Dashing towards Halloween

As previously mentioned, the current goal is complete the prototype segmentata (horrible warts and all) in time to wear it for halloween.  While I won't concern myself with the mishmash of styles (hinges, shoulder lames, fasteners) present in this prototype, I have enough pride to continue attempting to use historically accurate (or at least plausible) methods and materials.


To meet my schedule, the primary task for the moment  is replacing the temporary bolts with rivets, and leathering up the torso bands.

This means making a lot of my own copper rivets from 10-gauge wire, which is a slightly obnoxious process but worth it for the end results.


On the bright side, it looks like I did not forget how to make a reasonably pretty (and round) peened head during the last five years.

Historically constructed, but 'Fantasy' shape.  Note the poor chisel cutting.  The black marks are from annealing the brass - I'll attempt to clean this up later once things are all assembled.

Carlisle Hinge.  Very pretty, although a little bit smaller than historical examples.  If I ever make a 'good' version of my armour, I will definitely use this styling.










Leathering the torso bands will be the next big job.  I'm not certain I shared pictures of these back in 2011, but I actually finished quite a few of these, complete with decorative plates.

Abandoned gauntlet

This has been sitting in a plastic bag untouched since sometime in 2012.  I don't remember exactly what sources I was working from for this piece so I will just call it "wisby inspired" even though it may have been based on more ambitious articulated gauntlets.

Similar to the segmentata prototype, this is made from cold-rolled sheet metal which is too thin to have any meaningful value as armour - perhaps 22 gauge.  As with the other prototype, the goal was to gain experience with the processes of metal shaping & articulation, and maybe end up with a passable costume piece.

I fiddled around with the bits for a while and it looks like another section of lames is required to cover the fingertips, so this isn't as complete as it appears at first.

The more I look at google image search for "wisby gauntlets" the more I think I was working from some other pattern.  Perhaps I'll rediscover it some day if I ever look to finish these.

You can see I spent a lot of time trying to shape the knuckle plate and first lame.  The hammer marks on the belled knuckles are pleasing to look at, but I wonder if everything is on too large a scale to really fit well once riveted onto a gauntlet.





















Here you can see the rolled edge on the back of the knuckle plate, intended to prevent it from cutting the leather when the hand is opened.  A lame to cover the thumb joint (where it attaches to the hand) is also missing.

Good grief, it's been a while...

Well, I moved to Calgary back in 2012.

While I was there I did some work on a wisby-inspired gauntlet in working conditions which were, quite frankly, even worse than my previous apartment.

A few years later I moved back to Ottawa, and a year after that I bought a house.

After about 5 years since I last touched it, I am finally looking at my 'prototype' lorica segmentata again.  This time, the idea is to see if I can get it into a 'wearable' state in time for Halloween.  That means skipping a lot of cleanup steps for now, and focusing on getting things assembled first.

Looking back on some of the source material I used as my guide back in 2011, I am reminded of why I decided to docu-blog the whole process:  There is a lot of information and advice out there, but not nearly enough pictures nor "look at this silly mistake I made".  I am sure that rushing to complete my proto-segmentata will yield some of both, and I will endeavour to capture them again for whoever might be interested.

I can't say for sure that I will ever get around to making the "good copy" that I envisioned in the past, but who knows where another five years might take me.  :)

No promises, folks.

-R

Moving to Calgary

Recent plans disrupted by the move to Calgary.


Had to pack up several planned projects and stash them away - might be a year before I get to them again.

Not dead yet

Progress has been almost non-existent lately, due to a number of reasons.  I finished up some more girdle bands, and plan to get everything assembled sometime soon-ish.

Aside from overtime at work, a wedding, a variety of medical appointments, and several other factors, there is one issue in particular which has been slowing down the armouring work.  Looking back on all the work done so far, I find it amazing that I got this far at all.  But the one thing which became hard to ignore was that most of the work I accomplished did not happen at my apartment, for the very simple and obvious reason that my apartment just isn't well-suited to the task.  Aside from cutting out a few panels and making hinges, almost all of the work happened at my friend JB's place or up at my cottage.

And while that worked OK for the prototype, making a "good" lorica and finishing it to a level of quality that I would be happy with simply cannot happen in or around an apartment -- I would require several tools which simply can't exist anywhere other than a workshop.  So, it was with some regret that I came to the conclusion that the 'good' lorica would have to wait until I bought a house -- and that admission took some of the fun out of finishing the prototype.

I have been considering making a Wisby gauntlet, or something similar such as this, since they are small enough that working on them in an apartment would be feasible.  However, I haven't really committed to this idea -- indeed, I have begun working on a different hobby altogether.  The new one is vastly more suited to apartment dwelling, and while it may at first seem like a radical departure from armouring, it is ultimately still about wearable creations.

More details (and pictures of the prototype armour) another time.

Cheers,
-R

hoping to update soon

Too much overtime at work.  Last weekend I put together a work table for my balcony - haven't had a chance to use it yet.

I'll be working over the weekend too, but hopefully I can get some girdle strips finished and possibly even assembled.

First efforts in punched decoration

These are pretty sloppy - I am still figuring out the best way to hold my converted screwdriver punches. Being hunched over an anvil on the floor didn't help, either - planning to fix that soon.  On the triangle-decorated plates (middle) there's a pretty clear difference between when I was trying to use my nail set holder (below, in yellow) and when I held just the punch itself -- I actually did much better with just my fingers!  Compare the left and right sides of the leftmost triangle plates to see what I mean.

Above, L to R:  Chisel, nail holder, triangle, nail set (circle with dot inside), small diamond, 1/4 circle section, flat diamond (slightly crooked), and (slightly uneven) dome section.

I also found that when doing decoration, it was much easier to use the 8oz ball pein hammer than the club hammer (2-3 lbs I think?).  This is pretty much the opposite of how I felt when chiseling and punching, which seems a bit odd - the amount of force used is not all THAT different... or is it?  It might have just been the difference in my work posture -- I had a much better arrangement at the cottage than I do in my apartment.  Since I also used completely different backings (wet log for punching, anvil for decorating) it's hard for me to say without doing a side-by-side comparison. 



I've also been working on my tunic a little bit -- it might be a bit too long, though.  I'll post a picture once I finish hand-sewing up the last side.  I've been pondering whether I should buy a sewing machine, but it would probably be a few hundred dollars to get a decent one and I'm not certain how much I would use it...  although I do have a number of things lying around which could benefit from a nearby sewing machine.  Hrm...