Making Chainmail

[Mylochka]

I like the design.  It has a Mike Grell "Warlord" sort of look to it.

[Buster's Uncle]

...Now that you mention it.  Huh.  First costume up to issue 8, a little bit.

[Buster's Uncle]

Dethklok's Worst Costume Ever!



-Murderface laughed so hard at Nathan, he got punched out.  Talk to me...

[Buster's Uncle]

There's definitely details in need of being worked out in that design.  The thigh bands would need to be fairly loose, so the wearer could  do naturals movements like squatting, but the lacing would hold it up.  The torso lacing is probably only needed for about half as many attachment points -maybe as little as two- as I drew doing 45 degree angles, and all lacing, save at the throat, ought to be of something kinda stretchy.  Hugging the front and back panels to the torso would only get you killed if you couldn't breathe freely and twist around and so on.  Something like the thin cord in smaller bungees might be the way to go.

The biggest problem I find obvious is that it's one-piece, and no man who could squeeze his shoulders through the hip bands has any business making everyone sick displaying his shriveled physique.  It has to open on one hip and be tied shut at like the throat, ditch the hip armor strips entirely and sew some loincloth lining or something in to hold it tight there and make speedos concealable (no one should ever set foot out of the house in one of the barbarian getups w/o drawers on, or barbarian porno-time) - or maybe just ditch the torso lacing as multiply problematic (not going to actually fight in it, either) and you could probably step into the bottom part sideways through the side gaps higher up if you're thin enough to pull the bottom up over your belly while you get your head through the neck hole.

It's VERY characteristic of chainmail to be a trial to get on and off -my first piece was full hauberk, which I need to get back from the local High School principal now that he's wasted on that instead of teaching history- so if it's doable in five minutes or less, good enough.

-Probably that last torso-lace-less option, and maybe the open/tied hip, too - you'd want to look good, but tough, in the armor, and the torso lacing says stripper at best.  Also, there's not only things that look good on women but strange on men, women are a heck of a lot more used to dealing with something a lot like corset lacing, at least the ones who cosplay.  There's drag queens who wouldn't want to want to bather with the tangle of stretchy shoelaces you'd have to sort anytime you get out the armor made as in the illustration.  Now I have to go back and take out the torso lacing...

I haven't quite worked out what to do about the tie bows, and eliminating the torso side-lacing still leaves two to four ties, (depending on just how the thigh band is attached) - on a man, "this comes off" just doesn't read the same way -male stripper, again- so I think just tuck in out of sight.

I feel absolutely no urge to make this one -I ain't got the body for it- so little chance of working out the bugs in practice.  If anyone tries to make a prototype, though, I'd sure like to hear about it - and see pictures.  (The thigh bands would look awesome on a lady, who has the same problem with the loin flaps moving, so I should add that to the semi-bikini design.)

[Buster's Uncle]

Yeah, this just looks better.



If the model is sufficiently muscular, one line just under the ribcage in front will still be called for.  -- An option I haven't mentioned that should work would be, if the hip assembly fits the wearer, make that one solid piece and open/tie where the back joins the bottom - chainmail is made of endless holes, so lacing is easy and has a lot of options.  This is certainly the easiest option for getting in and out of it, though tying the back would be a girldog without a helper - stepping in from the side and pulling up and down might still be necessary on one's own.  The possibility of some $#@! at a con pulling a tie put in back is something to consider, too.




Thanks to Mylochka, the temptation to pee away several hours replacing the black hair with a winged helmet and adding a white goatee before I posted was terrific.  Them was some fine, good-looking Frank-Frazetta-and-Neal-Adams-had-a-baby, kick-butt comics...

[Dio]

The biggest problem I find obvious is that it's one-piece, and no man who could squeeze his shoulders through the hip bands has any business making everyone sick displaying his shriveled physique.  It has to open on one hip and be tied shut at like the throat, ditch the hip armor strips entirely and sew some loincloth lining or something in to hold it tight there and make speedos concealable (no one should ever set foot out of the house in one of the barbarian getups w/o drawers on, or barbarian porno-time) - or maybe just ditch the torso lacing as multiply problematic (not going to actually fight in it, either) and you could probably step into the bottom part sideways through the side gaps higher up if you're thin enough to pull the bottom up over your belly while you get your head through the neck hole.

I imagine that BUncle has endured his fair share of incidents that involve costumed fools blatantly producing pornographic movies in a corner of festivals.

[Buster's Uncle]

I saw some mind-blowing crap on the road -and kissed a porn star- but surprisingly little of that.

There was a rumor that one fair I was in had rented the grounds to a porno company a few days in the off-season - but if a rennie tells you the sun rose in the east, it's a good idea to check.

[Buster's Uncle]

So I've gotten sidetracked into pictures of old work and into a new design.  All well and good, but it don't armor no dolls or teach much how-to.

I realized that there's not much I can usefully photograph of the rest of the doll prototype making.  The links are too small to photograph well, still photos aren't very good for demonstrating the technique for pinching the links shut -I just use the regular piers to clamp them flat and shut, mostly, picking up the needle noses when the ends don't butt neatly to make fine adjustments or I need to open a link back up to remove or whatever- and the prototype isn't a big job at that scale and won't be a great prototype.  The links are almost big enough for Barbie to wear as a bracelet, not exactly to scale, and there's a big limit on fine details of shaping.

I've got everything out in front of me to get back to work, though, and fashioned a set of duct tape finger protectors to keep the blistering manageable.  I probably need to just power through to completion of the knitting without much pictures, than back up and demonstrate how I turn the coils and see if my subconscious doesn't come up with better ways to demonstrate details of the structure and creation process.

I should definitely make Ken a doll-size of the Manmail, too...

[Buster's Uncle]

Protip: if you try this, do not settle for wire snips with the cutting edges not in line with the handles.  It complicates things enormously when the blades are angled.  You need to cut straight across the length of the coil to make neat-ended links that butt cleanly and make links all the same size.  I want my own snips back.

[Buster's Uncle]

Related protip: when you stretch the coil, err on the side of pulling more, not less.  This set is a little too much trouble to thread, the gap being a bit small.  It creates a lot of extra work and slows me down enormously at the most irritating part of the process.

[Buster's Uncle]

I gotta say that between less-than-ideal tools, not having messed with this stuff in about 15 years, deteriorating eyesight and never having tried to start a circular row piece at doll scale, getting started is balking me about 10 times worse than anticipated.  I think I've got about the right length of three-row to close into a circle for a radial camail, and once I've got it closed, the rest should be a lot easier.  --Taking into account a whole coil's worth of cut links I didn't stretch quite enough, which I pretty much have to tough out...

Working on this is why I was able to listen to highlight clips from the debate for an hour last night.  That was more-or less the doing it while watching TV I talk about.

Everything would go faster, too, if I didn't need to check the forum frequently while I work - I have to take off the reading glasses and finger protection to see and work the mouse very well.  Wastes a minute each time, and not something I had to deal with in the old days.

[Buster's Uncle]

I found a copy in old chainmail stuff -I did a lot of small link chainmail jewelry like earrings and bracelets and rings back in the day- of the diamond-shaped straight row camail that Barbarian Shaft was rocking so hard on the last page.  So I just had to pull out the lacings and lay it flat for a closeup shot of the pattern and design.



-A couple of things to note:  the pattern is turned 90 degrees so the mail hangs the long way out towards the shoulders, which is the opposite of the way you'd want it hanging as the top of a mail shirt.  At the shoulder tips, I gathered three links into the last and skipped a row, rounding off the shape just a little.  If you look close at various barbarian doll getups I've already posted, I did the same with the pointed ends of many or all of the loin flaps.

Incidentally, the barbarian outfits are nothing special without all Mylochka did to tart them up with bracers and boots and such.  I went next door and turned this on over to Mylochka with the suggestion that she try something not-naked-barbarian and skip the loin flaps, though I could make a set quickly enough; camails are lovely costume pieces for something as far afield as a Romeo doll done slightly fantasy, and would look great over a tunic and tights, or barbarian winter gear, or medieval soldier/page or something.  (She's in the middle of working up bunches of dolls to sell at a local doll show.)

One correction on my last post: while I was there, she pointed out two more barbarians she turned up.  The Ken has on a round radial/concentric row camail I still don't recall making at all.  He's next to me, and a pic is coming before I unlace the camail for a flat closeup like the one above (and for my own study to figure out how I made it work at that size).  It looks pretty good.

[Dio]

I found a copy in old chainmail stuff -I did a lot of small link chainmail jewelry like earrings and bracelets and rings back in the day- of the diamond-shaped straight row camail that Barbarian Shaft was rocking so hard on the last page.  So I just had to pull out the lacings and lay it flat for a closeup shot of the pattern and design.



-A couple of things to note:  the pattern is turned 90 degrees so the mail hangs the long way out towards the shoulders, which is the opposite of the way you'd want it hanging as the top of a mail shirt.  At the shoulder tips, I gathered three links into the last and skipped a row, rounding off the shape just a little.  If you look close at various barbarian doll getups I've already posted, I did the same with the pointed ends of many or all of the loin flaps.

Incidentally, the barbarian outfits are nothing special without all Mylochka did to tart them up with bracers and boots and such.  I went next door and turned this on over to Mylochka with the suggestion that she try something not-naked-barbarian and skip the loin flaps, though I could make a set quickly enough; camails are lovely costume pieces for something as far afield as a Romeo doll done slightly fantasy, and would look great over a tunic and tights, or barbarian winter gear, or medieval soldier/page or something.  (She's in the middle of working up bunches of dolls to sell at a local doll show.)

One correction on my last post: while I was there, she pointed out two more barbarians she turned up.  The Ken has on a round radial/concentric row camail I still don't recall making at all.  He's next to me, and a pic is coming before I unlace the camail for a flat closeup like the one above (and for my own study to figure out how I made it work at that size).  It looks pretty good.

What do you mean by "next door"? I can interpret the previous statement as meaning either you live on adjacent properties or you went to another room in the house.

[Buster's Uncle]

We built next door to my mother's parents in 1969, Grampa sold his house to Daddy cheap about 25 years ago in one of those "I have the money now while I'm alive and get to live here the rest of my life" deals, him and Gramma did so, much possible family inheritence drama was thus avoided (and we have control of who lives there on top of us, which was what Daddy wanted) and Mylochka lives in their house now that she's retired and come home.  She's literally next door, in a separate building.  It's her house now, but Momma technically still owns it.

There are many advantages to the arrangement, chiefly that none of us have interesting lives needing secrets kept, and we all take care of each other, living physically close and all three of us needing care.

[Green1]

I am sure the anal b*tards at the SCA may have a few things to say. But, then again, the SCA probably has a 10 page subcommitee rules on how a 17th century whatever should use a toilet to be "in period" and you can not use the cool toilet to begin with. But, your work is good enough you could vend at a lot of venues like Dragon+CON, Ren faires, etc. All you need would be a van that won't leave you stranded on some interstate and you would make some change. Plus, I would imagine vendors get treated MUCH better than volunteers or roadies.

Only thing is, you go to a lot of shows where you end up spending more than making. My parents do gaudy fused glass that only suburbanite trophy wives like and many times they break even. Though, these cons, Burning Man, Rens, etc are becoming more and more yuppified.