Samurai costume?

[Old Timer]

I have been thinking about starting a samurai costume. I havent the slightest clue where to start. The more I look the more daunting the project seems. Any light that can be shed on the subject would be much apprecated.
thank you

 

[SITHcamaro]

There is actually a seller on ebay, that sells antique Samurai armor. But they usually average around $5500, by the time the auctions end.
In the end, even if they were cheaper, I doubt that the guy would ever have one large enough to fit someone like myself... 6 feet tall. And if he did, I'm sure it's rare. Plus the auctions are not listed with dimentions.
But at least his auctions are good for reference, if you want to reproduce a certain type of design.

 

[Old Timer]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SITHcamaro @ Dec 23 2006, 04:49 AM) [snapback]1383333[/snapback]</div>

There is actually a seller on ebay, that sells antique Samurai armor. But they usually average around $5500, by the time the auctions end.
In the end, even if they were cheaper, I doubt that the guy would ever have one large enough to fit someone like myself... 6 feet tall. And if he did, I'm sure it's rare. Plus the auctions are not listed with dimentions.
But at least his auctions are good for reference, if you want to reproduce a certain type of design.
[/b]

Thanks for the heads up
I will check it out
its a start.

 

[Gilmortar]

well, i had started on some a while back...but i was just makin vacc pulls of eachplate, and hookin it up via snaps and elastic, where as real samurai armor, each plate is delicately attached together by weaving them through the absurd amount of holes in each plate. there are a few sites that show you how to interweave it to each plate like the samarui did, but you can spend upto a good 200 man hours on ONE set of armor.

 

[NEKROFANATIC]

I'm just starting out acquiring one pice by pice. My focus is on Tom Cruise' armour from The Last Samurai. Not going for total movie accuracy, but aiming for close enough. To date I have the chest/back, upper arm, and 'skirt parts. This was acquired from a guy in Montreal who made it using thick plastic barrel and steel as plates then covering each plate with leather and then he enameled the whole thing and wove it together. I've also recently received some arm sleeves from the EDO period that match closely. Theere is a guy here in Nova Scotia that does make samurai armour that is SCA compliant from hard plastic. He's pretty busy as it seems there is demand of late for these suits.

Here's mine, bad pic and don't mind the saber. :

 

[Gilmortar]

Well thats startin off DAMN nice NF. That what I was working on, but wasn't putitng alot of effort into accuracy. But I did replicate the 2 flowers on the bottom plate of the shoulders. If you'd like, I could send you some.

 

[SmilingOtter]

For the armor, there is no site that I know of that's better than http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/katchu/katchu.html. There's also a decent forum here: http://tousando.proboards18.com/index.cgi. It's geared quite a bit for the SCA crowd, but there's still a ton of info to be had.

Oh, and Nekro, that is a GREAT start.

 

[chibigear]

For the helmet, I'd recommend looking for a riding helmet, meaning those used in horse riding. There are some that are made out of high impact plastic and foam core inside to soften the blow. You just rip off the velvet outer coat, add a few studs in equal rows (pop rivets anyone??) cut the helmet to apropriate form, add the rear guard (the one that folds aroud the back of your neck) and add the decorations that you wish. Remember, that there were as many helmets and armours as there were makers. There needs not be any exact resemblance to any special set of armour, unless you want it.

 

[Old Timer]

shweet. this is an awesome start. thanks for the info.

 

[hansicle]

I've seen a few sites that sell armor, in the $2,000 to $3,000 range, here is one
http://www.japanese-armor.com/japanese-armor.shtml

 

[NEKROFANATIC]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LittleOleBountyHunter @ Dec 23 2006, 12:15 PM) [snapback]1383472[/snapback]</div>

Well thats startin off DAMN nice NF. That what I was working on, but wasn't putitng alot of effort into accuracy. But I did replicate the 2 flowers on the bottom plate of the shoulders. If you'd like, I could send you some.
[/b]

hell yeah. pm sent. For the haidate or thigh armour, there is a chain mail maker in Ontario who makes authentic Japanese 'samurai' chainmail. I'll be having the haidate for this armour made movie accurate (as far as I can tell ) as I've yet to see anything really close to it for sale on ebay or elsewhere.

The helmet will also be 'off the shelf' bought using two different replica helmets combined into one. I'm sure one can be made for much less, but I have no discernible prop building skillz, but I'm pretty good at out-sourcing.