February 5th, 2010
I have a complete tutorial that shows you how to cheaply and easily make a spartan shield. It looks just like the ones they used in the movie 300.
But first you might want to take a look at a real spartan shield. The picture below is a shot I took of a real spartan shield in a museum in Athens Greece. The plaque reads: Bronze Spartan Shield - loot from the Battle of Pylos 425 B.C. This shield has seen some action.
If you want a closer look I have a bigger picture on my website here: A Real Spartan Shield
I also have a home video of the monument at the actual battlefield of Thermopylae where the battle of the 300 took place. It is on my youtube channel here: The Battle of Thermopylae monument
If you want to make your own Spartan Shield the tutorial is here: Make a Spartan shield
Here is a picture of what it looks like when completed:
Posted in Medieval Weapons, Projects u do, Travel, Greece | No Comments »
November 12th, 2009
I have been working on my third novel (The Left Handed Sword) or a while now and there is this one section where the main character comes into this town called Speyer. On the outskirts of the town is a massive stone pinnacle called the finger of god. At the top of this pinnacle is a monastery. Its a critical idea in the novel and something I had thought of on my own. Well, I recently took a trip to Greece and before I left I did a lot of research. And, I was stunned to discover a place called Meteora. It is a place there that has all these very strange stone pinnacles. And at the top of some of these pinnacles are monasteries! Wow, I thought to myself, I have just got to see this. It would be great research for my book.
I was a little disappointed to realize my idea about a monastery at the top of a stone pinnacle wasn’t original but that’s the way it goes. Isn’t there a theory that when we write we are just remembering things and not actually creating anything new?
Anyway, It was a rewarding trip to these amazing monasteries at Meteora and I did get one valuable idea: On one of the days I was there it was extremely foggy and you couldn’t see a whole lot. The pinnacles were shrouded in … well in mystery! Wow I thought to myself. I have just got to integrate this mysterious fog into my novel.
So, I am going to return back to the chapter with the finger of god and shroud the whole thing in a mysterious fog!
Posted in Medieval, Travel, Greece | No Comments »
October 29th, 2009
I just finished a new Paper Project that you can download, print up and make yourself. It is the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens Greece. The project is a complete and free download that you can make. And it is a pretty easy yet fun project. Also included with the project is a youtube video that shows you the Paper Project as it is completed along with some actual footage I took of the real Parthenon in Athens. Here is the location of the project: The paper Parthenon - Acropolis
Posted in By Will Kalif, Castles/Medieval, Projects u do, Historical, Travel | No Comments »
August 7th, 2009
I got an email from someone who purchased a vintage sword while on vacation in London in 1994. He is interested in learning more about the sword and is possibly interested in selling it. If you can add any information about this sword, its value or it’s heritage you can send me an email. I also have more pictures of it and more information about it on my website medievalswords. Here is the information he currently has about the sword:
“I got this in London in 1994 from a dealer, I looked at about 30 swords before I bought this one.I had papers for it and I have been looking for them the sword was custom made for an Officer of the Royal Artillery . The Guys initials are A.W.C with his family crest on it. The crest says Over For Over with a Unicorn in the middle. It says near the grip (Handcrafted by Pillin for Brodie 10 Princes St Hanover Squ London) The dealer said it was made in the 1700’s and the we paid 300 pounds for it and that’s like $450.”
Posted in Medieval Weapons, swords, Travel | No Comments »
July 29th, 2009
You might remember that I occasionally get requests to identify medieval objects such as weapons, chests or even castles and I, with the help of web visitors have had perfect success identifying these things. The latest request was to identify a medieval castle from a single picture and a web visitor sent me an email with the identify of the castle. If you want to know what castle this is then you can buzz over to my medieval castle website and check it out here: Another case of a Mysterious Medieval Castle solved
Picture ownership Remi Kaupp and freely published under the GNU Free documentation License
Posted in Websites, Medieval, Historical, Travel | No Comments »
