Belts

"The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can't do. " ~ Jack Sparrow

Jack's costume has had 3 belts in total and 4 buckles between the 4 films. Costumers and retailers refer to these various accessories either depending on their film debut or their buckle. While some disagree on the "name" of each belt, most agree on the following descriptions:

Belts

  1. Sun Belt - Worn on top, this belt is the darker of the two and has the smaller square buckle. The belt is a dark smooth leather that is 1 1/2" thick with a brass 2 7/8 x 3 7/8 buckle. The buckle is seen to be in various stages of green patina throughout the later movies.

  2. Anamaria Belt - In the later movies, Jack would acquire a second belt, and it has been since dubbed the Anamaria belt since it is the buckle her character wore in COTBP. Legend has it that Depp liked the bigger buckle and since it didn't fit his first belt from COTBP, this "second belt" was made. This belt is lighter in color and has a "patch" of belt in the back (presumed to make it longer). This belt is also 2 1/8" thick and has a stitched edge on top and bottom and a "five hole" pattern hole punch on the left side. This belt has a brass buckle that is 3 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches. The On Stranger Tides (OST) Anamaria Belt looks almost identical to this one, only costume designers added a second layer to the buckle's design.

  3. COTBP "Flower" Belt - Jack's original belt, but only seen and worn in Curse of the Black Pearl . This belt appears to be a thinner, dirtier version of Jack's Sun Belt buckle, but the tongue of the belt is much longer and falls way below where his more recent belts stop.

Fabrication

Dressing Tips

Commandeering Belts / Buckles

 

Belts Tutorial

Tutorial by Mojo from brethrencourt.net

Anamaria Belt

In looking for a decent and affordable Anamaria belt, and I have decided to make my own. Thanks to Donnie Jaye I have the empire buckle so I might as well fabricate the rest. I would highly recommend you do your own research before making a belt for yourself, and not just use my tutorial as your only source of information.

Purchasing: I went to Tandy Leather. and I bought a 72" long by 2" wide belt blank. A vegetable-tanned leather blank is very common as it can be easily tooled and dyed. I would recommend you get one with a finished end, ready for a buckle, but there was not one available for me in the size that I needed.

Jack's belt is roughly around 50-55" long, and in fabricating it yourself you need the extra length for the free end and the extra material you are going to need at the opposite end to fold it over the buckle and secure it. Before you get too far you also need to decide how you will attach the buckle, you can use screws, or snaps [that way, you can always remove the buckle later] or you can have it stitched or use rivets.

I had brought a picture of Jack's belt with me to the store, so I had a good reference to pick out the leather dye. I chose Range Tan. I also purchased a water based finish "satin shene" to help lock in the color. The whole purchase was about $40.

The first stage was just some prep work on the leather so that it became softer and more malleable.

  • I laid the belt on flattened cardboard in the garage, suede side up, and struck it with a hammer.

  • I soaked the belt in the sink and then coiled it as tight as I could and left it to dry.

  • I soaked the belt again and then twisted and "skrunched" up the belt as much as I could.

  • I measured out 2 1/4 inches from the end and folded it over for the buckle and then hammered it flat while it was well.

Before I continued I knew I had to go back to Tandy Leather and buy some tools.

For about $30 I got a belt punch for the tongue of the buckle, a mini punch set to make holes for the Chicago screws and the Chicago screws [I picked gun metal black over silver and gold]. I then proceeded to punch the end of the belt. You want to measure your fold first and then determine the center of the belt before you punch. To protect your tools when you strike the punch - it's best to do the manufacturing over a wood surface.

I measured two inches down for the folded part and then found the center of the belt and punched it with a mallet. I then wet the end and covered the folded piece with a protective fabric and clamped it to dry with a bull dog clip and hung it out in the sun.

Now I was ready to punch the holes for the securing screws. When you do this, make sure the belt is folded and you are striking from the face of the belt. That way the screws will set easily.

The next step is to trace out the belt. My CB belt is about 54" and I heard an ACME belt is 58" so I am going for a happy medium by making my belt 57". The free end I cut by tracing an old belt and then cutting it free with an Xacto knife. You can buy a punch for the free end, but they were $40 at Tandy, so I think I did a good enough job without it.

Stitching - now there are tools out there to do your own stitching.... but I am a member of the "good, fast, cheap" club and that means I wanted it "good and fast" so I had someone else do it. I went to a cobbler [a shoe repairman] and told him what I needed. He stitched the whole belt for me for $12 which brings my total to $88 [including a free belt buckle] I should thank Donnie Jay again.... THANK YOU DONNIE! So much easier than casting one yourself!

The stitching looks really dark now, but will look much different after I apply the stain. But the next step is....

 

Measuring: So here is what I did...I put the costume on and then put the buckle on backwards so that I wore the belt "flipped over" or inside out as it were. Then I had a second person look at the reference photos and adjust my costume using their eyes. It was actually quite revealing as all this time I have been wearing my belts down where I am used to wearing a belt, but if you look at Jack - especially pics from his backside, he actually wears the sash and belts ABOVE his belt line, almost resting on his stomach. I then had my spotter adjust my belt length just to make sure the free end hung low enough and then I turned around and had my spotter mark off with drawn lines where the break in the belt was. We concluded that the belt break [on a 57 and 1/4" belt] starts at 23" from the buckle end and is approximately 2 5/8" long]

 

I then took off the whole belt, put the buckle on the right way and then retied it where I would wear it [off my body] and then held it up against a few reference shots and I put pencil dots where the other holes around the buckle were. Then I layed it out flat on some wood and struck the remaining holes and this is the result.

Softening: My leather belt blank was incredibly thick. My everyday belts are made from a much thinner leather and I don't know if I wasn't paying attention when I bought it or if this is my only option when buying a belt this long... but if you are using a stiff blank, you want to soften the leather up. So you have a few options. You can use a leather softener. The girl at Tandy leather told me you can even use olive oil. You can also use shaving cream, petroleum jelly, saddle soap or a leather softener made for baseball gloves. I used petroleum jelly [because it's what I had lying around the house] and rubbed it all over the backside and worked it in. Experts suggest that you be very conservative in your use of creams or jellies; more is certainly not better in the case of softening leather. The best method by far is simply using the belt. The more wear and play time your belt has seen, the better it will form.

 

Staining: I only had to do one coat of the stain to get it to the right color. Just put it on a sponge and work it on in smooth circles and let it dry. After the stain, I flipped it over to the back and found my "cut marks" for the belt add-on and I ran a small bead of super glue over the stitching, so that when I cut the belt, the stitching would not unravel over time. [I probebly didn't have to do it, but better safe than sorry]. Using an X-acto knife I cut the piece out of the belt and sanded the edges. Then, I went back to the extra piece of leather I had previously cut off the end and measured and cut out 2 and 3/4 inches and sanded the edges. With this smaller insert piece I ended up dying it with 3 coats and I ran the brush in the opposite direction to make it appear like a different belt. I also didn't treat this portion with any softener.

Adding the belt insert: I then punched 4 more holes in the corners of the add-on as well as 2 holes on each side of the severed belt. I used the same size punch as what I used to punch the smaller holes. Then cutting an 18 1/2 inch piece of leather lacing, I wet it down and threaded the add-on in place.

I decided to use one long lace instead of four small loops, first of all for over all belt strength, second so the belt would pull with the same gauge throughout and third so I didn't have 4 tiny knots digging into my back. Later I dropped a glob of barge glue around each of the 8 holes [from the backside] and on the leather knot and then allowed it all to dry overnight.

 

To finish: I put on two coats of the satin shene and allowed it to dry.

 

Sun Belt

After comparing every other Sun buckle sold on the market - nothing even comes close to an ACME made buckle.

So it was back to Tandy Leather to find a belt blank. I had originally planned to buy the same blank I bought before and then some walnut colored stain. But to my surprise, Tandy already had blanks for sale in the exact stain that I already wanted. They were $5 more, but easily the cost of the stain and my time - so that was a no brainer.

Getting the blank home it was back to softening the leather.

  • wetting it and letting it dry

  • rolling it

  • tying it in various coils and loops and running it in a hot dryer

  • applying petroleum jelly in it

  • and rolling it and twisting it in my hands.

Right away I noticed that the opening on this buckle is obviously so much smaller than the Anamaria belt. This buckle fits a 2" belt perfectly.The other thing is a belt blank is usually a thick piece of rawhide, so once you start doubling it over to wrap around the buckle post, you will notice how much space it begins to take up. I have a thin store bought leather belt and when I put the ACME on it - I noticed right away how much better a thinner piece of leather would work.

So for the 2" of leather that wraps around the buckle post, I sanded the backside down with a belt sander to make the thickness - less thick. (this really didn't help much).

I also tested the buckle with the tongue of the belt looped through the buckle just as it would look if I were wearing it.This put so much leather inside that little space that the post would no longer lie flat against the buckle. So it was back to the thinking cap....

This is what I ended up doing.

The "wet" looking edge of the leather in the picture above is super glue. To decrease the space being filled, I dropped beads of super glue down the opening and then clamped the leather with pliers. As always with super glue just be careful you don't get it on the good side of the leather or the buckle.

The rest of the belt making process went the same as outlined above. Checking reference photos I only noticed 2 holes in this belt, so that's all I put in. The one for the actual post and the second one next to it seen in the buckle's window.

I then wet the belt on more time and looped it the way Jack would wear it and left it to sit.

and this is what they both look like with the rest of my costume....

 

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