darkSpyro

As some people here might already know, for about six months now I've been making chainmail armor to wear at a local metal music festival. Save for a couple of finishing touches it's pretty much done, and as I promised I'm now going to post pictures of it.

Some of it I've bought and some of it I've made. Getting it all together was surprisingly cheap, and while it's not entirely historically accurate, it'll do for my purposes. I imagine that I'll also be using this suit (or parts of it) for any possible LARP or re-enactment events that I might come across someday.



I'm still going to make a black cloth "collar" attached to the lining inside the helmet, and attach the front of the aventail to the collar. This way I don't have to feel the cold metal on my neck, the aventail won't hang down exposing my throat, and it's not going to be see-through. I'll also have to replace the buckles of the double belt you can see in the fourth picture (I'm wearing a different one in the full suit pics because one of the buckles actually broke).

It's pretty heavy to wear (about 25kg), but I can run and jump around wearing it. The vision from inside the bascinet is surprisingly good, I can see to the sides and down through the breath holes pretty well, but I really have to lean back to see directly up. Also, contrary to what you might believe, the suit doesn't get hot. The metal in the armor absorbs the heat and keeps you cool. I might actually have more problems with keeping warm in colder weather.

If you have any questions about the suit, how I made it, or if you want to learn how to make your own, I can help you.

So, what do you think?

Quote: sonicbrawler182

In awe of the craftsmanship here. That's seriously amazing. Nice job dude.

My friend would totally be in love with that.

Thanks! I have to say, at first I didn't think that I could get it finished on my own (and technically I didn't. My grandmother actually made the tabard, though I designed it myself.) but chainmail turned out to be simple to make. It's just awfully slow, which is what makes it challenging.

Quote: Greeble

How did you manage to make all of that

It was pretty easy in the end. I just bought 10kg of cut steel rings and put massive amounts of time to it. I bought the hauberk from my brother, but I had to adjust it to fit better, so that took some time too.

Quote: thumper

Very impressive indeed.

I'm curious, how long does it take you to put all of this on? A 1/2 hour?

It takes about 15 minutes, depending on the space that I have available. I absolutely have to stand up to put it on.

Taking it off is actually kinda hard too, because it's heavy and steel doesn't stretch like cloth does.

Quote: darkwolf

Excellent work there!

Must have taken a long time to make the chainmail

Thank you, it did take me a long time.

I wasn't doing it actively for the whole six months though. I had a few two-week breaks in between, and I spent about 8-12 hours on it every week.

Thanks! I am proud of it, now that it's finally finished.

^Not until next christmas.

Quote: Starfire Dragon

Do you know about the SCA?

Now I do. What about it?

Quote: Starfire Dragon

Quote: Samius

Quote: Starfire Dragon

Do you know about the SCA?

Now I do. What about it?

The work you've done is awesome, you would fit right in
They recreate the middle ages and are worldwide.

I could look into it, but I don't think I have time for other fantasy/middle-age themed projects now. I'll probably make something sci-fi related next.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it!