Caring for your Costume

If you are a Live Action Role Player, LARPer, or a Renaissance Faire enthusiast, you’re going to need a costume that looks the part. One element that you may want to include is a piece of Medieval armor. Medieval armor is one of the most recognizable features of the Medieval era. It can also help keep you protected during battle reenactments or as a playable character in a LARP setting.

But what happens when your chain mail gets wet? You never know when it may start to rain or when you can fall into a stream, puddle, or other body of water. Will this be harmful your chain mail? What should you do?

If you get your chain mail wet, the best thing you can do is to dry off the piece of armor with a cloth. Then you also want to make sure to shake out the armor to ensure that it is as dry as possible. Even after you dry out the armor it may still oxidize somewhat, which is the nature of all metal. When you shake off the armor you may note that the layer of oxidation will flake off.

It is also important to note that when you do rub down your armor that you need to use something soft like cloth. If you use a metal brush, sandpaper, or metal screen it will get rid of the rust, but the scratches will be deeper which will give further oxidation plenty of room to multiply and grow rapidly.

Hopefully with these tips you’ll be able to keep your chain mail as protected as possible.

If you have recently purchased a Renaissance or Medieval costume from PearsonsRenaissanceShoppe.com, you want to make sure that it lasts for a long time.  Although you can not deny the quality of our costumes, there are certain things that can happen that will damage your brand new investment.

One such thing, which is of particular interest to LARPers, is to walk through thorn bushes.  Depending on where you are in the world, thorn bushes can sport very long briars.  These types of briars can tear hole into costuming and in some cases literally rip the garment to shreds.

Therefore, as you are in the woods at a LARP event, try to be conscious of where you are walking.  Or, if you are the rogue type, make sure you know your escape routes in case you have to take off into the middle of the woods at a moment’s notice.  Especially if it is night time.  The last thing you want to happen in the middle of the night is to run head first into a forest of thorns.