Morien Red Aventail
Introduction:
An aventail is a kind of mail (chainmail) armor that hangs from a helmet to cover the neck and shoulders of the wearer. In the 14th century, it was common for an aventail to be worn with a bascinet helmet. Aventails connected to a bascinet tended not to be attached directly to the helmet. Instead, the mail was connected to a leather band with was then mounted onto the helmet by the use of vervelles (metal studs). I made this aventail and the leather mounting for a friend’s tourney helmet for the Combat of the Thirty.
Supplies:
3/8 inch stainless steel jump rings
3/8 inch punched stainless rings
8 mm/10 mm brass mail rings
Tiny aluminum rivets
2mm thick veg tan leather
Artificial sinew
Red leather dye
Leather seal (matte)
Acrylic paint seal
Acrylic paint seal (matte)
White leather paint
Gold acrylic paint
14 Gauge (2mm) brass wire
Tools:
Good scissors
Leather sewing needle (or thick needle)
X-acto knife
Mechanical pencil
Leather stippiler
Two pairs of pliers
Leather punching spike
Leather punch
Leather beveler
Riveting pliers
Soft bristled brush
Wire cutters
Leather
The helmet came with some mounting at the bottom, but it was not usable for what I wanted, so I used the existing mounting to cut a new mounting out of 2 mm veg tan leather. I used a leather punch to make holes where the original mounting had its holes. Then I conducted a test fit before proceeding.
I then looked up some designs from 14th century leatherwork. I found a couple on knife sheaths, that included flowers and vines (Cowgill, J., M. De Neergaard, and N. Griffiths, Knives and Scabbards, (Boydell Press, 2008)). I then traced a pattern onto the leather, and began punching holes to connect the mounting to the mail.
After I wet the leather, I used an X-acto knife to cut the pattern into the leather along the pattern’s lines.
I then wet the leather and used a mechanical pencil (for .5mm graphite) to widen the cuts in the leather. After the pattern had been tooled into the leather, I used a leather stippler to fill in some of the negative space between the flowers and the vines. In the past I used a mechanical pencil (with the graphite retracted) to do stippling before. The result with the leather stippler is better, but a mechanical will do the job.
I finished punching the holes (using a couple of leather spikes) which will be used to connect the mounting to the mail of the aventail. Afterwards, I cut away the excess leather, and used a beveler to round the edges of the leather.
The aventail I made a couple of years ago, and it did not have a previous use. However, I needed to modify it. Thankfully the process was largely the same as making it the first time. The aventail is made of 3/8 inch stainless steel jump rings and 3/8 inch punched stainless rings. Each punched ring is enclosed into a jump ring. Then, another jump ring is fed into two jump rings, before another two jump rings are added before the jump ring is closed. This process is repeated hundreds of times, over a dozen or more rows. The rows are then connected together using more jump rings, but with a twist. Every seventh jump ring or so would have a fifth jump ring connected to it. This allows the mail to gradually expand without gussets, letting the mail smoothly extend over the neck and shoulders.
For the modification, the mail needed to be expanded. So, I opened up a split in the mail weave by opening up a line of jump rings going from top to bottom. I then added on a couple of more rows into the weave, and closed up the mail again.
The bottom of the mail is decorated with a couple of rows of brass rings. These rings are riveted, but the process is otherwise the same as the stainless rings. I riveted a pile of brass rings closed (using tiny aluminum rivets), then fed two of those closed rings onto an open ring, before connecting the open ring onto two of the punched stainless rings at the bottom of the mail. Finally, I riveted the connecting ring closed using the riveting pliers. Now only 200 more to go!
Sewing
After the mail was finished, I connected it to the mounting. Using artificial sinew, I sewed the mail to the leather mounting. Each stich passed through the leather mounting, looped through a link or two of the mail, before looping back through the leather mounting via the holes.
After the mail was secured to the mounting, I did a test fit onto the helming. The mounting fit reasonably well, but the mail drooped a bit in the front of the helm where the face would be. So, I opened a few of the stainless jump rings and removed a panel of the mail (about 5 links wide) before closing the front of the mail again.
Dye and Paint
Using a soft bristled paintbrush, I applied 2-3 coats of red leather dye to create the base color of the mounting.
After the dye had dried, I applied two coats of leather seal. After the leather seal dried, I applied an additional layer of acrylic seal to prevent the dye from bleeding.
Next was the paint. Using gold paint, I colored the flowers on the mounting. It took 4-5 coats to get a uniform color.
Using leather paint, I colored the vines and the circles white. This took about 2-3 coats to get a uniform effect.
After the paint had dried, I applied another layer of seal, and then a coat of matte seal to reduce the shine. However, the roses got another coat of acrylic seal to enhance their shine.
Mounting
The last step was to mount the aventail onto the helm. I fit the aventail over the vervels. To secure it, I fed 2mm (14 gage) brass wire through the holes of the vervels, and then bent the wire back on itself at the top vervel on either side of the helm. Snip the wire and that was it.
Done! May it serve him well.
