I have been intrigued by some of the wonderful targes that people have shared here on XMTS. Inspired by Alan H and with a bit of advice from woodsheal I took the plunge and gave it a try.
One problem I had was that my budget for this project was rather limited and I really didn't want to use vinyl. A visit to Tandy leather was discouraging as I would have had to buy a whole hide and the cost of that would have exceeded twice my budget. After some thought I decided that the way to go would be to make a targe out of several pieces of leather instead of a single one. Making a trip to the thrift store I purchased a pair of ladies leather pants, a ladies suede skirt, and a thick leather black belt for about $15. A search through my workshop supplies yielded a big piece of scrap brown leather (riddled with some holes and nasty stains that I had to cut around), a brass base to a candlestick holder, a reasonable sized piece of nice plywood, and four small Japanese brass ornaments that a friend gave me years ago.
All that was left was a trip to the hardware store (actually several) for tacks, nails, and a few fittings and I was ready to go!
Here are a few pictures
Plywood circle cut out 18" diameter) leather pieces cut out, boss and Japanese ornaments laid out
It doesn't look like much I know but I pressed ahead and got to work.
I was very happy with the end results
Front
Back
The spike is nothing more than a sharpened lamp finial (I have a rounded one for when I just need to carry it around). I thought about making a strap for this shield and then realized that one of the sporran straps I had whipped up previously could serve double duty.
Here it is with the entire outfit
What is amusing to me is that my leather doublet from Ravenswood Leather was designed to match my Freelander Sporran and now I have a matching targe. A "Freelander Highlander" perhaps?
With the hardware the whole project came to about $50. I have an itch to make a more traditional one out of a single piece of hide but I think this one will do nicely for now.
Cheers
Jamie :ootd:
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