Ursus: Soft Kit

Tunic

My main tunic is brown linen thats been over dyed with dark green and then aged to be a mottled green/brown. Its based on a viking tunic but I chose because it closely resembles the longhunter hunting shirts I used to wear. The baggy cut allows for good breathing thus helping cut down on sweat but the material also keeps in warmth much like wool. I have two others that are exact copies only made of a medium weight wool, one brown the other gray. Normally I keep one of these rolled up in my bedroll as a spare shirt or a shirt to sleep in on colder nights.

Pants

My pants are made from medium weight linen that started life an off white but were dyed with walnut dye as soon I got them. These are my summer wear pants.

My winter pants are modified from military wool surplus field pants. I gutted all the pocket lining, sewed up all the pockets, removed the zipper and stitched it closed, and added a drawstring. These were also left to soak in walnut dye for several weeks to get a more brownish color.

Boots

I use two different pairs of boots. One is an old pair from an unknown maker that were black. Overtime I was able to leach enough dye out to be able to over dye them brown. My other pair are modified from a pair of Bohemunds high medieval shoe and are still a work in progress.

Jerkin

My long leather jerkin is made from moose hide. The sides are laced together with bits of long leather lacing. I’ve done a bit of whip stitching around the neck and arm holes as well. Mainly it serves to help keep the thorns and brambles from catching on me as I move along.

Cloak

My cloak is made from heavy olive green Melton wool. The whole thing has been rubbed with lanolin oil to help improve its water resistance. The shape is based off of no particular pattern but is quite swathing in order to cover my gear and serve as a secondary blanket. I boiled the whole thing in a large vat of homemade walnut dye to give a beautfully rustic greenish brown color consistent with Tolkien's descriptions of ranger clothing.

Gloves

My gloves are a pair of brown gauntlets I bought off of ebay and modified by cutting the fingers off and whip stitching around the tops of the fingers. The cuff has a simple lace up system similar to most leather vambraces.

Belt

My belt is made from heavy 2 inch wide leather. The buckle was designed by our very own Elleth and printed by her shapeways shop out of bronze steel. The shape is a sublte nod to Weta’s design esthetic.