Croatian Soldier 915 A.D.

[Glen]

Hi, I've been reading this thread and I have a question or two. First and foremost, understand that I'm not a sculptor and I don't know anything about 10th Century Croatian soldiers. So, here goes...

I looked at all of your pics and, in many photos, the ears seem to be a bit high (or large, I'm not sure). Most anatomical reference indicate the size of the ear is generally the same as the length of the nose and the top of the ear is even with the bone forming the top of the eye socket. There are variations, of course, and my perception may be due to the camera angle(s). If the ears are too high, it might be why your helmet isn't sitting the way you want it too (apart from the round versus oval suggestion).

Second, in the above photo of the sword, I had the distinct impression that the grip was grooved wood, not a leather wrap. It wasn't until Markus mentioned leather wrappings that I even considered the sword grip was leather. Would grooved wood be ok?

I'll be quiet now...

Cheers,

Glen

 

[pokrad]

Well, I'm not sculptor neither, I'm just playing around with some clay
Ears might be too big,I do not know,but they are not in position higher than eyebrows, just looks that way cause head is slightly lean forward.

Not sure about the sword, I got more information here from Pinsel than searching on the web for a few days. All I got is a few illustrations, and they look so generic that details are not even visible. No real archaeological findings or proves except a few grave stones again with low detailed warrior figures

And You do not have to be quiet, I apreciate crits

 

[pinsel]

hello
indeed can the wooden grip have carving.but not the style the leather tongs would indicate.more like an colum with an pronounced tapering in the middle or shaped like the classic bone gladius grips.
hm it seems that the net reveals not to much about with ancioent spathea.try the albion site i mentioned here one sees the classic viking sword
one can have an good look at some Osprey booklets of the warrior or man at arms series.here one gets some good pics as drawings of them.
but one must not break an leg.
an slavix spatha could be terrible plain and humble too.there are some known wihc have only an t shaped upper pommel as short crossguard.the sword fitting would then look like an lying H.
say so
H------- the H is the grip the lines the blade
one can have an look at the viking bust from verlinden in 1:5 which shows an classic spatha
cheers

 

[pokrad]

I took a look at that site (and European site too), and this one looks simple enough,

similar to that picture I posted before, and also looks much like the sword on Verlinden bust:

would this be OK Pinsel ?


Pozdrav !

 

[TorMag]

Sorry to semi highjack the thread, but that bust is cool. Are they anymore pictures of it?

 

[pinsel]

hello darko
yes thats the sword style vikings slaves used.there are some different pommels but its fully ok to use that.it was an common type.
sometimes even pommels or crossguards carved in wood or ivory -bone did occure.curious if one thinks that such swordfittings are highly breakable.but it was surely done,because such parts have been uncovered in viking and slavik settelements.
the verlinden bust shown here is not bad.the hair is not so well made but that can be altered the rest is quite good.
its sold at ebay for about 30 bucks so wuite cheap.have one myself.
looking forward to the end result and thanks that you will let me have one.i like it an lot.
cheers

 

[pokrad]

Sorry to semi highjack the thread, but that bust is cool. Are they anymore pictures of it?

In fact this is the only one i found, this same one is used on many sites selling it...and it is really nice -I agree with that

 

[pokrad]

hello darko
yes thats the sword style vikings slaves used.there are some different pommels but its fully ok to use that.it was an common type.
sometimes even pommels or crossguards carved in wood or ivory -bone did occure.curious if one thinks that such swordfittings are highly breakable.but it was surely done,because such parts have been uncovered in viking and slavik settelements.
the verlinden bust shown here is not bad.the hair is not so well made but that can be altered the rest is quite good.
its sold at ebay for about 30 bucks so wuite cheap.have one myself.
looking forward to the end result and thanks that you will let me have one.i like it an lot.
cheers

No problem, I hope that final results/casting will not dissapoint You

 

[pinsel]

hello
waht i did see untill now will surely not fail
cheers

 

[pokrad]

Sword grip first try:

I probably gone overboard putting "pleter" (that Croatian ornament) on the hand protection, and probably will do it from the beginning...

 

[pinsel]

hello darko
not bad coming on nicely
cheers

 

[gordy]

Nice Darko did you lathe the handle ?

 

[pokrad]

Yes, first I put sculpey on the aluminum rod, overbaked it (at 150 degrees), and then lathe it using a small modeller drill and scalpel with strong blade.
Unfortunately the spathae I want to recreate has a elliptical hand grip, so this is not correct and I need to find different method

 

[pinsel]

hi
you might roll out some putty cut in in thinn stripes and roll those in the middle around some of the seperated rimpanels.so it could be beefed up in the middle parts
cheers

 

[pokrad]

I have somewhat different method. I used it on UltraViolet figure:

BTW: that figure is waiting for a long time in the dark place
I sent head, sword grip and pistol to colleague of mine for casting, but never got them back. He does not answer to my calls/mails.
I guess I'll have to do head/pistol/sword grip all over again
The good thing is: I can cast them myself now

 

[pokrad]

Finally finished my first two-sided mold. Mold looks somewhat messy, but cast is good. It requires some cleaning (mold line is on the hair):

 

[pokrad]

And the second try on the sword:

and again not good enough. I'll wait til next week when my friend will do photoetched "pleter" for me, something like this:

and will try again...

 

[pinsel]

hello darko
i would enlarge the upper pommel crown an little specialy at the sides its at moment an little to narrow
but you are getting close
think yiur efforts set in it will work out
your molded head looks fine
cheers

 

[pokrad]

hello darko
i would enlarge the upper pommel crown an little specialy at the sides its at moment an little to narrow
but you are getting close

Ok


The helmet is slowly taking its shape too, not quite there yet, but already looks better than old one:

 

[pokrad]

Added fabric lining around helmet, need to be trimed and detailed more, but this is general idea:

What do you think ?
Pinsel ?