Whew, week two! Here we are already!

Week ONE: [link]

Leather Armourers: a continuation... Or something, hah. This is week two of my six week leather armourer feature. Admittedly I'm a day late, but in my defence I worked yesterday... Back on topic! Last week the wonderful *Sharpener was kind enough to allow me to interview him, and now we have some fresh meat for the grinder - one Samuel Lee, of the USA. Here's a little about him!

*Azmal

Samuel Lee, known around these parts as *Azmal, is perhaps one of the more fantastical, ornate, and colourful leatherworkers here on DeviantART. He has received at least two well deserved Daily Deviations for his talents (perhaps more, I could have missed one).


Initially, Samuel began working in wood. His father introduced him to the basics when he was quite young, and so he launched himself into a 'business' of sorts making wooden swords and bird-houses and the like. This all sort of fell by the wayside when computers ate his soul... Being drawn to the idea of making and producing computer games, this was a natural step. Over the years he has compiled stacks of notes which he keeps aside - for that 'just in case' he ever enters the industry.

He readily claims that he wasn't the most studious of kids at school. Although he has a love of learning, the scrawling of fantasy swords and armour adorned his worksheets and schoolbooks showed where his thoughts really were. Now, his sketches are refined, and highly detailed - and have become an integral part of his commission process.


The commissioning of his own armour is what got him into the art itself. Upon finding a talented craftsman from a Renaissance Festival to complete the suit he had in mind, he placed his commission, and the craftsman later visited Samuel in Austin, Texas. Here he witnessed the creation of a part of his armour, and he was introduced to a place called Tandy Leather - perhaps the place to blame for all this wonderful leatherwork that's come from *Azmal since. He purchased here some starter supplies and made himself some gauntlets, along with a quiver and bow holder, before that began to snowball into armour such as this.


After this starting point, Samuel continued to work with the previously mentioned craftsman for a time, until they parted ways. Aside from the few things he picked up in that experience, he has had no formal training in leather - isn't that astounding? - and soon after that he moved to set up his own business, bringing to us the calibre of armour you see in his gallery today.


Thank you to Samuel for providing me with ample information to whip this up - and I'm sorry it's a little shorter than I'd planned, you know, time constraints. Who’d have a real life anyway, all they do is interfere with DeviantART time >_< hahaha. I hope you all enjoy this one too! Thanks for reading. Week two down, four more to go!!

-- Warpig