Plastic armor that isn't...

[Please Delete]

So, my goal is to see if I can take a plastic barrel and make an armor that is not obviously plastic. While I've considered kebiki-odoshi and doing an o-yoroi or similar, I'm really feeling like I should try a simple nunozutsumi haramaki do--cover the entire thing with fabric (I figure 2 layers of canvas + 1~2 layers of silk should suffice), except for the kanagu mawari, which can be covered with printed leather. I'm still deciding whether or not I need to use metal for any of the plates--I want to try not to, just because I want to see what can be done with the plastic.

My main question to the armourers out there: Where are you going to get your metal bits? I figure that will be the most costly part of all of this, but it may also be the bits that make everything else feel right. I know this also takes me out, somewhat, of the area of "cheap plastic armor", but I still think it may be worth it for the experiment. After all, if that is all that is missing, I don't think too many would mind.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I spent most of today trying to get the pieces flatter--they've been curled up far too long. I'm also debating how to get the proper, boxy shape of the haramaki I've seen (very flat front, back, and sides), and if I need to worry about it for a tsutumi-do. Again, any comments on that would be appreciated. I'm going to keep going through the pictures I have for a bit to try to make sure I understand the form before I do any cutting.


-Ii

[AJBryant]

I thought about that problem, and short of hitting them with a heat gun and "reforming" them slightly, the only thing that I think would work is backing them with a 1" by however-long shiki of something like 16gg steel to encourage them into a slightly less deep curve.

[Please Delete]

So I took an iron to them... a heat gun will likely work better. I am also pressing them under a crate of books

-Ii

PS: I sent you an e-mail on the topic as well, with some more specific questions--let me know if you got it.

[tengumoon]

Having made my own armour out of a plastic barrel...
I used a heat gun and used the natural curve of the barrel to my advantage... dont try to fight it!
I used the heat gun to warm up the plastic (dont melt it!) and then holding it in the curve I want (more or less) I then ran cold water over it to set it in place.

I then found spray paint that was specifically used to prep plastic to hold onto normal paints

I have a thread in the armour section about my process...

[Please Delete]

Thanks.

Not so worried about the paint... this will *all* be covered, one way or another.

-Ii

[Please Delete]

Hmmm... okay, marked up a posterboard copy and ran into a snag. Looks like they might not be long enough. Because of the source, they were already cut in half, which would work for a maekake, but not necessarily a haramaki. I'm debating what to do, but I have two thoughts:

1) Make each lame of two unequal pieces, and put them together with the offsets on either side, with a cording "staple" between them, and then lashed to the plates above and below--that should keep them rigid to each other, and since I'm covering this all with leather or fabric, the gap wouldn't show.

2) Alternatively, given how boxy most haramaki are, make it a lamed go-mai or san-mai haramaki. My worry is that this would end up with *too* boxy an appearance.

3) Split the difference: Make some pieces "5" and others "3". This would break it up, probably use up the barrel more effectively, and yet preserve the overall look and feel that I'm going for.

Advice is appreciated. I think I can make this work....

-Ii

[AJBryant]

If I were making a haramaki version of a tsuzumi-dô, I'd probably go with a "sakura-dô" pattern, with the "break" under the sides. I'd think mixing five- and three-plate patterns might give the thing some unusual "textural" appearance.

[Please Delete]

So I just caught a glimpse at a detail of a kurokawa-odoshi haramaki of the 14th century that appears to be either "go-mai-do", or at least that the front lames are separate from the lames on the side, because, drawing a line straight down from the tateage, there appear to be leather "staples" between the lame of scales in the front and the scales on the side. It strikes me that this could be part of the reconstruction of the piece. FYI, it is #86 in 「日本甲冑」 from 京都国立博物館, (1989). I'm having some doubts, but I think it may offer an option... lots of staples are required, however.

Thoughts?


-Ii

[AJBryant]

I can't seem to find that one. Is it large, small, hard back, paper? (I need better organization in my shelves.)

[Please Delete]

Large hard back.

[Lash]

i love the look of the fabric kusazari obi on this might help give you some ideas.
toraba.thirdsectd-1.titaninternet.co.uk/detail.asp?c_urn=724&show=&urn=12447&pg=1

for straightening curls in plastic i heat the inside of the curl and run water on the opposite side it pulls it straight with a little experimentation.

[Please Delete]

Thanks. The ones I've seen have mostly been plain fabric--that is a bit more gaudy then I'm looking for. Also, the spacing feels odd: The older ones I've seen have overlapping fabric or leather sections to keep the kusazuri as full as they need to be.

-Ii

[Lash]

like the full look also . i have been toying with a way to attach /sew material to sticky felt then put that on kusazuri . i have sticky felt on the back sides to test how long it will stay and to also quiet them down on the field as everyone was use to my zulu war clacking from my old plasti suit hahahha. they have stayed on surprisingly well.