I made this armor, to use in my sparring group, or in SCA fighter practice and
events. It took me over 100 hours of labor (not counting the time spent redoing
mistakes), and is my current pride and joy. I just wanted to see what people
thought of it.
I posted this on another forum of mine: http://forum.minitokyo.net/showthread/12488/
But I thought I,d make a forum post, just for it.
See, apart from being an artist, my other great passion is armor craft, and
weapons sparring. If your interested in talking about your own sparring
experience, please, visit the link I posted above, I'd be glad to talk! There
are lots of people that have posted some interesting stuff about thier own
experiences, join in, by all means! Or if you want to ask me anything about my
armor, or if you have any armor pics from your own arsensal,(if you have one)
just post here, I'd be much ablidged to answer any questions, or to see your own
battle gear!
If you want a guide, Here: http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/katchu/
This is a great site for finding out how to make and understand japanese armor.
It is an online guide. Of course, when I made my armor, I didn't have internet,
and I lived in a grainery in wisconsin. I referanced my armor from the movie,
" The last samurai". Remember Tom Cruise's red armor, that he wore in
the last battle? well, I saw the movie, and decided that I had to have that
armor, so I endevored to make it. I just watched the movie, freezed the frames
with close ups of the armor, and made extensive notes and plans. I even counted
the laces and rows, to make sure everything was exact.
I then researched a very large book I have, that is called, "A glossery of
the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor" By George Cameron
Stone. This book is a massive encyclopedia of all weapons ever used up to the
2nd world war. Of course, some places are more fleshed out than others, and it
seems that the author had a large interest in japanese weapon and armor craft.
This was a great help.
The materials I used for it are black plastic berrels, nylon cord (white), steel
pop rivits, and sheet steel, for the buckles and decorative marks, here and
there.
What's that? Plastic, you say? Well, did you know, that ABS plastic and laquered
leather look identical? And the plastic is very tuff, and much more shock
absorbant than leather, or even steel. If we were using real swords, then I'd be
in trouble, but since we just use sticks, it is optimum.
I spent alot of time rounding off the edges, and smoothing out the cuts,
drilling holes and rounding them out as well. I even fashioned my own buckles,
out of steel.The most time consuming part was all the lacing! Hours and hours of
lacing... The only thing that I'd like to do with it now is rim the edges in
steel, though I don't know how to do this, yet.
I am so proud of it, that I have built a stand and set it up in my room, next to
my bed. Heh, some people think it's creapy, but it's my second skin, so it don't
bother me! Besides, it fits with all the weapons I have covering the walls!
I made this armor, to use in my sparring group, or in SCA fighter practice and events. It took me over 100 hours of labor (not counting the time spent redoing mistakes), and is my current pride and joy. I just wanted to see what people thought of it.
I posted this on another forum of mine: http://forum.minitokyo.net/showthread/12488/
But I thought I,d make a forum post, just for it.
See, apart from being an artist, my other great passion is armor craft, and weapons sparring. If your interested in talking about your own sparring experience, please, visit the link I posted above, I'd be glad to talk! There are lots of people that have posted some interesting stuff about thier own experiences, join in, by all means! Or if you want to ask me anything about my armor, or if you have any armor pics from your own arsensal,(if you have one) just post here, I'd be much ablidged to answer any questions, or to see your own battle gear!
i'm curious to know what you made it out of and where you got the supplies ^_^
If you want a guide, Here: http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/katchu/
This is a great site for finding out how to make and understand japanese armor. It is an online guide. Of course, when I made my armor, I didn't have internet, and I lived in a grainery in wisconsin. I referanced my armor from the movie, " The last samurai". Remember Tom Cruise's red armor, that he wore in the last battle? well, I saw the movie, and decided that I had to have that armor, so I endevored to make it. I just watched the movie, freezed the frames with close ups of the armor, and made extensive notes and plans. I even counted the laces and rows, to make sure everything was exact.
I then researched a very large book I have, that is called, "A glossery of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor" By George Cameron Stone. This book is a massive encyclopedia of all weapons ever used up to the 2nd world war. Of course, some places are more fleshed out than others, and it seems that the author had a large interest in japanese weapon and armor craft. This was a great help.
The materials I used for it are black plastic berrels, nylon cord (white), steel pop rivits, and sheet steel, for the buckles and decorative marks, here and there.
What's that? Plastic, you say? Well, did you know, that ABS plastic and laquered leather look identical? And the plastic is very tuff, and much more shock absorbant than leather, or even steel. If we were using real swords, then I'd be in trouble, but since we just use sticks, it is optimum.
I spent alot of time rounding off the edges, and smoothing out the cuts, drilling holes and rounding them out as well. I even fashioned my own buckles, out of steel.The most time consuming part was all the lacing! Hours and hours of lacing... The only thing that I'd like to do with it now is rim the edges in steel, though I don't know how to do this, yet.
I am so proud of it, that I have built a stand and set it up in my room, next to my bed. Heh, some people think it's creapy, but it's my second skin, so it don't bother me! Besides, it fits with all the weapons I have covering the walls!