jon
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Post by jon on Oct 4, 2013 15:00:07 GMT -5
How did you scale the lames to your body? Im having troubles with this...
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Mega Zenjirou Yoshi
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The Scadian formerly known as Lord Drogo Bryce of Middlefordshire
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Post by Mega Zenjirou Yoshi on Oct 4, 2013 18:32:13 GMT -5
How did you scale the lames to your body? Im having troubles with this... Nope, I fell within the sizes for Effingham sensei's pattern, so I used it as is. I added some length the watagami, after some testing with poster board patterns.
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Mega Zenjirou Yoshi
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The Scadian formerly known as Lord Drogo Bryce of Middlefordshire
Posts: 175
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Post by Mega Zenjirou Yoshi on Oct 15, 2013 23:53:23 GMT -5
So my kote are almost done. In fact one is done. There is a major break from period practice here. I could not figure out a satisfactory way to stitch down the lacing loops that I felt would stand up to long term SCA use. So I made my loops out of nylon webbing. Doesn't look as nice, but hopefully it will be more durable. Less glaringly modern, I made a pocket for sliding a zoombang pad into the upper arm. At some point in the future, once my kikko manchira is done, this will give me a little more confidence for times when I forgo the sode. With my kabuto now in my greedy paws, most of my thinking has been about shikoro and how to best color it, but that is a post for another time.
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Mega Zenjirou Yoshi
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The Scadian formerly known as Lord Drogo Bryce of Middlefordshire
Posts: 175
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Post by Mega Zenjirou Yoshi on Oct 19, 2013 22:59:35 GMT -5
Well, haven't spent the one evening it would take to finish up the kote, as I have been too distracted by lovely new kabuto. Will be cutting out my second shikoro mockup soon, and will probably post that for feedback before cutting plastic. Really leaning toward painting the kabuto, due to expense and user friendliness of repair. But before I dive in, I've decided to do a test run on my gauntlets. Same material, blackened mild steel, already assembled,so powder coating them would really be expensive and/or labor intensive. So gauntlets = paint bomb guinea pigs. This is one of the subjects before: Jackie at Shamrock made these for me a couple of years ago, as stealth gaunts for a crusader kit. I'd originally planned to engineer a way to cover them with mail for that kit, but never got that far. They are good mitts, and hopefully better than standard clamshells for making tekko-ish. So I masked them up, did some basic surface prep ( rubbing alcohol, steel wool, rubbing alcohol) and hit them with three light coats of rustoleum primer, waited five minutes or so and three light coats of flat white rustoleum. Those coats were allowed to cure for three days rather than the recommended two. I also hit them with a heat gun for about five to ten minutes per gaunt, a couple times a day. So yeah, you could say my painting technique is half-baked. There was a great deal of internal debate on what to use to get the color on. Artist's alkyd paint seemed like a natural choice, as Rustoleum is alkyd based. In the end, I used Montana gold brand spray paint in a rust color. It performed quite well, except the color was a tad pinkish. Rather than being the color of Calontiri mud, it was the color of white undergarments after swimming in a Calontiri lake. Luckily the Montana dried quickly with no negative interaction with previous layers, (they claim it is an Acrylic enamel or some such). So in the end I brushed over it with some fluid artist grade acrylic paint, with a touch of GAC 200. Let that dry overnight, some heat gun reassurance and then four coats of rustoleum clear coat. Again that went on well, with no adverse reactions. Let it sit for a few hours, with some more hits with the heat gun, and then I removed the masking to take some photos. Oh yeah, while the artists paints were out, I threw a mon on them and tried to create some faux definition so that it appears to be four plates, rather than three. I plan on covering the cuff with the foundation fabric used everywhere else in the armor. I think the other plates I'll just leave as is, and hope they pickup the same magic aura which makes black bar grills disappear. I considered covering those plates with the foundation fabric as well, but think that would be a nightmare for maintenance and would probably affect functionality. Anyway, will continue to let the slow curing take place with these ( maybe hitting them the heat gun occasionally) for a couple weeks, and then put them to the test at fighter practice. We'll see if I can be patient enough to wait to do the kabuto, until that test.
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Mega Zenjirou Yoshi
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The Scadian formerly known as Lord Drogo Bryce of Middlefordshire
Posts: 175
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Post by Mega Zenjirou Yoshi on Dec 16, 2013 23:27:16 GMT -5
Progress to date on the kabuto. Really just needs to be clear coated, strapped and padded at this point, but the weather has turned. Just need one above 40 degree day... Grrr... and Brrr... Shikoro was a bit of challenge. Took four poster board trial runs before I got close to the shape I wanted. Of course, half way through I realized that the bottom lame wasn't tall enough to replicate the hishinui on the rest of my dangly bits. Hope to rectify this before Pennsic, but for now pushing for completing the kit. Anybody have any tips about attaching/stitching the leather panel to the suneate? I don't know why, but I am very intimidated by this step, not to mention stitching the egawa to my haidate. I guess I just need to dive in. Our sewing machine is older than me, and all steel. I think it will handle the leather if I go slow. So that's what I've been up to, when I can steal some free moments. Other bits yet to be done: Still have about 50 iyo zane for my haidate to edge with a propane torch, and then assemble the haidate. Thinking about using the kikko I recently procured from Yagyu-dono. Trial run will be on the three part tateage for the suneate. Also researching and brainstorming some type of manchira, tate eri kohire piece. wondering if I can make a list legal gorget by tweaking a kikko tate-eri... Does anyone have advice or comments on running the lace through the holes of the kikko? I've seen examples where the lace is not visible, just the hexagonal outline. Is that Edo-weirdness? An ashigaru short-cut which would be seen as glaringly low-class? My concern is that I will mangle and make a hopeless mess of things trying to do this, though I think the exposed lacing is way sexier. Also, should a manchira, or similar piece match the rest of the foundation fabric? Could it instead match the complimentary fabric used on the suneate tateage?
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Mega Zenjirou Yoshi
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The Scadian formerly known as Lord Drogo Bryce of Middlefordshire
Posts: 175
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Post by Mega Zenjirou Yoshi on Feb 14, 2014 13:59:31 GMT -5
So the suneate are finished, except for the ties. Trying to decide if I just want to use the teal odoshi used in the do, or something else. Oh and I am concerned that the Tateage will become floppy over time, so I'm thinking of hooking the panels together with a hidden stitch of artificial sinew. One of the pieces I'm proudest of so far is the tate eri below. Hacked together a pattern based on looking at period examples. For padding used a gamboised coif experiment from my old crusader kit (linen and bamboo batting). Also hid some zoom bang pads in it, and a piece of barrel that is unusable for anything else over the gap between gorget and do on my spine. Because, you know, spine... Kikko kohire and collar thanks to RoninPenguin. I put some pieces of mousepad between the kikko and back lining on the kohire, just as a precaution. The collar won't need any such padding as it will be hiding a one piece waxed leather gorget. I'm going to connect the bottom two lames of a nodowa to the front of the gorget with egawa. This way the entire gorget should be hidden by the collar and faux-nodowa. Still have to figure if I'm going to attach this with small stitches through the watagami, or some other method. Currently on my table (actually floor, I don't just photograph projects on the floor, I do most of my construction there as well) is the haidate. Almost ready to stitch together, just figuring out if I want to attempt faux-fusegami and shobugawa on the kobire. Now if I could just catch a warm day to clear coat my kabuto...
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Zed
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Post by Zed on Mar 7, 2014 14:39:14 GMT -5
Eagerly awaiting a full kit photo
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Mega Zenjirou Yoshi
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The Scadian formerly known as Lord Drogo Bryce of Middlefordshire
Posts: 175
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Post by Mega Zenjirou Yoshi on Mar 10, 2014 19:24:49 GMT -5
Pretty much done. Still need to add buttons to haidate straps, finish my faux nodowa, and come up with footware.
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Saionji Shonagon
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One dreamed of becoming somebody. Another remained awake and became. (Found in a fortune cookie.)
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Mar 10, 2014 23:59:50 GMT -5
I'll defer to those with more knowledge about armor for the nitpickery bits, but that looks fantastic!
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Post by Ishida Kentarou Mitsumasa on Mar 11, 2014 3:31:13 GMT -5
Hot damn, that looks good. Nitpick that you are probably already aware of: I usually see stuffed round uwa-obi as opposed to brown karate belts. I have seen museum displays of uwa-obi made of both super showy fabric and flat colors. I would guess that you want something around an inch in diameter, but I haven't measured. I'm recalling that it wants to be long enough to go around your waist three times and then tie. With how good the rest of the kit looks, you might as well get that too.
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Mega Zenjirou Yoshi
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The Scadian formerly known as Lord Drogo Bryce of Middlefordshire
Posts: 175
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Post by Mega Zenjirou Yoshi on Mar 11, 2014 6:13:53 GMT -5
Recently ordered some orange linen, about the same shade as the outlines off the kikko. Was planing on using it for a kosode, but had the foresight to order extra, an obi for the dô, being one of the reasons. Will have to look into uwa-obi. Domo-arigato, Ishida-dono.
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Post by Please Delete on Mar 11, 2014 6:25:51 GMT -5
I don't know that the historical ones were stuffed. I think that is mostly for display, and you just want it longer so it goes completely around. Take a look at as many images of people wearing it as possible before making a decision.
Ii
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