This week was a bit more difficult as I have been away at band camp and was unable to bring any materials with me for my project, and i was left without Internet. So in this time, i decided to draft some blueprints on the design of the armor (if i ever get to making it!) After a few days of thinking, I discerned that the wait distribution of the chain mail will be an issue. In full plate armor, the wait is evenly distributed via straps among the body, this leads to a seemingly lighter wait even though its made of heavier material. Chain mail on the other hand, lacks these straps and so all the weight (45-60 lbs) lies on the shoulders. If this was going to be the case for me, I want to make the shoulder and neck piece as comfortable as possable.
My first though is in the pattern. If i can make the neck/should piece in the shape of a diamond in stead of a rectangle the weight will fall on the broader part of my shoulders. this will involve me connecting three loops instead of four around the neck portion to create triangles.
Though this make ease some of the stress on my shoulders, it Will still not be too comfortable, so I began thinking of some way to reduce the wait and or redistribute it some how. One way, I thought, may help, is by making belt loops in which a thin strap of leather could fit tightly to the armor. This would allow some of the weight from the lower half to be held at the waist. Another way would be to create some complex strapping system in which peices of the armor could be straped from the inside to pieces of leather which could then be attached to a undercoat, spreading the weight among my body.
In any case, non of this will matter until i can actually begin construction...
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