Squamata construction

[Crispvs]

Following requests from Moi (Vindex) and others I am starting a short thread on how I made my squamata.

First of all, the way I made it was in large part dictated by the hole pattern on the scales I had. This is why I opted to use linen strips to attach the scales (of which more later) rather than sew directly onto the backing fabric.

The first picture shows the type of scales I used, along with examples of the staples I used to join them side by side. All the scales in the cuirass are identical (aside from a few clipped edges here and there). The staples are each made from a length of copper wire slightly under an inch long.
I found that the cheapest way to buy copper wire was in electrical cabling which featured two side by side bundles each of seven strands of wire, separated by a single thicker wire, all encased in grey rubber insulation. One of my local hardware shops sells this cabling for £1.50 per meter, meaning I get fourteen meters of wire for staples for every £1.50.



As I initially intended to try to have the armour ready in time for Good Friday, when I started wiring the scales together I set myself a quota of eighty eight scales or more per day. This was based on the fact that the container I was using to carry scales and staples so I could work on it when I was out and about could only accommodate a row of no more than eleven scales. As intended, the number of finished rows grew daily. One day, when out, I accidentally wired ten rows of eleven scales the wrong way round. Rather than undo this work, I decided that as I intended to make a separate shoulder doubling I could simply use these scales on that, as it would not matter if these went the other way, as long as all of the other scales on the doubling did the same.



At this point I should say that as I was making the armour I paid considerable attention to information Peronis had given me on how he had made his first squamata.
In looking for a suitable fabric for the backing, I went looking for a heavy weight linen canvas. I did find a suitable linen canvas but then found and even heavier weight cotton canvas which was apparently the same grade as old fashioned sail cloth. I debated this for a little while before deciding to opt for the sail cloth, on the dual bases that it would bear more weight and would not be seen anyway.
Peronis had recommended using a T-shirt to make the initial pattern for the fabric backing and tailoring the chest slightly by cutting a small 'V' shape out of the upper chest starting at the neck and then sewing the edges together. Aware that Peronis and I are not exactly the same shape as each other I decided to follow his advice on the T-shirt but hold off from any tailoring until I had tried it on. I cut two sections of canvas of the same dimensions as the T-shirt, pinned then roughly together and then enlisted the help of one of my neighbours to do the fitting of the garment. I wore tunic and undertunic, as well as a subarmalis while we were doing this in order to get the fit right for wearing it in the field. This session allowed me to get the shape of the shoulder right, as well as the cut outs for the arms. I found that it was unnecessary for me to tailor the chest as Peronis had done. The body seemed right at the time but I later had to reduce it. More on that later. I sewed it up on one side but left the other side open to allow it to be put on. I also cut a small slit at the back of the neck to allow me to get my head through. Peronis had recommended double stitching all weight bearing seams and taking my lead from this I went further and triple stitched them.
Sorry there is no picture of the backing garment on its own.

When it came to sewing scales onto the backing garment I was faced with an issue imposed by the hole pattern on the scales I was using. As the scales featured, not a pair of holes for stitching directly to the backing as many scales do, but a single larger hole, I decided to follow the method used on the fragment of scale discovered at Carpow. Although the Carpow fragment features linen twisted into cord, when I tried this I found it made the next row of scales rise up too much (the original makers of the Carpow scale knew what they were doing, whereas I clearly did not when it came to twisting linen in this way). Accordingly, I cut narrow strips of linen instead, which I folded double for strength and laid along the rows of scales to cover the holes. I then sewed up through the holes, over the linen strip and back down again to secure the scales to the backing. For the sewing I used artificial sinew thread, again recommended by Peronis. If anyone reading this attempts the same method, be aware that linen frays and so if you want it to look tidy you will need to trim fraying threads.
Here is the squamata after I had sewn a few rows on. You may notice that it took me a little while to get the overlapping of the rows right, as this depended both on how tightly the scales were wired together and how tightly the linen strip was stretched and sewn down. Sorry you cannot see the linen strip in this photo. When I took it I had just laid another row on the squamata in readiness for sewing it down.



More shortly.

Crispvs