11-15-2009, 12:12 AM
Greetings all (I really have to learn how to say that in Greek)
All the positive commentary from my test presentation and my own quickly growing interest in things Hellenic got me motivated to spend a little free time on a real muscled cuirass, taking what I learned with that thin test piece from last year as well as the medieval armouring techniques I've picked up of late- and the really cool and unique iron cuirass from Prodromi was my subject. I've always liked it's look and of course steel is a whole lot easier to get and about 1/8 the cost of bronze :wink:
Since there doesn't seem to be a lot of physical data about the artifact, despite having been found 31 years ago, I've had to postulate about a few things- not the least of which is the thickness of the metal- but thanks to a couple of people (Alex and Giannis), a couple of the details I'd have had to otherwise guess about I can now do correctly (I'd have gotten one right and one wrong but still not unreasonable :wink: ). I've copied the epomides, and 'collar' from the original, and will do for the decorative discs of the tie rings, but the musculature is different- the original's form is very minimal and nothing is defined, and since I wanted to see if I could properly make a bronze version at some point, I decided to form the muscles in the style of the bronze cuirasses. And of course I won't be using gold for the discs and nipples since that's just a little costly :lol: I have brass mockup pieces in place, but intend to either use bronze or maybe silver since it would seem the original was a costly piece and thus demanded precious metal adornment.
Without any information, I've had to guess about the thickness of steel to use- but I figured since the known bronze examples seem to range from 1-1.7mm in thickness it would be reasonable that an iron version would only need be near the lower end of that. So I chose 1.2mm (18ga.).
Thus far I've only completed the main body of the breastplate, but it's the real hard part so it's enough to show I think. I made a mistake on my back pattern so need more steel for that (I cut before realizing my error) and can't get more for it until mid-next week, and at the same time I'll get some thinner metal to make the edge binding that I now believe surrounded the epomides, arm holes, side seam and even the main 'hem' at the bottom. And I have to order the bronze or silver for the discs, so that'll be to come as well.
All the positive commentary from my test presentation and my own quickly growing interest in things Hellenic got me motivated to spend a little free time on a real muscled cuirass, taking what I learned with that thin test piece from last year as well as the medieval armouring techniques I've picked up of late- and the really cool and unique iron cuirass from Prodromi was my subject. I've always liked it's look and of course steel is a whole lot easier to get and about 1/8 the cost of bronze :wink:
Since there doesn't seem to be a lot of physical data about the artifact, despite having been found 31 years ago, I've had to postulate about a few things- not the least of which is the thickness of the metal- but thanks to a couple of people (Alex and Giannis), a couple of the details I'd have had to otherwise guess about I can now do correctly (I'd have gotten one right and one wrong but still not unreasonable :wink: ). I've copied the epomides, and 'collar' from the original, and will do for the decorative discs of the tie rings, but the musculature is different- the original's form is very minimal and nothing is defined, and since I wanted to see if I could properly make a bronze version at some point, I decided to form the muscles in the style of the bronze cuirasses. And of course I won't be using gold for the discs and nipples since that's just a little costly :lol: I have brass mockup pieces in place, but intend to either use bronze or maybe silver since it would seem the original was a costly piece and thus demanded precious metal adornment.
Without any information, I've had to guess about the thickness of steel to use- but I figured since the known bronze examples seem to range from 1-1.7mm in thickness it would be reasonable that an iron version would only need be near the lower end of that. So I chose 1.2mm (18ga.).
Thus far I've only completed the main body of the breastplate, but it's the real hard part so it's enough to show I think. I made a mistake on my back pattern so need more steel for that (I cut before realizing my error) and can't get more for it until mid-next week, and at the same time I'll get some thinner metal to make the edge binding that I now believe surrounded the epomides, arm holes, side seam and even the main 'hem' at the bottom. And I have to order the bronze or silver for the discs, so that'll be to come as well.
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