thegirlsclub

socie · New Club Member Joined: 05 Jun 2011 Posts: 1 : Items

Hello Everyone.

I am a new fighter, I have only done this for a couple of months. At the moment I am about to begin to make my own armour. I am good with leather, and my boyfriend nows how to work with steel.

i have a couple of questions, and i hope you can answer them.

first, what can be done to make the armour lighter and therefore easier to move in? I am pretty small, 162 cm, and the armours i have been trying has been in only metal and som leather. And its so heavy. What is the trick?

how do you protect your breast without taking away movement for your arms? I have been using a steel harnesk, and the cutouts for my arms makes parts of my breast unprotected.

hope you can answer my questions.
have a nice day!

Cunian · Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 12:33 pm Post subject:

Weight - Change materials to aluminum, spring steel, rawhide, and/or plastic. (You can cover it with fabric or upholstery weight leather.) All of these can give you rigid materials at lighter weight. Don't over-armour. The guys, protectively, will often want to swaddle you in a lot of armour. And - relative to your weight and ability to carry it, you need a bit more than them. (So go with a lightweight material, as they are available and you can afford them or work with them.) But don't go crazy trying to cover everything in as good armour as was ever available.

Breast sides: I wear rawhide lamellar and leave them open and try not to get hit. With my daughter's armour, there were hard edges to her breastplate which could lead to nasty pinching injuries, so I used leather, thick but fairly soft, on the sides to buffer the edges and protect a bit.

Hope this helps.

Jesmond · Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 1:16 pm Post subject:

The sides of my breasts are not armored. It is very very rare to get hit there. You can see pics of my corrazina breast plate cut outs around the arms to get an idea in the thread with pics of our armour. You will repeatedly be struck in the head and thighs. Armour that the most.
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helene · Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:04 pm Post subject:

I have a coat of plates that works pretty well on the lightness and coverage criteria. The coat is made from a large plastic barrel (from the local car wash) and cotton duck cloth. Its not as pretty as I would like, but I'm making a plan for my next generation of armor.

inside:
[img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/helene83/4271164709/
[/img]

You can see the sliding middle plate (inspired by some SCA armor based on Churburg #15) that allows me movement to cross my arms, but still provides fairly nice (rigid) breast protection.

[img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/helene83/4313439026/in/set-72157623078074633[/img]

This is me in the armor. I have worked since then to look a bit nicer, but I don't have a more recent picture. At then end of the day, this design is cheap and easy. It provides good coverage and there are no nasty plastic bits visible. Unfortunately, it still looks somewhat like I'm wearing a barrel.

If you've got access to skills and a shop, perhaps you could look at the original Churburg 15 for a prettier option.

Here is a lady wearing nice metal version at Gulf War 2010. I think Isabella has collected more pictures of this particular kit in her women in armor site:
[img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/helene83/4468927402/in/set-72157623716967616
[/img]

- Helene
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helene · Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:05 pm Post subject:

Anybody know why those pictures didn't show up?

- Helene
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audax · Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:23 pm Post subject:

prolly because of low post count. This board seems to have a post count criteria for allowing photos.
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audax · Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:31 pm Post subject:

socie, as cunian suggested get lighter materials. The loaner gear you are using is was probably made by another newbie who had no idea what he was doing and used the heaviest free stuff he could get.

Hardened leather is very light, aluminum is light, spring steel is light but you need a way to heat treat it. Plastic can be light but is not everyone's favorite material because it is so anachronistic and frankly, ugly. Please cover it if you use it.

Textile armour is another way to go if you can sew. Padded gambesons do a pretty good job of protection and you can add supplemental plates of rigid material as needed. It is also a very period way to go.

From your use of language I'm guessing you are in Europe, German or Scandinavian? You have access to lots of period examples plus there is the internet. Pick a culture and time period and aim for their armour. You will find that they knew what they were doing.

The side boob is almost impossible to armour and reatin mobility so learn how to block or avoid shots going to that region.
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squire to Meser Lyonel Oliver Grace, fostered to Sir Gaston de Clermont
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Isabella E · Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:47 pm Post subject:

Everybody has given good advice so far, but I think that working on strength training is also a good idea. It sounds kind of cliche but the advice of 'grow stronger' is often overlooked particularly for women.
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Catarina de Montemartin · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 7:11 am Post subject:

For my upper body, I use a kendo breastplate (dó). As I do kendo as a mundane hobby, it works well in both. It is lightweight and provides excellent protection. I have a heavy leather backplate which I attach on the breastplate strings so it does not need any straps of its own. I use a sports bra when fighting - it keeps breasts at place.

If you have a gambeson with sleeves, you might use mail voiders at your underarms - that is a perfectly historical method to protect vulnerable places. Just sew pieces of mail to the places which are vulnerable.

Most fighters do not intentionally aim to armpits or sides of the upper torso. It is difficult to get there, and most hits landing there will be light.

Hardened leather, called "cuir-bouilli" (French for "boiled leather") - is another perfectly historical material. It is basically vegetable tanned leather soaked in boiling water, then pressed over (or into) a mold and then let dry. I have for some time planned to make me a cuir-bouilli breastplate using my kendo breastplate as the mold.

You are small for you stature, so your asset will be nimbleness and mobility. You should aim for lightness on your armour so you will not get exhausted.

How good is your pain threshold? I mean, are you able to stand pain well? If you are, your armour design philosophy could be "all or nothing" which means that you get as good protection for the vulnerable parts (head, joints, lower ribs, kidneys) as possible and leave non-vulnerable parts for lesser concern; that is: sacrifice some of your protection for mobility.

Most guys aim for maximum protection, which leaves them fairly clumsy. With your stature, if you design your armour well, you should be able to dance circles around them. "Hover like a butterfly, sting like a bee" should be your philosophy.

Catarina de Montemartin · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 7:15 am Post subject:

Hjalmr · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:46 pm Post subject:

I have a suggestion that I don't think anyone mentioned.

I am a rather small guy and I generally wear minimal armor, but at one time I wore 150 lbs of chainmail (when I was only 140 lbs). I didn't work out to "become stronger" but instead wore my armor around the house while doing chores, or hobbies. Sometimes I would wear my armor while watching tv. Basically I got "use to" wearing it so fighting in it became second nature. As I got older I started eliminating pieces for tournaments, but still wore it at practice. Talk about floating like a bee. Lol..

Anyway, my suggestion is to wear your armor around the house once you finish it so you get use to it. That way while everyone else is half willing to put on there armor, it will be like putting on your everyday clothes for you. Then again, putting on your armor to do the dishes, or wash laundry might get annoying over time. Lol...

Hjalmr · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:48 pm Post subject:

Depending on what you plan to make, you can drill small holes throughout the armor to lighten it up. Too many holes will make the armor weaker and prone to denting, but a good amount will lighten it up. This is particularly good for hidden armor. My hidden 4-panel body armor is half the weight due to the 30 1/8" holes I drilled evenly around it.

(^_^)

Catarina de Montemartin · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 7:10 pm Post subject:

Isabella E · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 7:32 pm Post subject:

Wearing heavy stuff around is great for endurance but a man and woman of the same size and weight are still different. A guy my size and weight has a greater % of muscle pound for pound. The best way to even the odds so to speak imo is still with specific training to increase endurance and strength in your upper body in particular. You can do that just by doing really basic stuff like pushups or even just pell practice until your arms feel like they are going to fall off. Sledgehammer or kettlebell workouts are also a cheap easy way to do it at home. Getting more buff just makes a huge difference with even basic tasks. If you struggle just to hold up your shield or swing a stick for a given amount of time, some very basic strengthening stuff will really help. I'm not saying wearing armor around won't help, just that it's not necessarily going to help an already small person (women in particular) hit harder or be able to bring their shield and weapon to bear for a longer period of time.
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Catarina de Montemartin · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:35 pm Post subject: