New Dystopian Armor

Yes its very bright, yes it's odd, and yes I'm late...again. Sorry!

I've been very busy lately getting ready for Tortuga and i took on a quick commission so that when Dystopia Rising starts up again in October it's paid for.

What a friend needed was a Haori that was armored. His color is a bright blue and i happened to have a few yards of it. After much discussing we came up with what i have here.

I've also worked with Japanese designs before. My first ever sewing project was a kimono...if you don't count the millions of pillows and pillow cases I made before that too.

Anyway, my first pattern was kimono, however this was my first foray into making something without a pattern. it's...hard.

My poor commissioner had a ton of questions tossed at him. In the end I got the basic form made. I'm not 100% happy with it, but I'm hoping but the end I will be.

 

This eventually became my stencil. The character has what's called a Mon in game, a symbol that identifies their faction or family. His was a scorpion.

These are cut from a sheet of foam which I later painted silver to look like metal.

The haori ended up a bit long. For now i left it till the commissioner could see it.

This is all done after much measuring and it's all simple straight lines. I have a close friend to thank for even knowing where to begin in this. it literally took me a day and a half to figure out all the proper measurements

 The front with the painted Mons attached.

The back with the painted Mon attached.

 Here I cut down the coat a bit. then I began laying down the ground work for the plating. This is again foam padding. Dystopia Rising doesn't require actual armor. It's cool if you have it, but it only requires that it look like armor. I seem to have built my focus on armor making on the aspect that it is light, flexible, and quite possible to be slept in.This was the back.

This is the front set up. We decided the take one row out in the end.

Armor shoulder pieces. He did not request the mon be added there. I kinda did it as a special bit. :)

Progress so far. it's coming along nicely, but...I'm probably going to have to line it. I hate the inside peeking out. For the record I've been using E6000 to attach all the faux plating. I would have sewn them in but it's very noticeable and we really wanted this to look natural so I opted to glue them. E6000 is a glue god btw. 

Metal plating after it's second layer of paint. These are the foam pieces from above. I did one layer of paint, then used hot glue to make the rivet/grommet/whatever you call them. Turns out glue turns shiny when you spray paint it. It's a nice affect.

This is the back after the plates were painted, grommet-ed, painted again, the scarring added, and painted a third time. I only have the front left.

Feel free to ask questions, leave comments, etc. I"m always up for a chat!