Rob MacLennan

Looks like you just missed a ring and are off by one ring all down that row.

Typical magazine shot editing, unfortunately. Take a truly beautiful woman and then treat her as if she's less so, by manipulating the image to accentuate some things, minimize others. Undoctored shots of Kunis show that she has come pretty far from the child actress who lied about her age to get on a wildly popular sitcom. There's an actress that I vaguely know, who is built literally like a comic book superhero (34DD, with a 23 inch waist, and far from a Kardashian style bottom), purely by genetics. No surgery. A couple of years ago I stumbled across some professional shots that were taken of her and could easily make out that the photographer had performed similar edits on her. It was shot in a bedroom and there was a bed behind her, with vertical lines on the quilt. The lines SHOULD have been straight, but made obvious curves around her obvious curves. it disgusted me that someone would do that. To her credit this actress now, on her Instagram, makes sure to post any and all edits that have been made to a picture.

This just reinforces my belief that the most beautiful women always seem to have what some people would call an "imperfection" that makes them unique. Takes them out of the realm of the plastic.

It can happen due to illness, as it did in Kunis's case, but some are born with it. Bilateral ("full") heterochromia, like she has, is pretty rare (like 1/2000). No idea about the more common version that we have. Odd thing is that my father has blue eyes, my mother has green eyes, and I'm their only child (of three) with heterochromia.

Could be, but I was putting that down to them using a not so sharp blade to cut them (like a press or the like). *EDIT* I didn't realize that Kunis has bilateral heterochromia (her left eye is brown and the right is green). I only noticed when I looked at the picture at 100% zoom. When I saw that, I did a quick search and confirmed it. I find it interesting because I have centre heterochromia (centres of both eyes are blue, while the surrounding iris is green).

Very interesting. I couldn't find an online link to the March issue of Allure Magazine, which this picture is apparently from, so no idea if they say what the dress is made of. Looking at it though, I would say that it's a thin flexible plastic, to match the clear "scales" that they used around the waist. Punching 5 hols in everything probably just made sense from a production point of view. Or they just screwed up and had to change the hole placement, because I can't seem to find a single instance in which the "top" hole was used. Or they're repurposed from something else entirely... *SIDE NOTE* - Some unscrupulous individual is already selling this picture on eBay.

For different projects you need to consider not only the weight of the leather you use, but also the type. Does it need to stand up on its own, or do you want it to give like cloth? And are you going to dye it yourself, "age" it with wax and friction or conditioners, or do you want to work with pre-dyed and finished leather? The hat that I pictured, above, was un-dyed 5 oz leather for the "crown", because it needs to be thick enough to hold its shape, with un-dyed 3 oz leather for the brim (stiffened around the outside edge with 16 gauge stainless steel wire). I have a "double shoulder" of 7 oz (3.5mm thick) veg tan leather that would likely be considered armour grade by the SCA because, well, it is. I struggle for an idea of what to do with it. So far I've made precisely one coaster out of it, a second in the works, that I burned a pattern into with a laser engraver. I want to make some pauldrons and greaves with it but, as you can imagine, even my sharpest utility knife and a great deal of sweat is required to make a dent in the stuff. Cutting, wetting, and heat forming it is going to be a major project for... someday. Maybe I need a band saw...? But then I made three "Indiana Jones" style hats using strictly 3 oz, oil tanned finished leather because I wanted something that had more give/was more cloth-like. I used the same leather to make several belt bags since I have two "sides" of it (basically a whole cow's worth). So in short I'd say consider first what you want to make, before you ask the question, "With what?"

Lorenzo will be a much better source of information for this but, as he hasn't responded yet, I'll pitch in from what little experience I have. I've only made two scale pieces for women (maybe a dozen chain pieces) and in my limited experience it's just being on your expansion/contraction game. The two pieces that I made were for use by..... let's just say petite, but almost comically endowed women, using large scales. From the neck down to the top of the chest was pretty much a straight scale piece. Don't think that I added more that a couple of expansions. Just past the transition point of the chest I started with contractions. Starting at the transition point didn't work for me, as it started a "gather" too early. Long the curvature of the back I added a couple of contractions, to follow. Obviously small scales will require more contractions, however, you can space them better, both horizontally and vertically, to make the curve appear more smooth.

Since Mithril, aka "True Silver", is supposed to pretty much look like silver but be lighter and stronger than steel, you could pretty much go for any silverish metal that you prefer. You could go with shiny anodized aluminum or, if you don't mind the weight, stainless steel. If you really wanted to break the bank, without going as far as selling your liver, you could use plain titanium when it's back in stock.

Page 10 of the Scales Gallery has some pics of a shirt that was made using the same pattern, if I remember correctly, and you might want to consult it for comparison purposes. It's made in small gold anodized scales. http://www.theringlord.org/forum/index.php?/gallery/category/15-scales/&page=10

An easy way that you could stabilize the dummy is to get a piece of scrap wood, preferable something like a piece or 2"x8", then drill a hole in the centre of it so that you can insert and glue a piece of dowel into it. Slide the dowel up into the bottom of the dummy.

Wait until you've got the upper back done and don't worry about the hang, until it can hang unsupported. If you see a problem then, address it. You might need a couple more rows on the front to make it hang well.

Can't say that I've gotten the last comment ever, but definitely the first two. Rather interestingly the "patience" comment has frequently come from people who do other labour intensive thing like knitting, or needlepoint. Two of them I convinced to go to a local gaming tavern for a beginners' class. One now occasionally takes out her gear and plays around with it, while the other has become an avid mailer and makes jewellery.

You'll be amazed at what/where you can do with chainmailing, when the motions have been locked into kinesthetic memory.

Hell, the second and third chain shirts that I made were cut up to make something actually decent, shortly after the third was completed. I had learnt so much and gotten so much faster at weaving that I couldn't stand to look at them anymore. I even asked an actress friend to send a piece back to me, across the border, because I know that I could do far better on it. Mistakes happen and we learn from them. Even if all that we learn is, "Don't do that again."