Tin Soldiers
Ben and dad have been working on making Tin Soldiers. Some of the participants will be attending as Sutlers and our contribution is to make period toys; specifically, these metal soldiers.
The solders above started out as two blocks of tin.
The molds are made of a hard silicon rubber or from aluminum. You would think the rubber would melt, but it does just fine.
Molds are carefully clamped to make sure they don't leak.
Metal is poured into the mold. This is the aluminum mold.
When the mold is opened, the solder can be removed. There's always some extra bits to cut off.
Ben's Uniform
Ben has been assigned to "fight" on the side of the Confederacy for the battle reenactment portion of the event. He is responsible for putting together a uniform. Of course, we could have just gone to Goodwill and cobbled together something from old clothes. Though, since Shannon loves to sew, she his building one from scratch. Here's how it looks currently.
Shannon made the sleeve rank from scratch as well based on a photograph in a history book. It looks identical to the period stripes.
Shannon had to hand sew the stripe on the pants.
We still need to pull together a belt, hat, and some buttons as well as some other details.
Steam Cannon
Ben was assigned to make a demonstration of the "Power of Steam". Steam was used to power much of 19th century technology. This one uses an electric hot plate to boil water in a Sig bottle. Opening the valve releases the steam and launches a Ping Pong ball.
Matt's Costume
Matt will be attending the event as a civilian photographer. He'll be using his 1930's Graflex Press Camera to try and make tintypes of the event. We won't be using the exact same process that was used at the event, but we'll still be closer than what you'd have with a modern camera. It should provide an interesting photographic challenge. Shannon made a suit for this as well. Here's a few photos of the suit and Ben modeling it.
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