Article by Adam Horton – Adapted from Facebook post. Used with permission.

Facebook posts can be hard to find and access, so Adam let us host his quick tutorial here.

I’ve been making sails for Blood & Plunder ships for a couple years now as SteamKraken Studio, and while I once posted all about my process – I can’t find it anymore!

I’ve tried lots of ideas, from stitching to wire supports to foam and paper. My best results have been fabric mache: layering a couple sheets of natural cotton over a form (duct or pvc pipe) with a couple applications of white glue. This results in stiffened, accurately colored and reasonably scaled sailcloth with some ripple texture and a permanent curve that doesn’t require any tension.

A brown pen for lines, a bit of medium brown airbrushing, and a 1/16″ hole punch complete the look and make them durable and very easy to rig with a few loops of the usual elastic and drops of super glue.

It’s a slow process, and a bit fussy, but I’m very happy with the results.