Amazon scale armour

a number of Leather & Metal scale armours have been found in Scythian graves in Rusia

http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19877&sid=6c28fccec2b6ce0d7f5715e72748a406

Light Scale - before being wet and having ridge pressed into it Dark scale - after being wet and having ridge pressed into it.

Number of scale used in Construction - 240

Material used Leather veggie tan scraps – all those small pieces you couldn’t get any thing out of but where too big to throw away.

Size 2 x 1 inch – cut with a pair of scissors and leather cutter

Two Holes per scale punched with leather hole punch

Ridge down the middle of the scale was pressed in to the scale

Construction time - All up 1 week

Soaking the scales

Note – method for this - first I carved a groove in a piece of wood then I put the scale into warm water – important make sure that the water is not too hot as the leather scale will shrivel up if it is.

I put the scale into the water until the air bubbles coming out of it had slowed right down

pressing the ridge into the scale

Then I placed the scale over the wood with the groove so the groove was in the middle of the scale and with a plaster’s trowel and a hammer banged it into the groove. I then placed the scale pieces on to wooden board and placed in a low heat oven for 2 mins – just enough to dry the scale out a little bit - but not baking it too much as you want it to retain some flexibility.

linen backing - with pencil guidelinesNote: put a pencil line mark for your rows placement to give you a guide of where the scale need to be sewn – this will help keep your rows straight

scale and breast strap layed out on linen backing -

we layed out all the scale and the breast strap to see if we had it right

starting the sewing on of the scale from the bottom

Sew scale on to linen for backing which is being laced down the side for easy getting in and out of.

Note: you have to start from the bottom of the piece laying the next row on top of this row.

sew each scale and knot individually so later on if one piece falls off you don’t lose the whole row

I sewed and knotted on the front side of the garment as it may have to be worn with not much padding underneath and I didn’t want knots to press into the skin

all of the scale sewn on to the backing linen

close up of all of the scale sewn on to the backing linen

Securing - Ties & Rings

Luceting ties

I chosen to make my own ties by Luceting them and then dyeing them the same colour as my design

And then securing the bass rings to ties

Put these aside now until you need them in the next parts

Dyeing the ties - blue

This was where I make my big mistake – I used the leather dye to dye the laces only to find the laces keep bleeding colour on to the armour now –

it would have been better to use a fabric dye instead.

You will need

2 ties with rings on for them for the front of the breast strap

2 ties for the back of the breast strap for securing the shoulder straps to the breast strap

2 ties for the ends of the front of the shoulder strap which will tie on to the rings on the breast strap when you up on your scale

3 ties with rings on for them for the side opening

3 ties to tie to the other side of the side opening to which you will tie on to the rings at the side when you up on your scale

Drilling holes for stitching in breast strap - using the ruler as a spacing guide

Stitching the Top edge of the breast strap - We drilled thru both the breast strap and the packing leather or the scale

– for this part you will most likely need a second pair of hands or clamps to hold the breast strap and the packing / scale still while you drill your holes

Stitching breast strap

We worked it in sections – drill a bit, then stich that section, tie of that section - then drill then next section and repeat this process across the breast strap.

Once this is done then you will need to mark where you will need to holes punched in it for shoulder strap ties to be secured

Punching holes for ties in the breast strap

Punch holes and secure securing rings & ties to front and back section of breast strap

Brass rings for secureing the shoulder straps to the breast strap

stiching the bottom of the breast strap

Now you Stich down the bottom edge of the breast strap

Now if you want to colour the stitching the same colour as you design

Scale Top Flaps

top flaps edging

Stich a edging strip the top edge and the sides of the two scale top flaps to dress it up and make it nice.

This will also stabilize the scales .

Linen understraps on back top flap

For stability you may have to stich linen under straps to the scale top flaps – these will sit under the leather shoulder straps – we decided only to sew these to the back top flap to help you put on the armour but not to sew them to the front as we thought it would make putting it on over my head to difficult.

Pteruges ( the dangly leg strips )

marking out where the Pteruges go

Now the torso is done you and work out how long you want your pteruges to be and how many you will need

There will be two layers of these – with the bottom layer ones slightly longer then the top layer.

And the two layers are off set - So you have to leave a gap between them so you can see the underneath layer of pteruges

Cut these then and stich both rows to the bottom edge of the torso

Once stitched you can then decorate them

Pteruges sewn on to the linen backing under the last row of scale

Note: I chosen to stitch them on the same way as I did the scale on the torso section

– as to make lining the rows up easier.

Side opening

brass securing rings at the side on the breast strap

Neaten up the side opening by stitching an edging strip

Punch holes and secure ties & rings

brass securing ring at the side on the bottom of the scale

Finished - layed out flat

Now it is done ready to wear