Basic larp costume - the benefit of trift stores and flea markets

After the doctor diagnosed me with periathritis of the shoulder yesterday, I did the only logical thing a larper can do in the circumstances. I went shopping. Unfortunately shopping for me doesn't mean going to the mall  squeaking and buying $100 t-shirts. First I went to a local hunting shop and bought myself a $200 hungarian recurve bow just to show my periathritis I mean business. The bow is by the way Awesome with a well deserved capital letter and you will likely see additional blog posts on archery tips, a review as well as a quiver guide in the mostly foreseeable future, depending on how fast my shoulder heals. 

Anyway after that well deserved treat I went to the flea market. Did I ever mention flea markets are a gold mine? No? OK let me say so now, flea markets, trift stores, second hand shops are all gold mines. Old leather jackets are the cheapest source of real leather you will find but they are only the tip of the iceberg.
The next very useful thing you can find cheap is tough leather belts. And god is my witness you will need belts all the time.

Well maybe not THAT many belts, but for example - I have four - one for my hauberk, one for my coat of plates, one weapons belt and another for the waterskin and purse. Can't cut that number any lower, so I was naturally happy to get a pair of real leather heavy duty belts. You know there is strong, then there is Army strong and then there is Soviet army will work all day every day just add bullets strong. That was ten bucks well spent, the big one can probably support my full weight.

But the real gem and I should really have bought the two of them not just one, is an old rifleman's ammunition pouch for bolt-action rifle clips.  To put it simple - best 5 bucks I've spent in a while. They are for the lack of a better word - perfect for the task. Tough as a pair of old boots(and made from the same material), easy to hang from your belt and great addition to any character. The bonus point(questionable some might find it a minus) is that its old and well worn, it lacks the fake plastic look that comes with most items in online stores.

 

As for the possible uses, well there are two(3 really if you decided to do both)

One is to use it for purely RP safekeeping - trinkets, valuables, your coin, a potion or two(and yes I made another potion from a mini bottle) can be kept fairly safely inside and will certainly be less intriguing to some people than a jiggling coin purse on your waist. 

 Another possibility is to use it for keeping off game items - in my case keys, some aspirine, perhaps a couple of bandaids and a swiss army knife. Alas my magical talking stone (i.e. the phone) is just a bit too big to fit in. Perhaps if I oil the leather to soften it a bit, it will work. Normally people should not carry their phones as well - there is nothing more irritating that a call coming in the middle of a fight. Still having one or two around for emergencies is a wise idea and the tough leather pouch can keep it safe during the game.

Of course you can always do both and keep ingame items in one and offgame items in the other pouch.
Once I get another some free time I'll go search for new finds.

How to make homemade larp potions

In the previous post on the alchemist props I mentioned potions as the "classical" result of his doings. However - items from a chemistry will be a poor choice to make larp potions from. They are fragile, expensive and hard to replace. Buying a whole chemistry set only to use the vials is a bit counter productive.

So - how to get cheap easily replaceable and sturdy larp potions?

Well - here is a simple answer that costs roughly 2$ a piece.  I'm not going to give tools and materials list since they depend on how you want to decorate them. I used some canvas, thread and glue, but leather, paper labels and so on are not out of the question. In fact I might do a small collection of potions with different decorations as an example. For now though - I got only one.

 

 

The one main "ingredient" though is this. Its a whiskey mini bottle. We call them bullets(since they contain exactly one shot...get it ;) )  You are most likely to find them in the 24/7. In this particular case I picked a mini JB bottle - Its small, cheap and above all - made from plastic. That means it won't break no matter what. Naturally this is a magic potion by default but I drank the fire water already. Other types can be used as well - I simply found this one first.

First thing to do was the scrub the glue from the label and prepare it for decoration. Here we get to the wild card. You can use canvas, leather, paper, thread, a cork too. Whatever rocks your boat. In my case - I used canvas and thread.

I glued some canvas on the body of the bottle and while it was still drying up - grabbed some orange thread I have here. Same used in the leather mitten guide.

 Gotta be careful with the glue of course you don't want to poison yourself or glue the bottle shut. Apart from that - in a couple of minutes its all dried up and ready for use.

 This took me just a couple of minutes to make. You can turn out a dozen in half an hour.

How to easily get props for an alchemist player or npc

Now contrary to popular belief - its not all boffers and beanbags... sorry I meant might and magic of course. There are always others  seeking to get what magic does by harnessing science. Science of course in this case often meant leeches and mixing stuff in the test tube to see what happens when we drink it. Sometimes you win - sometimes you lose.
  
 Meet the alchemist.

 

Now whether its a player's stuff, or an npc it doesn't matter. Whether he'd be seeking a Philosopher's stone, trying to make gold from lead or just selling potions of strange origin and even stranger effect its entirely player/GM concern. Still if there IS such a character he needs his stuff! The robe, the big dusty books, the glasses and so on are easy. Buuut there is another bit  necessary. You need vials. And test tubes. And something boiling that's making bubbles. Guess that leaves only one choice. 

Buy a chemistry set. 

  

There are many on the market and they vary greatly in price and content, ranging from 30-40$ to 200$+.

Obviously 200$+ is too much for a piece of props, so we will aim for a cheaper one. What you need to look for is the content. 

Here's what I found in the attic. Its a junior chemistry set that's more of a vintage item if you ask me, hailing from Ye olde socialist days.

It has a ton of vials, most of them still full. All I have to do is change the labels with something more appropriate. 

One more thing which I'm going to put in big red CAUTION marks. If you want, you can actually use the contents of the chemistry set to do some simple trick or reaction. That is entirely up to you, just be careful and read the damn manual before trying something. Don't use the vials for useable ingame potions. They are fragile, irreplaceable and were holding(sometimes) dangerous chemicals.  For ingame potions that are to be drinkable, there is another solution which I 'll show you soon.