Swords (and armour) for Jade Empire

Community Gear
#15

I’ve started building some Oriental body armour, using the suit worn by Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai as the design inspiration. Except I’m working in a lightweight brown leather.

I’ve made us a steel “cookie cutter” so I can cut out the top edge of the scales with a couple of hammer blows. It works really well. I just cut strips of leather and work along the top edge, cutting off the top of each scale with a couple of blows.

I’m totally over lacing and I’ve only laced 20% of the suit. :smiley:

Once I’ve finished this suit, I’ll start on a nice colourfull one, probably in red.

If anyone else is interested in making some samurai armour, they’re very welcome to take a copy of my patterns and borrow the tools (especially the magic cookie cutter).

Also, if you can find me 100m of lacing, I’ll swap it for enough leather to do your own suit.

#16

That’s the “cookie cutter” in the right picture. Lets me get all the scales tidy. Surprisingly easy to make from a scrap of stainless steel.

I’m lacing all the pieces hard together rather than using suspension lacing, because the leather is reasonably soft, so I think there will be enough flex even laced solid.

#17

Sorry, the L5R reference is lost on me… But if this freaks you out, you wouldn’t want to see my armoury :wink:[/quote]

In L5R dead flesh is considered taboo and unclean…hence no eating of meat (not including fish) and no wearing of leather or bone products.

#18

Sorry, the L5R reference is lost on me… But if this freaks you out, you wouldn’t want to see my armoury :wink:[/quote]

In L5R dead flesh is considered taboo and unclean…hence no eating of meat (not including fish) and no wearing of leather or bone products.[/quote]

I still have no idea what L5R is… The unclean flesh thing, I’d figured out.

#19

Legend of the Five rings…

I’m surprised noone was more forthcoming, considering Jade Empire was (in)directly inspired by it…

That’s looking very awesome, Derek :slight_smile:

#20

Oh sorry I forgot that its not a widely known acronum.Yes L5R= Legend of the Five Rings.

Its actualy in the rule book on the first few pages…its one of the major insperation of this game. In the same way as mordavia and…um…that computer game. Alot has changed though.

But on a different note. Hope to be starting my costuming and gear for the next game soon. Your gear is inspiring.

#21

I’ve got a coffee-table book from the Last Samurai that has lots of photos of the gear used in the movie, if anyone want to borrow it.

#22

Mostly done. A bit of lacing up the back, a face and throat protector and six sets of hanging tassets to make and I’ll have finished my first ever Oriental-ish armour.

I should probably learn the names for all these pieces as well.

Now my character just needs to save enough cash to purchase some light armour! :laughing:

And here are all the tools needed. A knife, hole punch, “cookie cutter”, steel ruler, hammer and wooden block…

#23

That’s really cool Derek.

#24

Thanks Ryan, the book has turned up. Pretty! IOU a beer.

#25

Sorry for the apparently obscure reference. :blush:

Your armor looks amazing. Maybe even too nice for a ronin. :wink:

#26

:open_mouth: Holy crap.

That’s AWESOME, Derek. I am absolutely blown away that someone would go to this kind of effort for my game. happydance

I’ll have the announcement for the next game up shortly.

#27

This is just my practice suit, in deliberately plain brown leather, as befits my current lowly station. i.e. it’s my “calico” :smiley:

Now that I have made all my pattern and construction mistakes, the next suit will be better :smiley:

I am now planning my flash “now I’m a wealthy samurai again” suit. It will be in red leather with yellow lacing. I have just bought 100m of yellow 3mm braid and I will shortly get some leather so I can begin it.

I hope the game doesn’t plan to end soon.

#28

And finished. I think it reminds me of one of the terracotta warriors of Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor of China.

I got lazy and glued all the tassets together instead of stitching them. Saved hours, but I may have to stitch them if they start coming apart. It’s a large contact area, so hopefully that never happens. There is about 6-8 different types of leather in this, which gives it a very patchwork quilt feel to it. My leather scrap box is somewhat diminished, but that’s why we keep our scraps after all.

Surprisingly easy to make, if a little time consuming (probably 20 hours all up).

I’m happy to give anyone a push in the right direction if they want to knock one up. After all, one of these looks a little lonely. It really needs a cast of thousands to look its best.

#29

Wow…i could do with a breast plate like that

#30

It’s actually not a difficult project. Patterns are easy, tools are cheep, materials easy to come by. I can get you started if you want.

Does anyone know of any Oriental arm armour other than the “kote” style (kind of a sleeve with armoured bits sewn on)?

It’s the only sort I can find and I just don’t like the ascetics of it…

#31

Bravo, dude, very very cool :smiley:

#32

And the shorts and bare feet go so well with it :mrgreen:

#33

Had to laugh…

could have been 1% better if the mon was a deathstar

#34

So, Darth Samurai huh? An interesting mix of Sith values with Japanese ideals. Very strange…