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Maille Corsetry Update
Jun. 9th, 2005 11:11 amNo real designing going on yet, just some experimentation to see what sorts of weaves will work. European 8-in-1 is very stiff, but extremely awkward to make with rings of heavy enough gauge to be solid- the aspect ratios make it nearly impossible to wedge eight rings into one of the same size. 6-in-1 in sheets are very stiff across one axis, and may work very nicely for areas which need additional support. Doubling the centre ring may make an adequate replacement for boning if the piece is aligned appropriately- which would be at a perpendicular grain to the 'support' bits- shouldn't be a significant problem. Experimentation here was done with 16 gauge (SWG)- 1.588 mm rings at ¼ internal diameter (roughly 6.8mm).
I'm torn when thinking about materials. I'm finding i like the strength of the stainless steel, but that the blackened stainless isn't quite as uniform as i'd like. It's not necessarily a bad thing that there is variation within the rings, but i'm just particular enough to want them to be the same. The other option would be aluminum- either bright or anodized. There's significantly more options available colour-wise here (black, blue, gold, green, orange, violet, red, bronze, pink, dark purple and turquoise presently), but they're more expensive per pound (about the same per ring, though. Titanium, inconel and niobium are also possibilities) and may not be durable enough- although that's really not too significant a concern- stresses should be evenly distributed enough, and the rings mentioned above are listed as stage combat armour strength in aluminum (and super armour in stainless). I'm figuring that if they're capable of withstanding a strike from an edged weapon without falling apart and being durable enough for regular wear as stage armour, they're probably going to be sufficient for corsetry, although the stresses will lie in different places.
I'm torn when thinking about materials. I'm finding i like the strength of the stainless steel, but that the blackened stainless isn't quite as uniform as i'd like. It's not necessarily a bad thing that there is variation within the rings, but i'm just particular enough to want them to be the same. The other option would be aluminum- either bright or anodized. There's significantly more options available colour-wise here (black, blue, gold, green, orange, violet, red, bronze, pink, dark purple and turquoise presently), but they're more expensive per pound (about the same per ring, though. Titanium, inconel and niobium are also possibilities) and may not be durable enough- although that's really not too significant a concern- stresses should be evenly distributed enough, and the rings mentioned above are listed as stage combat armour strength in aluminum (and super armour in stainless). I'm figuring that if they're capable of withstanding a strike from an edged weapon without falling apart and being durable enough for regular wear as stage armour, they're probably going to be sufficient for corsetry, although the stresses will lie in different places.
