Good afternoon...
Several people were interested in the latex blunt and thrown weapon physreps I demonstrated at the last event. I now have all the equipment I need to start producing these in some quantity. You will have the chance to see several of these in action as I will be loaning a pair to Greg Harrison (Ronin)'s friend for use during the event and will be donating others to NERO Seattle.
If you are interested in these, I invite you to ask me about them during the event. I will try to have some on hand to show people.
For those who have already said they want to commission a weapon, please PM or email me with details of what you're looking for. I will work with you on a design and try to have it ready for June. Several notes for these weapons while I'm still in "experimental mode":
1. NERO Seattle *has* passed the weapons I brought to June (the thrown weapon physrep is getting some reworking, but the blunt was fine straight out of the gate). If the physrep I make for you does not pass NERO Seattle inspection, I will do what I can to fix it. If I can't fix it, I will make you a new weapon that does pass at no additional cost (and use the old one for further experimentation
).
2. While I have some short-term experience with these weapons, I cannot say how long these particular ones will last. I am putting quality work and supplies into their construction, but without having had some go through a full life cycle I do not know if they will last for games, seasons, or decades. People who have used them for longer periods have stated that you can expect several years' use out of them if you take good care of them (keep them away from long-term sunlight, don't rest them on squishy parts, repair minor tears in the latex, etc. etc.).
3. The materials for these weapons are more expensive than for "mundane" boffer weapons, but not prohibitively so. To make a nice-looking weapon, however, takes much more time than a duct tape or cloth cover weapon. I can churn out decent duct tape longswords in an hour and a half, and a cloth cover for one in another half hour after that, but latex blunt weapons take 10+ hours of direct work and days of elapsed time for me to make right now. Since I'm still experimenting I won't charge what I will when I feel I have the technique down pat, but I will be charging a decent amount for them based on the design. I don't plan to make big bucks off of these, but I do want to be compensated for my time. Expect a short blunt to cost from $30-50, and a long blunt to be more than that. You could compare this to the cost of Rampant Mouse weapons, at which a 24" mace costs $65 and is far from NERO safe (but to be honest looks better than what I can make right now).
4. Right now I can only make blunts, but I am experimenting with blade designs. I don't know how good I can make them look with NERO safety requirements in mind, though.
Images of my first attempt are below. I have improved the wood look on other attempts since this one.
Close up of the mace head texture:
Thanks!
-Bryan
Several people were interested in the latex blunt and thrown weapon physreps I demonstrated at the last event. I now have all the equipment I need to start producing these in some quantity. You will have the chance to see several of these in action as I will be loaning a pair to Greg Harrison (Ronin)'s friend for use during the event and will be donating others to NERO Seattle.
If you are interested in these, I invite you to ask me about them during the event. I will try to have some on hand to show people.
For those who have already said they want to commission a weapon, please PM or email me with details of what you're looking for. I will work with you on a design and try to have it ready for June. Several notes for these weapons while I'm still in "experimental mode":
1. NERO Seattle *has* passed the weapons I brought to June (the thrown weapon physrep is getting some reworking, but the blunt was fine straight out of the gate). If the physrep I make for you does not pass NERO Seattle inspection, I will do what I can to fix it. If I can't fix it, I will make you a new weapon that does pass at no additional cost (and use the old one for further experimentation
).2. While I have some short-term experience with these weapons, I cannot say how long these particular ones will last. I am putting quality work and supplies into their construction, but without having had some go through a full life cycle I do not know if they will last for games, seasons, or decades. People who have used them for longer periods have stated that you can expect several years' use out of them if you take good care of them (keep them away from long-term sunlight, don't rest them on squishy parts, repair minor tears in the latex, etc. etc.).
3. The materials for these weapons are more expensive than for "mundane" boffer weapons, but not prohibitively so. To make a nice-looking weapon, however, takes much more time than a duct tape or cloth cover weapon. I can churn out decent duct tape longswords in an hour and a half, and a cloth cover for one in another half hour after that, but latex blunt weapons take 10+ hours of direct work and days of elapsed time for me to make right now. Since I'm still experimenting I won't charge what I will when I feel I have the technique down pat, but I will be charging a decent amount for them based on the design. I don't plan to make big bucks off of these, but I do want to be compensated for my time. Expect a short blunt to cost from $30-50, and a long blunt to be more than that. You could compare this to the cost of Rampant Mouse weapons, at which a 24" mace costs $65 and is far from NERO safe (but to be honest looks better than what I can make right now).
4. Right now I can only make blunts, but I am experimenting with blade designs. I don't know how good I can make them look with NERO safety requirements in mind, though.
Images of my first attempt are below. I have improved the wood look on other attempts since this one.
Close up of the mace head texture:
Thanks!
-Bryan
