Maker Post: Ga Ga for Guy

I’ve got a couple of makes to share with you now that they’ve reached their destinations!

I thought I’d make a single post because they’re both of the same inspiration…

Sir Guy Of Gisborne

gimlet stare

Now I’m going to be nice and bite my tongue on my opinion of the TV show and the personality of Sir Guy, but Richard Armitage sure looks sexy af in head to toe leather and with those luscious locks.

ahem…let’s not carried away!

So the first make is from a couple months back , I wanted to send dearest Riepu/Paula a little gift to try and make her smile.

I had asked her previously about her fave characters and Mr Gisborne was pretty much near top of the list.

It took me a little while to come up with an idea, I tried a few things and nothing was working. Then I spied the postcard Guylty had sent me after the Richard Armitage 50th birthday auctions in which Richard Armitage wonderfully donated his character’s leather jacket from the 1st season of TV’s Robin Hood! and an idea formed!

i will take every opportunity to post this photo lol

One of the most iconic parts of his jacket are the gorgeous wolf head buckles that fasten the front of the jacket. I believe the costume designer found them in a bikers shop in Romania.

the postcard sent by Guylty, credit: Guylty

The post card featured this iconic buckle. I started out by cutting out Guy’s wolf head buckle from the postcard with scissors and a scalpel. Then I had a look through my stash of small photo frames for something suitable and found a nice rustic wooden one which was also the perfect size.

Then I went through a small bag of leather offcuts that I’ve had lurking in a cupboard for 30 years (just in case-and this is how one becomes a hoarder) and luckily there was the perfect piece.. soft black leather.

I cut these pieces out, using the postcard for accurate sizing and then looped them over and attached Guys buckle to the frame with an upholstery stapler. I finished the card buckle off with a couple of layers of modpodge ( a thin glue) to seal and protect it.

Then the last job was to find a beautiful pic of long hair Guy…oh the horrors of having to spend time searching the internet to find the perfect image! ……sigh….

Hey presto!

The next piece of crafting is for the upcoming Christmas #HoHoHolidayFundRAiser auctions, which will be hosted on both ebay and etsy very soon.

After enquiring if anything was needed, Guylty explained she had enough for the auctions but if I could come up with something for the fixed price auction then that would be helpful. I like being able to provide items for the fixed auction as it allows more fans a chance to buy something that is within a reasonable budget.

I started riffing ideas and having recently made Paula’s gift , it gave me the idea of maybe fashioning some badges based on the wolf clasp. This seemed particularly appropriate after the amazing auction with Guys Jacket this year.

As I’ve mentioned previously I am very lucky that I have a very lovely partner who happens to run a laser cutting business. So using a high quality photo that Guylty had taken whilst in possession of the jacket, chap managed to turn it into artwork to cut out and engrave from MDF. At this point, I hadn’t told Guylty what I was up to either!

This was the first go, it came out brilliantly , it’s 2 layers with the fox head cut out seperatley. But I felt it was just too big as a badge/brooch and the D rings would likely break.

so we tried one without the D loops and one shorter. After showing to Guylty, we felt the longer design worked better. These measure approx 5cm long.

So chap got on with chopping and he also kindly glued the 2 pieces together as well as soaking them in wood hardener to strengthen them!

Loads of them!

Whilst the wood looked nice, I really wanted to get the badge looking closer to the real thing, so i did some trials with crafter’s favourite “Rub N Buff” metallic wax till I found the colour I felt was best and got working on them. Absolutely covered my hands in metallic wax in the process. Then finally glued pins on the back.

and hey presto! (I’m sure Guylty will take a photo that makes the badge look more metallic) So fingers crossed I’ve made enough to keep people happy.

One last thing, since Guylty did such a marvelous job of the auctions again and I felt must be slightly saddened at having to give up the gorgeous Guy’s leather jacket..I decided I would like to make her a little souvenir.

So using the artwork..plus the addition of the D rings on the ends…we made a pendant from gold mirrored acrylic! I used a chain that I found in a charity shop (upcycling!) and also added Guys shield onto the box.

I’m really pleased with how it came out (taking photos of mirrored acrylic is a nightmare though) – I think it’s gorgeous and from the message I received from Guylty on receipt recently I believe she is happy lol😊

So happy bidding in the ebay auctions and hope those who like my badges will be able to purchase one from the fixed sale.