Custom Creations

Since its beginnings, Les Artisans d'Azure have been enjoying creating custom pieces for customers aiming for unique or very specific designs for their LARP characters. With a large team of experienced artisans, costume designers, and tailors, as well as plenty of collaborators and suppliers, we can tackle nearly any project from start to finish, as you can see while exploring our portfolio.

Les Artisans d'Azure offers a trustworthy and professional service, with guaranteed delivery, predictable production delays, and swift shipping. We also provide an excellent customer service to keep our clients well informed about the progress of their costume, and the opportunity to take part in professional photo-shoots with your unique set.

Custom creation is a process that goes step by step, with support from our team all along the way.

1. Concept

The first step in any custom creation project is to contact us online or to set up a meeting to share your ideas. It doesn't matter if you only have a vague inspiration taken from a movie you just saw, or a full set of reference pictures and sketches; we will help you define your need, asking you questions and details until everything is clarified.

2. Quote

Once we have the project narrowed down, we can then estimate the value of the job in terms of labor and materials, and confirm some details with you. A project leader will be chosen among our craftspeople to handle your custom costume. A formal pricing quote will be provided and our team will agree with you on a desired look for the project. This will often involve us creating reference sketches of the desired end result.

3. Agreement

Once everyone is on the same page on both the project's look and the pricing, we will ask for the initial payment to begin, with a signed contract attesting of the agreement. For smaller creations, the first payment will often be 50% of the value, while more pricey projects will require a payment of one third of the value.

4. Preliminary Work

The project leader will assemble their team and take your measurements. At this point, a pattern may be designed for clothing projects, with a placeholder canvas prototype crafted to do some preliminary fittings and adjust the pattern accordingly.

5. Production

It's time to do the bulk of the work. At this point, we may contact you for some additional details, such as picking your favorite buckle type among a few models, or doing additional fittings if needed.

6. Delivery

Once the project is done, it will be delivered according to your preferred method. Shipping is available anywhere in Canada and internationally, but locals can also come pick up their costume in store.

7. Photoshoot

Every major custom project, such as costumes or armor sets, will be offered the opportunity to participate in a free professional photo shoot in the following months. This will occur during a weekend and the date is set, and we also provide makeup and accessories to enhance the final result!

The pictures will also be shared on our social media and portfolio so everyone can see how great you look in your outfit.

✧ High End Clothing

Handmade clothes aren't for the light purses, but nothing beats the personalized fit and precise design of our custom-made clothes. These high-end pieces of clothing are made of hand-picked fabrics and present fashionable details like contrasted lining, decorative borders, asymmetrical cuts, embroideries, symbols, aged patina, deluxe buttons and buckles, and more.

Our high-end clothes are best suited for characters that need to stand above the rest, and will be designed for the use you intent for them, may it be for diplomatic evenings at the inn or to be worn in the outdoors during an active LARP event.

✧ Deluxe Armor

Maybe you are looking for a level of detail that has no equal among our standard creations, or are aiming for a rare armor design taken from historical findings or some fantasy design you cannot get over with.

We can do true marvels with leather, and can also create armor in composite materials by adding gambeson, fur, chainmail. rings, and plates to the set.

If you want us to go wild with engravings, stunning colors, aged patina, and all the texture and details we can squeeze in, this is the kind of project you want to ask us about.

✧ Unique Accessories

As leather workers, we can create special leather accessories for your LARP needs. Maybe you need a surgeon bag made of thick leather, with tons of compartments and splattered with work-related stains, or your character carries five black powder pistols and you could use a gun bandolier.

If you cannot find the right design among our standard products, we will create something that fits your needs. These kinds of custom products encompass both purely functional items and luxurious takes on classics like an epic bag, belt, or scabbard.

✧ Modified Products

Sometimes, what you need isn't a completely original design, but instead a modified version of an existing product. These projects are often more affordable than creating a fully new piece from scratch.

• ✦ Heraldry and Colors

  A classic modification is to craft an existing product with a particular color that will better fit your character theme, your guild, or the banner of your LARP faction. This work particularly well with a leather item, which can be dyed easily with a different hue, turning a typically brown pouch into a beautiful colored accessory.

  Group symbols and heraldry can also be added on a standard item, may it be engraved, painted, embroidered, or printed using one of the many tools we have at our disposal in the workshop. A noble lion emblem can thus find a place in the front of a knight's breastplate, or an occult symbol of your creation be engraved on your wizard's spellbook.

• ✦ Patina and Finish

  

  Another way to modify an existing product is to give it a little something extra. By spending more time adding details and finish to a standard piece, it will give it a unique look that will highlight a character's set.

  A good example of that is to engrave or stamp the leather of a normally plain product to add patterns and textures. Those can be refined and intricate, to give a more luxurious appearance, or on the contrary be used to give the item a rugged, used, and scrappier look.

  With clothing, stains and holes can be added for that same worn out aesthetic, while a plain garment can also be enhanced by doing some simple embroideries or sewing a decorative border to the sleeves and collar.

   

We hope this blog helped you understand better the options and the process of custom creations! Making unique costumes and accessories is one of the most creative part of our work as craftpeople.

At Les Artisans d'Azure, we love to hear your ideas and projects, and feel privileged to be entrusted with materializing your vision.