Can someone post sources of the materials used in constructing your own gear
Like somewhere that sells leather by the sheet
A place to get some foam (I tried using camp matts but they are too soft and even 2" isnt thick enough to protect from the core 
)
plastic chain could also be useful
Cheers
~Dan
I have some bags of leather offcuts, what are you after?
If you poke at the campmats the warehouse sell, the different colours are actually different densities. the lighter blue should be fine for weapons, the dark green and black are quite firm and good for costuming and maybe even armour. failing that, there’s a place in east tamaki that does eva foam, or failing taht you can even get it from para rubber in large sheets. the latter also does various densities of open-cell foam.
I have some bags of leather offcuts, what are you after?[/quote]
After seeing your leather armour at jade empire - which was truely amazing - I thought of making my own armour (as even if it goes wrong it can still work where as weapons become dangerous)
I had a couple of ideas including stealing some costumes used by a couple of metal bands like behemoths fallen-angel-eque
I need long strips like belts but I cant find belts that are long enough and they have to be strong so that it can support the weight of the wings
its also a big project so I thought I might also work on some simpler amour too maybe like the scale mail presented in one of the tutorials mentioned above
[quote=“TequilaDave”][quote=“Dan”]
A place to get some foam (I tried using camp matts but they are too soft and even 2" isnt thick enough to protect from the core )
[/quote]
If you poke at the campmats the warehouse sell, the different colours are actually different densities. the lighter blue should be fine for weapons, the dark green and black are quite firm and good for costuming and maybe even armour. failing that, there’s a place in east tamaki that does eva foam, or failing taht you can even get it from para rubber in large sheets. the latter also does various densities of open-cell foam.[/quote]
Ok yeah maybe that was the problem the swords I made were yellow foam which turned out to be really soft, I might have to look for the other colours.
Has anyone tried to use those pool noodles for like club weapons etc they seem to be the right shape are durible and even have a precut hole for the core also no worries about wrapping foam around the core
I’ve split this discussion from the Useful websites about gear topic, to keep that one on topic.
Ryan
Thank you, I do like inspiring people to try things 
Belts are a bloody expensive way to buy leather. Having said that, some $2 shops have very cheep belts. Depending on what you want, that may be the way to go.
Or, I have some reasonably large pieces of leather, you can cut them into strips and make belts from them.
I also have a lot of light weight leather (soft / 1mm) which is suitable for costume, but not really for ‘real’ armour. My prices are very reasonably.
I’m available to get you started if you want to drop over one evening. Thursdays (or some Wednesdays) are usually good. I’m out in Albany, flick me a PM if you’re interested…
[quote=“Derek”]I also have a lot of light weight leather (soft / 1mm) which is suitable for costume, but not really for ‘real’ armour. My prices are very reasonably.[/quote]How reasonably are we talking (sorry, couldn’t resist 
)? I will be hiring a leather-ish something for Teonn to go over my tunic, but my Executive Costume Designer tells me that thin flexible leather is pretty cheap and easy to work with. If you had a large enough piece (or pieces) for someone who was say 6’ and ruggedly handsome (coughnotsurewhatthathastodowithanythingcough), and brought it to Teonn so that I could buy it at the market (or OCC before or after the game), how much, in round figures, would it set me back?
Viperion
About $6 a belt, last I checked. Which isn’t bad if you need 3 or 4 of them.
Does that sort of stuff work for costume-grade leather scale? If so, then you can buy bags of it on trademe, for about $20 a kilo.
(I got a mixed bag a while ago, which is fine for pouches, scabbard-covers and weapon grips, but too thin for armour. I’m thinking of trying a scroll-tube sometime though).
[quote=“Viperion”][quote=“Derek”]I also have a lot of light weight leather (soft / 1mm) which is suitable for costume, but not really for ‘real’ armour. My prices are very reasonably.[/quote]How reasonably are we talking (sorry, couldn’t resist )? I will be hiring a leather-ish something for Teonn to go over my tunic, but my Executive Costume Designer tells me that thin flexible leather is pretty cheap and easy to work with. If you had a large enough piece (or pieces) for someone who was say 6’ and ruggedly handsome (coughnotsurewhatthathastodowithanythingcough), and brought it to Teonn so that I could buy it at the market (or OCC before or after the game), how much, in round figures, would it set me back?
Viperion[/quote]
I believe I said it was cheap-er than belt-weight leather! And didn’t say nuffin’ bout it being easy! I haven’t worked with garment-weight leather yet. I want to, but I’m still inexperienced in that area.
I’m also looking for a place to get leather that’s reasonable priced! I’m looking for both thick belt weight and thinner garment weight…
Belting leather is findable but hard to get hold of. It’s also rather expensive sadly. Not like the millions of thinner stuff you can get on Trademe all the time
[quote=“Dan”]
Ok yeah maybe that was the problem the swords I made were yellow foam which turned out to be really soft, I might have to look for the other colours.
Has anyone tried to use those pool noodles for like club weapons etc they seem to be the right shape are durible and even have a precut hole for the core also no worries about wrapping foam around the core[/quote]
Yeah the yellow and grey aren’t so good - just ask Mr Harrop how much fun it was trying to get the second Cygnar blade to shape
Pool noodles are a weird hard open-cell foam that has no give. The lightness and rigidity makes it ideal for floating (density vs displacement and all that), but definitely not suitable for weapons. If you’re after soemthing tubular, places like Para Rubber or plumbing supply depots usually have stuff called aeroflex, which is a black tube of EVA type foam. It can be a little hard to work with, and a smidge heavier than EVA, but it’s quite rubbery which helps reduce impact so the results are usually good.
I believe I said it was cheap-er than belt-weight leather! And didn’t say nuffin’ bout it being easy! I haven’t worked with garment-weight leather yet. I want to, but I’m still inexperienced in that area. [/quote]
I believe I said “pretty cheap” which to me means cheaper But I stand (sit) corrected on easy to work with.
(raises hand) M’bad
Viperion
Really? I’ve used light grey and dark grey, and both were fine, as was dark blue. Brown was easier to shape, but too dense (so I’m having to reblade all the daggers I made with it last year; it’ll be find for the handles, I think, since they’re not really striking surfaces, and it is good for throwing knives and crossguards).
I have a roll of yellow ATM, which I haven’t worked with yet, but it felt about the same density as the grey. I can always use it for shield faces if its not suitable for weapons.
It’s not that they’re no good, so much as their softness can make them a right bi&*% to work with - especially when trying to sand for a smooth edge.
If you’ve had good results with them, you’re probably a more patient man than I.
I don’t have any really large pieces, mine are all offcuts. I’ll try and get some pictures up tonight.
I’ll be bringing it all along to Teonn for the market.