Charlotte Varcoe
YEARS of practice and a love for traditional blacksmithing lead Clare Valley’s Thomas Cook securing best costume at this year’s Fantasy Medieval Fair.
On Sunday, Mr Cook entered the competition donning his outfit, most of which was made by his own two hands.
He said he had been coming to the fair since its beginning and enjoyed seeing the medieval trades including blacksmithing.
“I am a blacksmith by trade and I like coming and seeing all the medieval stuff,” Mr Cook said.
“I made the entire outfit except for the linen clothing, I even made the shoes.”
He said he had stitched the shoes together over a few afternoons and made the armour in his own workshop.
“I do commissions already so I had most of the tools,” Mr Cook said.
“I use either carbon steel or a mild steel for most of the stuff I make and use raising tools which is basically a big ball and I hit the metal over that to make the shapes.”
He said he had been building costumes as a cosplayer for about five years but had only been forging for about three.
“I was really into knife making before that and I decided why not start making armour instead of trying to buy it and using all that money,” Mr Cook said.
“I start off with a design and then I take measurements and templates out and cut the metal with an angle grinder before forging it.”
Speaking on the fair, Mr Cook said he thought it was a great weekend and tied in well with other similar events across the state.
“I think Mount Gambier is such a good location and the weather is a lot nicer, it is a lot cooler so you can dress heavier and not die of heatstroke,” he said.
Other winners on the weekend included siblings Zeke and Elora who won the children’s competition over the weekend, and Adam Prider who won the adult’s section on the Saturday.
The winners of the group competitions over the weekend were Diversity Hires and the Medieval Scooby-Doo Gang.
