Suit Of Armour - In Stages

[spacedog]

I've been working on this for a couple months. It's my first attempt.

[MonicaJacobson]

Quite cool. I've always been intimidated by the idea of making something that's actually supposed to fit somebody.

[billybopp]

Looks good, and very very cool!

Bill

[Squirrelly66]

That's pretty cool and very well designed.

Squirrel

[spacedog]

Thanks for the replies. I will admit to being new to leather work and don't really know what I'm doing.

The buckles should have ended up on the back piece, not the front, but oh well. The back piece was

originally the same size as the front, and when I put the whole thing on it fit like a barrel, so I chopped it up and stitched and riveted it back together. All part of learning on the fly.

Here is a collection on the gauntlets I made. I found a pattern on the armour archive site for metal gauntlets. As you can see in the photos, I did use some smaller pieces of tin just for the appearance. I couldn't figure out how to make decent barbs out of leather bits. I just riveted everything right onto a leather work glove.

Edited May 7, 2015 by spacedog

[spacedog]

Well, I have to admit I'm not entirely happy with the final outcome of the helmet. It was really difficult to make the overall shape right. Numerous times I had to back track and drill out rivets and in the end I still cut it apart and sewed it back together.

I wanted it to look worn and damaged, like it had seen lots of use, but I was too heavy handed. It looked better when it was black, so I might repaint it. The mouth guard worked out okay with big teeth.

Again, it's my first attempt, but let me know what you think.

[spacedog]

I've started a pair of vambrace pieces. The pattern is from the armoury archive.

Trying to weather the pieces so they don't appear brand new was interesting.

I'm still working on the right arm and haven't figured out where I'll be attaching

the sergant badges.

[spacedog]

I've been working on some pauldrons, but they don't fit the way I hoped. So here are the greaves I made instead. I've left the back of the leg open so I don't get over heated. It's not historically accurate, but I'm just making this up as I go. The design is based off of one I saw on a Novitas thread. I haven't done a lot of stamping on this armour, but did put some on the knee.

[jkoelker]

Wow, these look incredible! I'm just coming into this hobby/craft from zero, but this inspires me more. I'm keen to make a torso piece and/or some pauldrons, but I'm having a tough time finding where to start. This site has a lot of good info, but will take time to sift through.

I'm curious, as you are also somewhat newer to leathercrafting, could you advise on maybe where you were able to find appropriate sheets of leather and how much the raw materials were? I'm trying to gauge a starting dollar amount required to get into this, and see if it's feasible.

Thanks again for sharing!

[spacedog]

Thanks! I buy leather at the tandy leather factory in town. I'm sure the more experienced people on this site would be able to say if there are cheaper places to buy, but this is the only place in the town I live in. The big sheets can be pricy depending on a lot of different factors:size, thickness, blemishes, etc. I try to buy the lower grade pieces when they go on sale for half price. The armour I'm making is supposed to look worn and damaged so holes and marks (and mistakes) don't really matter too much. If you go down to a store like tandy they have starting hobby kits of different levels. They were more than happy to help me out when I first started. I've spent a couple hundred bucks on leather and basic tools. The pieces I started with weren't quite big enough to make a torso/breast plate. I took a large t-shirt and made a pattern using smaller pieces of leather in layers.

Anyways, it's been lots of fun, except for all the sewing. I think if I start another suit of armour it will be rivets instead of sewing. It does take time and space and tends to annoy my wife and kids, but as long as I make them stuff it's all good.