Monday 1 November 2010

Owlbears, Fashion Shows and Many Shiny Things: An Illustrated Ramble on Foreign Fields

Last weekend, the Proprietor and myself were at Foreign Fields Larp Kit Fair. There was some really very excellent kit on display, including these giant skulls the size of a beach ball.

We had the spectacular monster claws with us and on the spur of the moment decided that they needed to be entered into the Fantasy Fashion Show upon the hands of the Proprietor. We had brought no specific costume to speak of, but we had "ingenuity" on our sides. Some fumbling through my stock later, the Proprietor was dressed in a feathered mantle, a camouflage green laced gamebson and a pair of basic drawstring trousers. We decided that this all together makes him a fearsome owlbear (darling of the various monster manual wtfs). I was in the surprisingly popular (but still unsold) twilight elven robes, which were not a little large on me but very flowing.

More photos (of varying quality) and rambling about Foreign Fields under the cut.




Photo down the central path down the trade fair.

Photo of the weapons and shields half of the Character Kit stall. Taken during setup, before the obsessive realigning of the swords happened. It's what sustains the sanity in the quieter hours (usually on Sunday), you see, careful ordering of the stall.

The cloth half of the stall, with Velvet Glove's most excellent and very reasonably priced selection of makeup visible.

The Proprietor with his Green Steampunk Coat, which has become something of a uniform at events like these. You can also just glimpse those monster claws creeping into view, as well as Velvet Glove's stunningly purple banner.

We were opposite Chow's Emporium, a veritable cave of wonders. Hers is a stall one can just get lost in with all the random, useful little things. She also stocks a fantastic range of ex-theatre costume. And also, rice hats.

Some truly awesome kit was showcased during the fashion show and really, what makes it onto the blog is more a coincidence of who came after me (since I wasn't doing photography was difficult when queuing behind-ish the stage) and which photos turned out tolerable.

 Some really inadequate photos of the stunningly beautiful red dragon armour from White Rose Apparel. Apparently he got a bit carried away with the detailing.

A truly fiercesome "old-school" orc from Evenlode Studio with a rune-engraved Medlock Armoury Axe (who I believe supplies Adventurer's Mart - rather infamous in my book for the electric kettle spear, but that's another story.)

A stunning snow-queen-esque ensemble from House of Freyja, the cloak specialists (they also do jewellry, a multitude of pretty things and medieval boardgames).

Duchess Fur-Trimmed Cloak from Primal Forge. It's really very pretty.

 Caroline from The Warrior's Wardrobe, also record-holder for the greatest number of costume changes in one Foreign Fields Fantasy Fashion Show. The little girl who was next to me whispered to the other child of Caroline's awesome exploits.

Beautiful leather things from McSkelly Leathers. I have a particular love of that leather samnite helmet. And those goggles, I say, actually do something (I have a deep, if unconfirmed, suspicion that the Proprietor may have bought them after excessive admiration)!

Goggles of all sorts, also from McSkelly Leathers.

Ryall Armories with steel replica armour. His beautiful girlfriend is hiding his beautiful kit in the photo, which is almost a disappointment. They also do painted banners of all sorts.

Simon Wright's The Sword Book at Having A Larp's stall. I am now a proud owner of a copy. Given I am a member of Northern Fight School, I have to say I feel more than slightly guilty for being so tardy in my purchase. More about the book itself in another post.

Foreign Fields was, as always, filled to brim with fantastic merchandise and fantastically friendly people (the organiser is threatening a larger venue next year). We met representatives of the local Fools and Heroes as well as people from the fantastic-seeming laser-tag-larp (among whom was this tinker who was very keen on LEDs). A famous author even bought a coat from me (squeeee!) We joked about the many possible purposes of enigmatic claw shield (including beer funnel, novelty hat and quality codpiece).

If all goes well, see you there next year?

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