Have Anna Maria Buckle - Need the Belt!

[Captain McAnen]

I recently purchased an awesome Anna Maria buckle from Captain Venno, but now I need a belt to put it on. It is a DMC/AWE style buckle so that is the style belt I want. Anyone know of a good leathersmith that could turn out a decent belt for a reasonable price?

[capt.J.j.sparrow]

Talk to Acme, he makes some great belts. Or check the wiki to make it yourself out of belt blanks from E-bay.

[Captain McCool]

Or, if you'd like, I can make you one. And I'd probably be able to give you a very decent price on it.

[Captain McAnen]

Hey, McCool! I was actually on Etsy just a little bit ago and wondering if this was something you'd be able to do. Have you made one before that you have photos of? If not that's okay, I've seen your baldrics and know you do good work. Shoot me a PM and let me know what kind of price and time frame we'd be looking at.

Thanks!

[Captain McCool]

Yep! I made my own, actually, and I think it turned out pretty well. I'd be happy to do one for you! In fact, I may even be able to make you one out of overstock leather FROM the production Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise!

Here are some pics of me wearing the one I made for myself:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anda74/5944281627/sizes/l/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anda74/5956253985/sizes/l/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anda74/5956254729/sizes/l/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anda74/5956257137/sizes/l/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anda74/5956816956/sizes/l/in/photostream/
You can kinda' see the funky smudge at the tip of the belt (which is SA) in this one:
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/285320_2244568838957_1390222190_2590803_6350978_n.jpg

If I make yours out of one of the overstock PotC belt blanks, the actual thickness of the leather may vary slightly, but most of them have great texture and are overall an excellent weight for this particular belt. The one in the film is a bit thin, and "scrunches" where the compass is tied.

I'm selling a basic belt made from one of the PotC overstock blanks I have on Etsy for $65 ( http://www.etsy.com/listing/86101557/leather-pirate-belt-natural-tan ), and it comes with a buckle (incidentally, the buckle is also film overstock from Disney), so for this one, without the buckle but with all the other screen-accurate detailing, I'd say we'd be looking at about $45. Does that sound reasonable to you? If you'd prefer we can definitely carry on about the specifics via PM, but I figured since the Brethren Court forums don't have the same restrictions as KttC I'd post the info up here so everyone can see, just in case anyone else may be interested in one for the future.

Cheers!

[Captain McCool]

...Thoughts?

[Captain McAnen]

Man, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. It's been a hectic week. It sounds good to me. Give me a day or two and I'll get with you on the specs. Money is a little tighter at the moment than I was hoping it would be but I think things will pick up again over the next several days.

[Captain McCool]

Yeah, believe me, I totally know how you feel. No worries. Just let me know!

[Button It]

Are you going for the OST or the DMC/AWE look? The belts are of completely different construction and have a slightly different look to them too.

[Captain McAnen]

DMC/AWE because that is the style of buckle I have.

[Captain McCool]

Simon has a good point. But yeah, I was assuming DMC/AWE.

[Captain McAnen]

The one concern I do have is that a lot of the Anna Maria belts I've seen have an orange tint, kind of a cognac color, to them where as the screen used belt seems to be more of a light tobacco color.

[Captain McAnen]

McCool: What width is your Anna Maria belt?

Hopefully I can finally order one from you sometime in the next week. Unfortunately I haven't had any sells in the last 10 days so my fingers are crossed that something will sell in the next few days or I can scrounge up a couple of odd jobs. Looks like I might actually have to go back out and get a real job

[Captain McCool]

Yep, once again, I totally know the feeling.

As for my own belt, it's exactly 2" wide. However, the overstock belt blanks I have from PotC (absolutely true, by the way - a friend of mine has a business buying and selling film costumes, and one of the auctions he bought included a huge quantity of overstock and scrap leather from the Pirates 2 and 3 costume department) are around 2.5". I can always cut one of these down to 2" if you prefer.

And yes, I totally know what you mean about color. Jack's belt in the films really appears to just be natural, undyed leather that has been aged a lot. The pictures of mine show pretty well what the one I can make would look like after a little wear. On it I used just the smallest amount of antique leather stain in a tan color, with overtones of a medium brown in some parts. I can certainly make it a bit darker if you'd like, or I can even leave it a natural tan leather color to let it darken naturally with age (though this takes a while, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it). Also keep in mind that leather is a bit of a fickle mistress, so pretty much every piece comes out very slightly differently. That being said, I will always endeavor to get as close as humanly possible to the screen-accurate coloration.

[Captain McAnen]

McCool: Just wanted to touch base with you and let you know I haven't forgotten about the belt or ordered one anywhere else. I've finally got a little income rolling in again now (had to catch up on some stuff since things have been so slow) and should be able to order the belt sometime this month. My next endeavor after this will be to order one of Simon's sun buckles and I will likely have you make the belt for it as well.

[Captain McCool]

Groovy! Thanks mate!

[Captain McAnen]

McCool: The time has finally come. I've gotten caught up on my finances for the most part, paid off my Indy_Magnoli cutlass, and am ready to order a belt from you. But I am going to throw you for a loop: instead of the Anna Maria belt I'm going to have you make the belt for the sun buckle first. I got a buckle from Simon and want to go ahead and get a belt for it.

As for the specs: I need the sun belt 2" wide and made to fit a 38" waist. I've been using this photo as a color reference for everything.
http://www.arts-wallpapers.com/peoples/JackSparrow_Wallpaper/img1pic.jpg

Go ahead and let me know how much it will be and how you want me to send payment and we'll get this in the works. Sorry it's taken me so long to finally order it. Hopefully it won't take as long for me to get a chance to order the other belt from you.

Also, about how long do you think it will take you to throw this together? No rush, just curious. I actually need to shed a few more pounds and am using the belt as positive motivation.

[Captain McCool]

Hey! Sorry it took me a bit to respond! I've been kind of taking a break from Jack lately, so I haven't been frequenting here or KttC much. Anyway, that sounds great! Unfortunately, you link isn't working for me. But I've got a freaking TON of reference photos on my hard drive, so I'm sure I probably have that one, whatever it is, heh. Basically I just need to know if you want it CotBP style, DMC/AWE style, or OST style. I assume probably DMC/AWE, as you were saying before, but let me know if I'm wrong.

I'm going to have to do a bit of searching at the local leather store to determine what is best for this particular belt, but overall it's a fairly simple design. For this one I won't be able to use the overstock PotC film leather because it's a stouter, stiffer belt than the Anamaria one, and all the film-overstock belt blanks I have are a much lighter weight leather, more like the Anamaria belt. But still, I can probably do it for around $45, just like the Anamaria belt, or maybe $50 depending on what the leather will cost me.

As for time frame, I'd venture an estimate of about 2 weeks. Sound reasonable?

[Captain McAnen]

http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/wallpaper/gray_pirates_of_the_caribbean_captain_jack_sparrow_swords_desktop_5428x7230_wallpaper-232027.jpg

Here's a different link, but same photo, just larger. You probably already have it, but this is what I'm using as my main reference as I (slowly) put my costume together. If you can make the holes fit from size 34"-40" that would probably be perfect to allow me to keep losing the excess weight I've put on recently but still fit over the waistcoat and sash with a pistol tucked in. Definitely going with the DMC/AWE look here as it's my favorite, so need to trim back down just a bit.

Price sounds reasonable, just keep me posted. I can send a payment Tuesday if that works for you, gives me a chance to work a few more hours. The job I've been doing is about to end so I definitely want to order this before I'm back to hunting for another gig. Hopefully I'll have something new in the works in the next couple of weeks so I can have you make the Anna Maria belt next.

[Captain McAnen]

It's not the Anna Maria belt (I'll be ordering that soon enough), but here is a photo of my new sun belt from Captain McCool. It turned out awesome! Now I just need to weather it and add the "manky pelts".

[Captain McCool]

Woohoo! It looks awesome! I'm so glad you like it! I trust it fit okay and everything?

I just loved the texture this leather got when I worked it a little with my hands. It made the dye job come out really deep and variegated, although it doesn't really show well in this pic. My only self-criticism is that it might have just a tiny bit too much red in the undertone, but unfortunately I couldn't really help that since I used a latigo strap as the base, which naturally had a reddish hue to it. Still, the antique brown dye I used on it definitely toned that down, and I'd say it's a pretty darn close match. Much closer than the one I use, as a matter of fact.

Anyway, thanks for putting the pic up! I can't wait to see the belt in action!

[Captain McAnen]

Dude, I love it! It came out great. In regards to the fit; right now I can get it in the loosest hole, but I intentionally ordered it too small to force myself to lose the extra weight I've put on. I've already started walking and jogging again, so by the end of the month it should fit perfectly. I've lost weight for plays before, and I'm actually hoping to get a job at the House of Torment haunted house in Austin later this summer so I need to start getting more fit again anyway.
The texture of the belt is awesome and gives it a fantastic weathered look. I've actually just spent the last hour weathering and aging it a bit, so I'll get a new photo up tomorrow. Took the shine out of it with some rubbing alcohol on cotton balls, then I took some light sandpaper to it, and then went back over it with alcohol again to blend to color. After that I buffed it with a dry wash cloth, and finally I gave it a good coat of Pecards leather dressing to smooth and finish it, and hopefully reseal it. Tomorrow I'll test it and if it "bleeds" onto a cloth I'll find a good sealant and give it a light coat.
As for the red tone, it is there but not overbearingly so. It actually looks more red in the photo than in person, and now that it has a duller finish the red is even less prominent. As time goes by and it wears in more I might play with the color a bit, but as of right now I think it looks great and see no need to do anything else to it.
I really appreciate you putting this together for me, and hopefully I'll be able to order the Anna Maria belt from you very soon. Thanks again, mate!

[Captain McAnen]

Here's the belt after a bit of weathering.

[Captain McCool]

The weathering turned out great! And thanks for the shout-out over on the blog! I can't wait to see it when you put it all together!

[Captain McAnen]

I started this thread the 1st of March and now I've finally gotten around to ordering my Anna Maria belt from Captain McCool. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Not only that, but I recently saw some photos of one Captain Jack Sparrow, a.k.a. Captain McCool, over on the facebook in which he is sporting a pretty awesome COTBP baldric that I have to assume he made himself. It sure is a tempted thought to have him put one of those together sometime in the future for me as well. Cheeky bugger, I think he's just after me not-so-hard earned doublooons!

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