July 23, 2007

Indy Mogul

Build Plans: How to create samurai armor

Comments 40 Add yours

How to create samurai armor


by Erik Beck

Hey everyone and welcome to the technical blog for Episode#11 (samurai armor). I have to say I was really excited to take on this project. When I read the viewer request I couldn't wait to start. Keep all the cool project ideas coming. You can submit them here! This project is a relatively simple and cheap one, but very time consuming.

 

WARNING: I USED POWER TOOLS FOR SOME OF THIS PROJECT. ALWAYS BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN USING POWER TOOLS. GET AN ADULT TO HELP YOU IF YOU ARE UNDER 18.


Shopping List

  1. Foam-core Poster Board.
    (You could probably use regular cardboard if you wanted)
  2. String and Rope.
    (I used a cloth ribbon for the string and a nylon clothes line for the robe. Both started white so I dyed them black)

  3. Duct Tape.
    (Come on of course I used this.)

  4. Spray Paint.
    (Hammered Gold and Green.)

  5. Green Fabric.
    (Which I used for the under armor. It had an "Asian inspired" pattern.)
  6. Old Hostess shirt.
    (My sister gave me this silly looking shirt she had to wear for her job at a Thai restaurant.)
  7. Leather.
    (A rectangle of scrap leather, roughly 20"x12".)

The Under-Armor.

So you can't just wear a Volcom hoodie under your armor. That would look stupid. So you need something that will look like what real samurai used to wear under their armor, and that was robes. My solution was a big piece of green fabric (to match my armor) and a restaurant shirt with a collar similar to that of a robe. Using a stapler I made some simple sleeves in the fabric. It looked ridiculous when I put it on, but once covered by the short sleeve restaurant shirt it all came together.

 

The Paint Job

I found this cool spray paint called "hammered gold". It has some chemical reaction when it hits the surface and creates a hammered metal finish. This took some of the "cheapness" look out of the poster board. I single coat of green on top transformed each piece into a part of the "Jade Samurai's" armor.

The Armor

The chest piece

As I mentioned in the show, armor is broken up into sections. Each section contains lots of string and rope, then each section is bound to the next section with more rope. The front chest piece is the most complicated part. The first thing I did is cut the entire chest piece from a big sheet of foam-core poster board.

Then I cut across so that the chest piece was now 7 slats. At this point I started drilling the many holes that would be used to weave the string and rope through. This is the key to creating the samurai armor effect, the string and rope holding it together. You can weave more or less string through your armor as you see fit. My opinion is the more rows of binding the cooler your armor will look. However the string part is very time consuming, so it's probably better to start with just enough holes and string to hold the thing together. After that you can always add more.

Starting from the top I started weaving my string in and out of the holes to create an interesting pattern. This part isn't rocket science, it takes awhile and is hard on the finger tips. I popped in a "Scrubs" DVD and started weaving!

Here is a close up of the front of the armor so you can get an idea of how I did my weaving pattern. I basically copied and simpflied the pattern I saw on pictures of real armor.

 

The side pieces

So after the front of the armor took FOREVER, I decided to cheat a bit on the rest of the armor. Instead of actually cutting the side pieces into slats and stringing them together with string. I perforated each side and added the string, mostly as decoration. The larger perforated piece made it much easier to weave the string through. I know not many people would see the side of the armor, so I used a more simple weave.

Here you can see I used both string and the thicker nylon rope.

The back piece

This was done very similar to the side pieces. Using a very simple weave pattern and perforated sections.

 

At this point I started tying the armor sections together. Using the thicker rope and duct tape I started connecting the pieces together. They formed a shape like a sweater vest that could be slid over someone from the top.

 

Next I added the top shoulder straps. These consist of a small strip of poster board bend, painted to match and weaved with rope. See the top of the picture.

The shoulder pieces

More poster board cut, bent, and painted. Using rope I attached these to the shoulder straps and the front and back of the armor. This kept them in place, but also allowed them to move up and down with the "samurai's" arm.


The side skirts

"Skirts"? Samurai wore skirts? Well, sort of. These are just the small triangle pieces the hang off the chest armor and protect the lower front and side of the samurai. I knew I wasn't going to shoot much below the waist so I made these super simple. Three perforated triangles, bound to the main armor with ropes.

The arm pieces

Super simple...just painted some scrap leather and strapped them to my forearms with string.

Conclusion

Now this was a build with many steps. So I'm sure I left something out. Please ask question specific to this build on the comment below. I will do my best to answer all of them.

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!! 

 

Check out this build in action, from Episode 11 of Backyard FX

 

 

 

 

40 Comments

Add a Comment
Thanks for checking out our all-new website! Please send bugs, suggestions, or feedback to help@nextnewnetworks.com